by Andrew Aronstein, Operations Manager
Late last year, a very special collection of photographic images unexpectedly entered our offices. While magic lantern slides have remained somewhat of an oddity, often underappreciated in the sports collecting world, the grouping of 57 unique slides we inspected that day was highly impressive. Before us sat an array of original lantern slides, mostly featuring the 1914 Cleveland Naps, the majority of which had clearly been produced from original negatives shot by a professional photographer. We now understand that photographer to be Cleveland-based lensman Frank W. Smith, who shot for the Cleveland Plain Dealer during the 1910’s. We may never understand their true intent, but the quality of Smith’s work prompted us to produce one-of-a-kind, 8×10 prints that will accompany every slide in this auction. Winning bidders may then enjoy these fantastic images anytime, in a larger format afforded by the slides themselves. We’re incredibly excited to offer this collection which includes a never-before-seen, hand-colored, action image of Shoeless Joe Jackson sliding into home plate at League Park. Other highlights include an astonishingly detailed portrait image of Joe Jackson, several examples featuring Nap Lajoie, a young Ray Chapman, Ty Cobb, and many others.
Magic lantern slides are curious things, predating the invention of photography by approximately 200 years. While the first magic lantern slides were hand-painted during the 1600’s, photographic slides began to appear in America around 1850 and were utilized well into the early 20th century.
Magic lantern slides as sports collectors understand them today are in-fact real photographs, developed using silver gelatin emulsion applied to glass panels rather than photo paper. Once developed, these transparent photographs would be projected through a “magic lantern,” best described as a predecessor to the modern slide projector. Unlike glass plate negatives where the emulsion is fully exposed, magic lantern slides utilize two pieces of glass sandwiched together, effectively protecting the positive image in the center. According to the Smithsonian Institution Archive’s blog:
“Photographic lantern slides took off in the late 19th century as a popular form of entertainment, and in addition to educators, missionaries and salespeople soon began to use magic lantern slides to visually entice the audience while educating, spreading their messages, and peddling their wares. In this sense, lantern slides were a kind of precursor to the Power Point presentations we’re all so familiar with now.”
When the collection of nearly 60 original magic lantern slides, each measuring 3.25” x 4”, entered our offices late last year they raised a lot of questions. Emerging directly from the estate of Frank W. Smith, a staff photographer shooting for both the Cleveland Leader and Cleveland Plain Dealer during the 1910’s, the big questions were –– when were these images shot and what use would a professional photographer shooting for a newspaper have for magic lantern slides?
As far as we know, the first of Smith’s original work entered the hobby in 2015. A significant collection of photographs compiled into what appeared to be a personal album, with images picturing legends like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Nap Lajoie, Christy Mathewson, and others. Astonishingly, virtually every photo in the album included a signature from the player depicted, including Shoeless Joe Jackson whose example sold for $179,250 in that sale, and then sold again in Oct. 2021 for an astonishing $1.47 million. Now the record price for a signed sports photo.
Given the personal nature of the signed photos, it seems Smith had direct access to the players and they were happy to oblige his signature requests. In examining the glass magic lantern slides set for LOTG’s Spring Premier Auction, we found many to include inscriptions providing context to the images. It’s our conjecture that Smith created these slides for his own personal use, and not for commercial purposes. Research into relevant newspaper archives has revealed that Smith actually traveled with the team to their spring training camps on at least five separate occasions. We even found several examples between 1912-15 where both the Cleveland Leader and Plain Dealer announced to it’s readers that Smith would be headed south with a staff writer to help cover the Naps during the spring. One such announcement published in the Cleveland Leader on March 1, 1912 stated:
“Pictures of the players, veterans, and recruits, in action and repose will be snapped during daily practices by Frank Smith and will be rushed North to give local fans a true idea of how their favorites are doing.”
Digging much deeper we discovered an image of catcher Steve O’Neill, published on March 29, 1914 that is a perfect image match for O’Neill’s slide in our spring auction. Further images we found published during March of 1914 are directly related to images found in the collection of slides but were clearly snapped a moment or two before or after those present. One such slide depicts the Naps sitting on a set of bleachers arranged to form the word “NAP.” Upon close inspection Joe Jackson can clearly be seen sitting second from the left in the top row. Another depicts Naps manager, Joe Birmingham speaking with a gypsy named Lola Zigora who predicted he’d have “much luck” in the upcoming season (she was way off). Smith inscribed the corresponding slide, noting “Birmy has his fortune told.”
Further evidence the slides hail from 1914 came in the form of images depicting first basemen that trained with the Naps that spring but failed to make the roster, including journeyman John Knight and one Gene Paulette –– the first man permanently banished from baseball by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. In addition, a slide depicting Ray Chapman has been inscribed: “This picture was taken two hours before Chapman broke his ankle at this base.” An event that occurred on March 11 in 1914.
Amusingly, the Plain Dealer published a blurb in jest on March 3, 1914, seemingly corresponding with an image on a slide in this collection and presumably something Smith would have gotten a chuckle out of it.
In looking at the astonishing, hand-colored example of Joe Jackson sliding into home plate we realized that the left-field stands are eerily void of spectators. The Naps were facing the Chicago White Sox that day and stitching these clues together enabled us to zero in on a probable date for the game. After some diligent research we’re confident the image hails from a September 5, 1914 contest where Jackson’s teammate, Jay Kirke, launched a sac fly to score Shoeless Joe from third base in the bottom of the first inning. It would be the first game of a double header –– a makeup after the previous day’s affair was called on account of frost.
We’ve established that the vast majority of slides in the collection were shot in 1914 but their intended purpose remains a mystery for now. Frank Smith was clearly a man who relished the opportunity to photograph his local Naps, and through what remains of his original material it’s clear he developed a good rapport with the men and teams he covered. It seems likely that Smith personally created these slides as a remembrance of his trip in 1914 and a great way to entertain friends and colleagues with slideshows of his exploits. We may never know for sure but over a hundred years later his images still endure, happily rediscovered by a modern collecting public appreciative of his work.