The University of Virginia Anatomy Laboratory Lantern Slides collection

Since its first session in 1825, the University of Virginia has included the study of human anatomy in its medical curriculum. The University has constructed a number of anatomical theatres and laboratories to support this study. It also has purchased educational tools and media for use in anatomy classrooms. During the early twentieth century, lantern slides produced by the Keystone View Company and other manufacturers were one kind of educational media that was used to support the instruction of human anatomy at the University of Virginia.

The Keystone View Company, established in 1892 by amateur photographer B.L. Singley, was a distributor of stereographic images and lantern slides. At the height of its success, the Keystone View Company dominated the stereographic image market, operated branch offices in multiple cities, and sent photographers to all corners of the globe.

B.L. Singley initially founded the Keystone View Company in Meadville, Pennsylvania as a vehicle for mass producing and distributing prints of his own photographic works. Six years after the company's founding, Keystone began to produce stereographic images and would rapidly become a leader in this form of media.

By 1905, the Keystone View Company had become a world leader in stereoscopic imagery and sold nearly 20,000 views depicting a wide range of subjects. However, company leaders recognized that popular demand for stereoscopic images would decline as motion pictures became more widely available to the public and sought a new market for their product. Ultimately, the Keystone View Company decided to enter the educational products market. Between 1905 and 1963, the company produced hundreds of educational lantern slide and stereograph sets and aggressively marketed them directly to schools including the University of Virginia.

In 1963, the Keystone View Company, plagued by declining sales, was bought by the Mast Development Company. The Mast Development Company later donated the archives of the Keystone View Company, which consists of over 350,000 photographic and print items, to the University of California Riverside, where they reside today.