Magic Lantern Slides in Spain: A Case Study for Media Archaeology

Over the 19^th and 20^th Centuries, sessions that combined the image projection, text recitals and the performance of musical compositions gained significant cultural relevance in Spain. To achieve this, these sessions used a new device referred to by various names, including fantascope, megascope, solar microscope and projection lantern. The term "magic lantern" was eventually coined and the device became synonymous with a very popular social medium. Despite the undoubted influence that this phenomenon had on contemporary Spain, academic studies on the magic lantern have always been scarce. Fortunately, over the last two decades, there has been a change of trend that has enhanced its cultural relevance, largely thanks to the renewal and boost given by media archaeology. In view of the growing scientific interest in a subject as broad as the magic lantern in Spain, after a brief introductory account of the history of the magic lantern in Spain, this article summarizes two studies of content analysis of magic lantern slides distributed throughout Spain’s heritage collections.