This image archive comprises digitised versions of a collection of lantern slides which date from between 1900 and 1939. The majority of the images are of the commons, forests, parks and open spaces which the society campaigned to save in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Lantern slides were a useful way of illustrating talks and lectures and will have been used to support the case made by the society seeking protection for the open spaces. The collection provides an insight into the activities of the society at this time which have resulted in some amazing landscapes protected to this day.
Many of the slides feature scenes from the South East of England as at that time the society was concerned with preserving commons on the edge of London, many of which exist as greenbelt now.
The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL) 2020-2021 Open Spaces Society Fellow Dr Katrina Navickas, has carried out a research project to investigate and map the lantern slide collection - read her blog about this fascinating and informative analysis.
Watch this film of the 'Whose landscapes?' Open Spaces Society Symposium from September 2021.
The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society. It is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. Its founders and early members included John Stuart Mill, Lord Eversley, Sir Robert Hunter and Octavia Hill. The last two founded the National Trust in 1895 along with Canon Rawnsley.
Lord Eversley, as George Lefevre, was a Liberal MP and became a junior minister at the Board of Trade in Gladstone’s government. He held a variety of posts including Commissioner of Works. He opened Hampton Court Park, Kew Gardens and Regent’s Park to the public.
Over the last century the society has preserved commons for the enjoyment of the public. It has also been active in protecting the historical and vital rights-of-way network through England and Wales.
The society has shared its collection of 19th century legal case papers and around a thousand lantern transparencies of English landscapes from around 1900-40 with The MERL.
A handlist for the whole collection held by The MERL can be found here.
The MERL have also compiled a History of the Open Spaces Society available as an online exhibition.
