New Collection of Magic Lantern Slides

In Labrador, the photographic record created by the Moravian Church is well-known. Hans Rollmann, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Memorial University has provided invaluable contributions in the interpretation of that record through publications like the now out of print Labrador Through Moravian Eyes: 250 Years of Art, Photographs & Records and its distillation, “The beginnings of Moravian missionary photography in Labrador“. But long before these publications, missionary-generated photography could be widely found amongst personal and institutional collections throughout Labrador and beyond. Widely dispersed and often lightly described, it is difficult to determine precisely how much photography was created in Labrador, how many different collections of imagery from Labrador exist, and how much duplication there is across these collections.

Item E 51-31 in the Moravian Mission glass plate negative collection (MG 619). This image also exists in Them Days’s archival collection and depicts Harry Webb’s boat with Brass Band in tow. Going out to meet the Harmony. Nain, c. 1910.

We are developing a framework to track imagery as part of our project. The first logical step in developing that framework is to identify what is out there. This month, we shine a light on a digitized collection that was recently brought to our attention: the Moravian Mission glass plate negative collection at The Rooms (Provincial Archives Division). Made up of 384 glass plate negatives taken between the 1880s and 1910s, this uncredited collection is weighted towards portraits and scenes of mission life. Importantly, a number of Inuit and missionaries subjects sitting for portraits in this collection are named.

– Mark David Turner