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Keystone View Company lantern slides
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Held at: Millbrook Society [Contact Us]32 North York Road, P.O. Box 506, Hatboro, PA, 19040
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Millbrook Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
"The Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by amateur photographer B.L. Singley of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Singley began his venture by marketing sets of thirty stereo-cards that recorded the flooding of nearby French Creek. Eventually additional photographers were employed and the Keystone View Company became the largest company of its kind concentrating on national and international subjects under 'geographic' and 'social science' headings. The images capture individuals, buildings, and landscapes from around the world. While photographs of statesmen, inventors, and industrialist were included, most of the shots of people are of industrial or rural work scenes.
"The Keystone lantern slides quickly became a popular form of entertainment. The company's collection of images continued to grow and by the 1920's, the company cornered the market, having acquired the collections of several large image publishers. The advent of film and television from the 1930's through 1950's, caused the company to shift its focus from entertainment to education. In 1963 the Mast Development Company purchased the Keystone View Company. By this time there was no longer a market for the slides and production was terminated. From its peak from 1895 through the 1920's Keystone manufactured hundreds of thousands, of slides of its more than 50,000 images."
Bibliography:
Smith, Steven. Finding aid for "Keystone View Company lantern slides." Historical Society of Pennsylvania, collection V-29. Accessed November 23, 2011. http://www.hsp.org/sites/www.hsp.org/files/migrated/findingaidv29keystone.pdf
All of the lantern slides that comprise these collections were produced by the Keystone View Company. The slides depict general scenery, and some include people. The slides are organized by state or country (the collection does not contain scenes specific to the Montgomery County area). The vast majority are in black and white, but several are in color.
Gift of Clifford Ocheltree, circa 1983.
Subject
- Publisher
- Millbrook Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Michael Gubicza through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Millbrook Society for information about accessing this collection.