VPRS 8360 Numbered Lantern Slides

This series appears to have been created by the Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners as a consolidated slide display on the progress of Port of Melbourne in the second half of the 19th and in the early 20th century. The theme of the slides is provided by the second slide of the P1 consignment, entitled 'The Progress of the Port of Melbourne.'This series of slides was located in close proximity to an unnumbered accumulation of slides. it would appear that both VPRS 8360 Numbered Lantern Slides and VPRS 8361 Unnumbered Lantern Slides were originally part of the same group but at some early stage the slides belonging to VPRS 8360 were selectively separated into a single unit and then maintained in isolation. The unnumbered slides grew in volume over subsequent years but the numbered sequence remained static. It is because of this original intellectual and physical division between the slides that two separate series have been registered.The slides are black and white, with the exception of one, which is colourized. The pictorial subject matter covered by the slides includes the following:* aerial views of the Port of Melbourne* maps of the Port of Melbourne and surrounding areas* working docks (loading/unloading of cargo)* factory sites* construction* shipping* lighthouses* divers* warships* engineering drawings of wharves, canals, shedsEach of the slides has been numbered in a numerical sequence, probably reflecting the order in which the slides were to be shown. No control record had been identified at the time of transfer. In some instances numerical duplication exists, but there is no duplication of the subjects of the slides. Two slides appear to be missing; numbers 16 and 68.Some of the contents of this series were used to illustrate Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners' publications.The series date range remains undetermined as it is not certain as to when the slides were created. Further research is required to determine a date range for this series. The date range attributed has been inputed from the agencies' start date.Digitised representations of these records were created by PROV during 2011 to enable public access.