# Lantern Slide Collection from Russia



## orlovphoto (Sep 23, 2011)

Question to all who are into vintage photography.

Here is one of the images from a collection of about 600 hand painted lantern slides that I happened to find in someone's basement. The images are all from the winter and spring 1917-18 and the subject matter covers: WWI North-Western front (trenches, soldiers, camps, bunkers), Russia (Moscow a month or so after the revolution, peasants, villages, rural and urban scenes like this one and a lot of images from train stations along the Trans-Siberian railroad) and life and scenes from China and Japan (both city and villages). 80% of the photography is as good as this image - sharp, well composed images of interesting subjects. I know very little about the original photographer other than the fact that he was a pastor and did this trip along with a group of folks from the YMCA (there are few group shots and images of veteran's homes that the Y used to set up during war times). It REALLY seems to me that there is a book in there somewhere, but I have no idea how to orchestrate anything like that.... These images have not been seen in 85+ years since according to legend told to me by the basement owner (granddaughter of the Mr. Rahill) the slides were put away when Socialism became a dirty word here and then never looked at again until the death of Mr. Rahill's daughter - the mother of the lady I got them from, who opened the box once or twice, but never thought much of it other than that she wanted some Russian photographer to help her translate what's on the store signs and so on... Needless to say (me being originally Russian and a current photographer), when I saw them I was really surprised by the find and negotiated a sale. Now I have the slides, the original B&W proo prints (used to select compositions and cropping before making the slides) and, get this, the original Bausch and Lomb dual projector in mint minus condition - looks like the guy might have used it for a couple of years only and even then rarely, even the sliding painted wooden glass holder is not missing any paint where it would rub against the metal when you insert it.
In any case.... Anyone know of a serious place that may be into displaying these or making a book out of them?




49 RUSSIA Y CHILD IN SANI, MOSCOW UNDER QUESTION_Watermark by Anton Orlov, on Flickr

Thanks a lot


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