Rhys,
I was thinking along the same lines as you with regards to the slides... But now I am not as skeptical...
I did find this description for the following inside "Back of Beyond Books" Rare Book Catalogue #14 October 2014, that I think may shed some light...
62. Lantern Slides and Notes for a Program on Luther Burbank
Corwin, Elsie Powers
E.W. Goodrich, Tremont Temple. Boston, MA. Condition: Very Good.
Rare assemblage of hand-colored glass lantern slides for a lecture series on pioneering
horticulturalist Luther Burbank. They are estimated to be mid-1920s based on Corwin’s statements
that they are used “with permission of Burbank from photographs taken at the time the experiments
were made.” Slides are housed in a locking pebbled cloth case with attached key on ribbon and
were produced by E.W. Goodrich of Tremont Temple, Boston. The lecture notes are for 100 but 93
slides are present. Images include photos of Burbank and family, his home and farms, and many
many varieties of plant hybrids. Two brass memorabilia with Burbank’s image include a small pin
(New York: Medallic Art Co.) and a watch fob proclaiming him as “The Wizard of Horticulture,” an
“honor award for meritorious work in introducing Stark-Burbank Fruit Creations.” Burbank’s work
gave us spineless cactus, rainbow chard, apricot-plum crosses, the most widely-grown variety of
Russet potato in the U.S, and hundreds more varieties of food and ornamental flowers. Burbank
viewed his work as humanitarian and in harmony with nature, a perspective that bears interest
in the current ideological arguments regarding newer technologies used in manipulation of plant
genetic material.
Elsie Powers Corwin was a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and is listed in
the Official Register and Directory of Women’s Clubs in America, Volume 15 under “Dramatic
Readers and Recitals” in the list of Official Classified List of Lecturers and Entertainers for the
Use of Program Committees. She lists her credentials as a “Bachelor of Literary Interpretation.”
A folded card accompanies the collection of slides as an advertisement for lectures, and is
labeled “Circular 1935.” Her programs besides “Luther Burbank, Plant Scientist,” included “The
Tournament of Roses,” “California Travelogues,” “Our State Flowers,” “Poems of the Flower World,”
“Shakespeare’s Garden,” and others. Included are three copies of the text that accompanies the
slide program; one is handwritten, the other two are typed carbon copies. Also present are two
drafts of a shorter two page essay by Corwin, “Luther Burbank - An Appreciation.” Written 19 years
after Burbank’s death in 1926, Corwin relates visiting him for the last time in October of 1925. The
handwritten slide transcript is signed on the last page and underneath notes “Property of Mr[s?]
Chas. B. Lewis” of Providence, RI. This is presumed either Dr. Charles B. Lewis, physician and
Director of Health and Physical Education in the Providence public schools, or his wife Mary.
Price: $ 3000
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