After the banquet Mike Kusko, District 1 Forester, presented some lantern slides of forestry scenes in the area that he had recently received. Lantern slides are 3 by 4 inch glass plates with an image either engraved on the plate or film sandwiched between slides. In the days before modern digital projectors or 35 mm slide projectors lantern slides were the most popular way to project images for an audience.
For the evening's show an overhead projector was jury rigged. It wasn't quite bright enough, though. Several people brought old magic lantern projectors. As these were mostly kerosene powered, it was impossible to use them indoors!
Norm Lacasse demonstrates the use of the projector.
Lantern slide shows were commonly used to promote conservation and reforestation in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. Both Joseph T. Rothrock and Mira Lloydd Dock have many slide shows over the years. Almost 500 of Dock's slides have been preserved at the Penn State Mont Alto Library. They have been scanned and posted on a website for all to see. Peter Linehan brought several of the slides to show, including this hand-tinted scene taken near the South Mountain Sanitorium overlooking Mont Alto and the Cumberland Valley.
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