1940s Glass Magic Lantern Slide - Berthoud Pass Continental Divide Sign
Magic lantern slides were a predecessor to the 35mm slides that became popular in the second half of the 1900s.
This image was captured by Charles H. Tozier. He was dentist, photographer, and lecturer from the Boston area. You can read more about him and the Tozier Collection here.
The slide is seen above while being photographed in a light box.
In order to photograph the actual image on this slide, it was first placed onto a small light table. Next, it was surrounded by cardboard to block out the light around the slide. Finally, it was time to illuminate, and try to capture a usable image.
This slide was produced at the very end of an era for magic lantern slides. Basic image projectors and glass slides in this category had been made since the 17th century in some form. Looking at the backside of this one helps to explain how it was put together. It’s essentially a 1940s film strip that is sandwiched between two glass slides.
This is how it was meant to be viewed…
Magic lantern slides were meant to be viewed through projectors that were larger than the slide projectors of the late 1900s, but worked in a similar way.
The Graffiti Tells the Story
There was so much graffiti on the Berthoud Pass signs of this era that some photographs can be dated just based on the vandalism. This image was likely captured during the summer of 1946, or possibly 1945. Charles Tozier passed away in January of 1947.
The Signs That Came Before It
There were many… Here are a few photographs that I grabbed from the Berthoud Pass collection.
This sign below was added around 1940, and repainted once before this photo was captured.
Notice that the $25 reward placard had not been added yet in the photograph above. It would soon be added, but it was not very effective. Here is a cropped version of the magic lantern image below, showing maximum graffiti.
See more details about this slide on its permanent page within the Coloradotopia Archives Collection here.
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