About Lantern Slides and the Brittingham Family Collection

The images in this online exhibit were taken from the Brittingham Lantern Slide Collection, which has been digitized and is available through the UW's Digital Collections. The collection consists of the personal and travel photographs of the Brittinghams from the years 1897-1922. These images capture the private lives of a wealthy family at the turn of the century, and document their travels to 22 states and 32 countries.

This collection is a family album of sorts, and subjects range widely from informal pictures of children at play to detailed interior shots of the Brittingham homes. Scenic landscapes, cityscapes, and street scenes from around the world are in abundance. The Brittinghams traveled from the Grand Canyon to Eastern Asia, and everywhere captured particulars of dress, architecture, and locomotion.

The photographs in the collection coincide exactly with the sudden, worldwide proliferation of amateur photographers, and the Brittinghams were certainly poised to play that role: they had both money and free time in abundance. During the late 1800s photography was radically simplified by the development of dry gelatin plates.¹⁵ These plates eliminated the need to have a darkroom immediately available when the picture was taken, enabling portability. They were also able be produced in advance and, therefore, mass-produced. Dry gelatin plates were 6o times more sensitive than wet collodion plates, and the resulting speed granted a freedom from the tripod. The handheld camera was a natural offspring of these circumstances, and the stage was set for the widespread amateur photography craze.

The Kodak camera, introduced in 1888, was the first to employ roll film. It was also the easiest to operate (the Eastman Company's slogan was "You press the button, we'll do the rest"). It is not clear what brand of camera the Brittinghams used, but the existence of both glass and film negatives in the collection suggest there was more than one.