Welcome to The Magic Lantern Society

The Magic Lantern Society has a world-wide membership of collectors, enthusiasts, students of film, visual media and popular culture, magicians, artists, performers, scientists and archival organisations from over 30 different countries.

Members’ interests are broad, covering all forms of visual media and optical diversions right up into the 21st century. Our activities include:

• Quarterly meetings in the U.K. with lively performances, informative presentations and a collectors’ market
• An international convention every four years
• Occasional visits to major international exhibitions and archive collections
• A quarterly publication, The Magic Lantern, outlining member activities and recent research
• DVD recordings of our meetings
• Books and other publications on all aspects of lantern history
• An extensive Slide Readings Library of texts that accompanied lantern slides

Members enjoy exclusive discounts on Society books and have full access to the Slide Readings Library and recordings of meetings.

You can Join the Society online.