Glass Lantern Slides of Spokane Parks

Skating, Manito Park. 

Spokane City Parks, Lantern Slides, 1900-1930 is a collection at the Washington State Archives, Digital Archives. Magic Lanterns were the predecessors of the slide projector. The slide was a glass plate, and light was projected through it via a light source that could be anything from a kerosene lamp to an early light bulb. From the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century most lantern slides were black and white photographic prints on glass, often colorized by hand painting.

This slide is labeled simply "Winter Scene, Spokane."

Collection description: This collection of 123 glass lantern slides shows the City of Spokane and Spokane Parks between 1900 and 1930. Images include Liberty Park, Manito Park, Cliff Park, Franklin Park, Glass Park, A. M. Cannon Playfield, Cannon Hill Park, Corbin Park, Hay’s Park, Bowl and Pitcher, Indian Canyon Park, Palisades Park, picnics, swimming pools, playgrounds, winter scenes, Native Americans, and the Spokane River. Most of these images were used in Spokane promotional literature and several appear in the Report of the Board of Park Commissioners, Spokane, Washington, 1891-1913.

Wading Pool, Liberty Park

Though the collection is labeled 1900-1930, my best guess is that most of the slides are from around 1900. It is a great collection for Spokane history buffs, depicting the early evolution of Spokane parks, The slides show the major parks, greenhouses, but also some random other things such as a map of the park system and a few Spokane mansions and civic buildings. A lot of the slides feature Indian Canyon, including this image of teepees in winter:

Winter, Indian Canyon Park

There are over 100 images in the collection, enjoy!