Österreichische Zeitschrift für VolkskundeAlbums Die ersten 1.000 Dias

Lights off, spotlight on: 1,000 glass slides and the first slide lectures of the Volkskundemuseum Wien

The first 1,000 slide numbers in the inventory of the Volkskundemuseum Wien (Austrian Museum of Folk Art and Folk Life) were primarily produced between 1900 and 1927 for (popular) scholarly slide lectures, often focusing on geographical and cultural aspects of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. As early as around 1900, many of these glass slides were used by museum staff in so-called "sciopticon lectures" (from Greek dia = through, skopein = to look). However, a systematic cataloguing and inventorying of the slides only began around 1915. The corresponding entries are usually limited to a brief description of the depicted subject. Additional information – such as details on production or use – is almost entirely lacking.

Only the clear thematic structure of the inventory book provides clues about the content of the lectures illustrated by these images. Lecturers with backgrounds in folklore studies – such as Michael Haberlandt (1860–1940), Arthur Haberlandt (1889–1964), Rudolf Trebitsch (1876–1918), Marianne Schmidl (1890–1945), and Konrad Mautner (1880–1924) – presented their slide shows primarily at the Wiener Urania, the University of Vienna, various associations, and at the Volkskundemuseum Wien itself. After the founding of the State Office for Adult Education (Volksbildungsamt) in 1919, the slides were increasingly used in educational courses for teachers.