Historical Scientific Instruments

Lantern Slides in Divisional Holdings

The Yale Peabody Museum’s Division of Historical Scientific Instruments has over 800 lantern slides, many of which contain material for physics lectures. The bulk of lantern slides, however, are of graphs and images from research conducted by physicists and astronomers both at Yale and elsewhere. Included are slides made by Alois Francis Kovarik, William W. Eaton, Samuel P. Langley and William Harkness. Many other slides are photographs of researchers, apparatus and astronomical expeditions.

A small subset of astronomical slides were made by George Ellery Hale (1868–1938). Hale invented the spectroheliograph, a device used to photograph sunspots and solar prominences. Most of these slides were made while Hale was director of the Kenwood Astrophysical Observatory in 1892.

The Yale Peabody Museum’s collections are available to legitimate researchers for scholarly use. Loans are issued to responsible individuals at established institutions. Loans and access to the collection can be arranged through the Collections Manager.

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