Signedon slides: E.W. GOODRICH, TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON
Inscribedon top of the box in pencil: microcamera / Geology Dept 1933
card found inside of box: Lantern slides from / Geology Dept. Jan 29, 1979 / from Mrs. Eaglestill - Librarian at Geology —— / A number are of a micro-/ photographic setups designed / & built in 1933 ——
Historical AttributesImages are of a precision micro-camera designed by L. C. Graton and built by the Mann Instrument Company of Cambridge, Mass. in 1933. Professor Graton was a geologist at Harvard in the 1930s.
Photographs include those of specimens that were likely cut, prepared, and polished by Canadian-born African American Charles S. Fletcher on the Graton-Vanderwilt polishing machine.
Primary SourcesA detailed description of the camera depicted in these slides was published by the inventors:
L. C. Graton and E. B. Dane, Jr., "A Precision, All-Purpose Microcamera," Journal of the Optical Society of America 27, 355-375 (1937).
A briefer account is found in L.C. Graton, "Technique in Mineralogy at Harvard", in Journal of the Mineralogical Society of America, vol. 22, pp. 491-516. Available online clicking here.
ProvenanceFrom the Geology Department, Harvard University, Jan. 29, 1979.