Antique A.L. Simpson of Simpson's Celebrated Slides, New York, Magic Lantern Slide: Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean

*Please note that only the slide is for sale and not the wire stand in which it is displayed.

This Simpson's Celebrated Slides antique slide, 4" x 3 ¼", is circa 1800s and produced by A.L. Simpson of New York City.

Rick Altman, in the book Silent Film Sound, writes about illustrated song slides:

As a vaudeville attraction, the illustrated song would have to wait until the mid-1890s. Sung by Allen May to photos of Brooklyn photographer George H. Thomas, the 1894 hit 'The Little Lost Child' sold over two million sheet music copies. Soon many others were dressing up their song routines with slides, including Alonzo Hatch, the Silvers, and Maxwell and Simpson, as well as Meyer Cohen and Charles K. Harris, who both claimed to have originated the genre. By the end of the century, illustrated songs were a vaudeville fixture. In this early period, sixteen to twenty slides would be used to illustrate each song. Photographed in black and white with live models staged to represent the words of the song, the slides would then be hand-colored and projected while a singer belted out the lyrics. Audiences would usually be invited to join in the chorus, reading the words off the screen. At first commissioned and given away by music publishers, slides were eventually produced by a small number of specialized firms (Chicago Transparency Co., A.L. Simpson, Dewitt C. Wheeler, Scott and Van Altena) and distributed for a modest feel through slide exchanges modeled on their film counterparts. At the height of the sheet music craze and at a formative moment for phonograph records, illustrated songs played an important role in marketing popular music to the masses.

Thank you to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_the_Gem_of_the_Ocean for the following information on "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean."

"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" is a United States patriotic song which was popular during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, especially during the Civil War era.[1] It functioned as an unofficial national anthem in competition with "Hail, Columbia" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" until the latter's formal adoption as the national anthem of the United States in 1931. For many years, the song's melody was used as the Voice of America's interval signal.

"Columbia" was a common poetic nickname for the United States of America in the 19th century. The United States was often represented in illustrations and cartoons as a heroic female figure named Columbia dressed in flag-like bunting. Other nations used similar figures, notably the French Marianne and the British Britannia.

*Please note that only the slide is for sale and not the wire stand in which it is displayed.

Thank you for looking.