• Magic Lantern slides achieve UNESCO recognition
A collection of Magic Lantern slides and documents from The Salvation Army’s historic Limelight Department, now held at the Salvation Army Australia Museum in Melbourne, have been recognised by UNESCO in an inscription ceremony.
The slides were entered in the Memory of the World Register, which recognises items of “significant documentary heritage” for the purpose of “preserving and promoting humanity’s documentary heritage for future generations”.
The Register includes manuscripts, items of oral tradition, library and archive holdings and audio-visual materials, such as the Limelight slides.
The ceremony, held in The Menzies Library at the Australian National University in Canberra on Thursday 28 March, was attended by The Salvation Army Australia Museum Assistant Manager Barry Gittins.
Museum Manager Lindsay Cox and Dr Martyn Jolly, Associate Professor from the School of Art and Design at Australian National University, put together a 55-page submission for consideration by the panel.
The collection includes 357 of the total of about 2000 slides produced by the Limelight Department, some more than 120 years ago. Each one was a size of 80mm x 80mm, and the slides were hand-coloured after being produced using costumed actors on sets designed by the studio staff. When projected for audiences across Australia, the slides were accompanied by live music, singing and narration, and told stories of martyrdom and sacrifice for the sake of the Christian faith.
An additional set of slides numbering about 100 from ‘Soldiers of the Cross’, a multi-media production produced by the Department, also resides in the National Film and Sound Archives in Canberra.
– Kirralee Nicolle
