2025 Philadelphia Lantern Slide Salon

Celebrate Archives Month Philly at the Wagner as we showcase glass lantern slides from six local special collections!

In the spirit of lantern exhibition culture, this salon will bring together unique and rarely-seen images presented in the context for which they were originally created. Viewers will join two scientists on their 1937 trip to Mexico to conduct fieldwork, witness the emergence of a new parish in 1919 North Philadelphia, experience the beginning days of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, get a glimpse of the inner-workings of famed stained glass artist Nicola D'Ascenzo and his studio, and so much more!

This salon will include presentations from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the American Philosophical Society, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, New Jersey State Archives, and the Wagner Free Institute of Science.

Admission is free to everyone and donations are welcome to support our mission. Registration is recommended but not required. Learn more and register below!