Press Releases28 Aug 13

RCB Library Lantern Slide Mystery Solved – Coverage by the BBC

Followers of the RCB Library’s Archive of the Month initiative will be interested to know that today (28 August 2013) on television BBC Newsline will bring the story of the Killaloe lantern slide photographer to a conclusion. The story is also aired on the BBC website with examples from the collection at this link entitled ‘Mystery photographer steps out from behind the lens’:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23061273

BBC journalist Francis Gorman visited the RCB Library recently and filmed Dr Susan Hood telling the story of how the slides were found and the research that was undertaken to identify who took them over 100 years ago, following the lead provided by his BBC colleague Dave Culbert. (Image above: Filming the Killaloe Lantern Slide story are right to left, Dr Susan Hood, RCB Library, Francis Gorman, BBC, JJ Fitzgibbon of the Magic Lantern Society and his wife Breda Fitzgibbon.)

The news story also includes an interview with JJ Fitzgerald, a magic lantern expert from New Ross County Wexford, and one of the few Irish members of the Magic Lantern Society who made available his own lantern slide projector to show the RCB Library collection, and also Patricia Bogue, of Donaghmore Historical Society, County Tyrone, who helped to confirm that the slides are the work of David Brown, a soap and candle manufacturer from that village, who ran the Donaghmore Soapworks, then the largest such business in Ireland and famous for their McClinton and Colleen Soap brands.

As a successful entrepreneur, Brown had the means to indulge in expensive hobbies like photography and was also able to afford to travel widely. Evidence shows he was an adventurous but also deeply spiritual man, whose Holy Land journey in 1897 – the subject of some 76 slides – had a profound effect on him.

The full background is provided on this permanent link on the Church of Ireland website: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/174while the BBC news story will bring the story to life today, Wednesday 28 August 2013.