T.H. McAllister "Dissolving Views" wood-framed lantern slide with black faces as black berries (i)

A hand-tinted (dissolving view) illustration lantern slide of 7 faces of African men, in wooden frame, embossed with the name T. H. McAllister Opticians N.Y. One of a number of racist lantern slides in this period, it features 7 'grotesque' black faces stylised as flowers with leaves in the background. Part One of two, see item number 91291 - a slide of a bunch of 7 'black berries'. McAllister was a leading American family of optical lantern manufacturers. In 1775 John McAllister emigrated to the USA from Scotland and opened there some years later an enlarged optical business in Philadelphia. From 1798 to 1811 the business trades as McAllister & Mattews, then as McAllister & Son. From 1830 the firm traded under the name John McAllister & Co. and possible that was also the start of their work with magic lanterns. By 1846 they were one of the greatest American dealers in magic lanterns and slides. From the early 1900s the New York firm gradually concentrated on professional lanterns and moving picture machines. From 1917 the firm continued until 1942 under the trade name McAllister-Keller Co. Inc. Dissolving view. This image could disappear and be quickly replaced by another (with this set, the 7 faces of African men dissolved into 7 berries). This technique enabled one scene to be gradually faded out by the lanternist, while at the same time another was gradually faded in, giving the effect of a scene slowly changing before the eyes of the audience. During the latter half of the nineteenth century this technique was widely used, using a pair of lanterns side-by-side. Later, particularly after the widespread adoption of limelight illuminants, biunial lanterns (one unit on top of another) were used.