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Song Catcher: Magic Lantern Show
A Magic Lantern Show


ALONG WITH RECORDING the voices of her subjects, Frances Densmore took numerous photos on her trips to tribal lands. She incorporated these still pictures into her lectures and talks in the form of "magic lantern shows" - precursors to the slide shows and multimedia presentations of today.

Building from a lecture given in 1935, and combining photos from a number of archives with audio from some of Densmore's own recordings and other sources, we present a hypothetical Densmore presentation. Playing the role of Frances Densmore in the audio portions is actress Brenda Wehle.



QuickTime Movies

This set of movies displays the sights and sounds of Frances Densmore's field work. (See our help page for more information about using QuickTime movies.)

1 Music or Misery?
2 Three Remarkable Indians
3 Minnesota Ojibwe
4 The Sun Dance Remembered
5 Relations with Indians



Web Magic Lantern Show

The content for the Web magic lantern show is the same as for the QuickTime movies but with fewer images. Streaming audio (RealAudio 2.0 14.4) is available to accompany the slides. It is fairly easy to judge when to click to the next slide as you listen. Every few slides a new audio file is offered for you to play. (See our help page for more information about using RealAudio.)

1 One Man's Music Is Another Man's Misery
2 No Form of Written Music
3 No Applause and No Pay
4 Owl Woman
5 Tatanka Hoksila (Buffalo Boy)
6 Siyaka's Song
7 Waiting to Record Their Songs
8 Lives Among the Birch and Pine
9 Little Spruce
10 Big Bear
11 Recording a Song
12 Saving for Posterity
13 Summer of 1911
14 Sundance
15 Adopted by Red Fox
16 Celebrating New Relations
17 Pan Plays a Flute
18 Office at Fort Yates
19 Obtaining Information




Song Catcher