Lantern Slide Collection of Wilbur A. Fiske

A set of 1,122 lantern slides from the collection of Wilbur A. Fiske, who was the head of the Department of Geology at Occidental College from approximately 1905 until 1913. The collection includes a mixture of photographic images (672) , diagrams (174) , portraits of scientists (26) , and maps (95) , plus slides of aerial photographs from two different commercial providers (97 slides from Spence Air Photo, and 61 from Geo-Aero-Photo, Oklahoma City, Okla. ). 85 slides are of images that appear to have been photographed from books or scientific papers given visible figure captions or other evidence of printed publications in them (although more slides may be photographs from publications, but it wasn't possible to make that determination). Slides credited to Fiske are dated from 1906-1910; the slides from Spence Air Photo are dated from 1928 and 1938; and the slides from Geo-Aero-Photo are dated from 1937-1941. All lantern slides are black and white except for five slides that are at least partially hand-colored. Overall very good. 42 slides are cracked. Wilbur Adrian Fiske was born in the 1860s in Indiana and was educated at Fort Wayne College and DePaul University, with some graduate work at Harvard. He taught high school in Indiana prior to moving to California. His research interests included the flora and geology of the High Sierras and Catalina Island, in addition to education. He was head of the Department of Geology at Occidental College from approximately 1905 until 1913 when he resigned to accept the position of direction of the Chaffey Library Foundation associated with the Chaffey Union High School and the Chaffey Junior College. Fiske died in 1927. The collection consists mostly of images that Fiske took himself (723 of the slides are credited to Fiske) , plus an additional 13 slides where only the slide was credited to Fiske. Of the Fiske-credited slides, they include photography (437) , diagrams (115) , images of scientists (25) , and maps (79). Additional slides likely should be credited to Fiske but were not labeled as such, although it is a reasonable inference to do so since many of these slides have the same subjects as slides explicitly credited to Fiske. 118 of the Fiske-credited slides are dated with dates between 1906-1910, with 17 dated 1906, 21 dated 1907, 108 dated 1908, 57 dated 1909, and 7 dated 1910. Of the slides not explicitly credited to Fiske (but likely taken by Fiske) , 44 have dates between 1905 and 1910. The photography slides were taken mostly in California, where Fiske lived and worked, or Indiana, where he was raised. The California images include 120 of the Sierra Nevada Mountains including 59 labeled from Yosemite National Park or landmarks within the park, many of coastal scenes, and several of a landslide near Occidental College on the Los Angeles Railroad line. Other California locations include Tick Canyon, Arroyo Seco, Mono Lake, and Mount Shasta. Other locations identified in the slides include Yellowstone National Park (10 slides) , Garden of the Gods (Colorado) , Devils Tower (Wyoming) , Grand Canyon (Arizona) , Mt Hood (Oregon) , Mt Saint Helens (Washington) , several scenes along the Canadian Pacific Railroad, Niagara Falls, and Alaska. The set of 146 paleontology slides covers the history of life from the Paleozoic to the Pleistocene. It includes 93 diagrams or illustrations, consisting mostly of illustrations of organisms when alive or drawings of fossils, and includes 48 images that possibly are of images from books or scientific papers, and 51 photographs, including photographs of fossil invertebrates and vertebrate skeletons, and 26 slides labeled as from La Brea Rancho. The La Brea images include shots of the fossil quarries and excavations, the ponds, the ranch house, and of mounted or displayed fossils. An additional 52 slides relate geologic history, the majority of which are maps showing the locations of exposures of rocks of specific geologic ages. Sixty-nine of the slides relate to glacial geology (both continental glaciation and valley glaciers) , and include a few from Alaska and the Great Lake region. Many of the Sierra Nevada slides also have glacial themes.103 slides include coastal scenes, mostly of locations in California including Balboa, Catalina Island, San Pedro, and Point Fermin. Eolian (wind-deposited) subjects are included in 54 slides, many of which are identified as being from Dune Park in Indiana (which may be the present-day Indiana Dunes National Park) , or Hermosa, California. Twenty-one slides relate to structural geology such as faults, fold or earthquakes, and 26 address volcanic subjects. Fluvial (rivers and streams) images include at least 10 related to Niagara Falls. There are 17 slides that are photographs of rock or mineral samples. Other subjects include mining or quarrying, lakes, railroads, waterfalls or rivers, and landscapes, particularly of unique features such as spires. The portraits of scientists are labeled (except for one) , and show scientists from the 18th century through the early 20th century including Charles Darwin, Daniel Rutherford, and Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev. The diagrams include figures include a few that appear to have been hand drawn or otherwise made by Fiske himself, but at least 59 appear to have been photographed out of a book or scientific paper. Topics include nearly the full range of subjects within this collection. There are a few commercial slides in this collection (not including the aerial photographs) , including one by W. H. Lawrence & BS Turpin, Trinity Place, Mass. The aerial photographs may not be related to Fiske because they appear to mostly have been taken after his death. There are a handful of other slides, particularly of volcanoes, that appear to date from a period later than the Fiske-credited slides. Spence Air Photos was located in Los Angeles and was in operation between 1918 and 1971. The slides in this collection are dated between 1928 and 1938. Robert Spence took oblique low altitude black and white aerial photographs. A variety of locations, such as Ubehebe Crater (Death Valley) , Grand Canyon, Little Colorado River, Saratoga Springs, Boulder Dam, the Colorado River Delta, Mount Whitney and other locations, mostly in California, are included in these images. Geo-Aero-Photo, located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was a commercial dealer of lantern slides that was identified in pamphlets published by the US Office of Education between 1937 and 1941 on Sources of Visual Aids for Instructional Use in Schools. The Geo-Aero-Photo slides have labels with detailed descriptions and include images that are oblique, high oblique, vertical, high vertical, and mosaic. Locations include West Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Florida, Louisiana, California, New Jersey, Quebec, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Subjects are variable, ranging from structural geology to coastal geology to glacial geology. Four slides are from a physical geography set, and one slide is from a human geography set. The slides are undated, but one image identifies the Boulder Dam site, but neither the dam nor the reservoir are visible, so that image is likely from the early 1930s. An impressive collection of lantern slides presenting the study of geology and paleontology. .