Edward S. Curtis commissioned the Edward H. Kemp Lantern Slides Company of San Francisco, California to produce 3-x-4 inch Hand-Colored Glass Lantern Slides copied from his original glass negatives used in his “Musicale” presentations. 

The “Musicale,” the first-of-its-kind multi-media production, meshed Curtis’s Hand Colored Glass Lantern Slides with live music based on his wax-cylinder recordings of language and music. Curtis personally narrated each performance.

Curtis devised the “Musicale” (or “Picture Opera”) after J. P. Morgan’s sponsorship ended in 1911.  At that time he had only completed eight of the projected 20 Volumes of The North American Indian and he needed to raise money to continue his field work.

Only one complete set of the Curtis Glass Lantern Slides is known to exist—it’s held by The Morgan Library in New York City.