Library Guide to 35 mm Slides

A tiny transparent image from a roll of 35 mm film housed in a simple cardboard or plastic frame is a marble to behold even though it might not look like much. 35 mm slides, a photograph in which one can hold within the palm of their hand, was a much popular type of photograph from the mid-20th century. Today the medium of 35 mm slides is virtually obsolete, however this does not mean that there are not millions of pre-existing slides from the 1930s up until the early 2000s. Many people both within the library, museum, and archive worlds as well as other worlds like academia and domestic end up coming across and having to interact with 35 mm slides or related slide formats today. 

The goal of this library guide is to provide resources on the history of 35 mm slides as well as preservation methods for the slides themselves. This is geared towards those who have common across 35 mm slides before, those who have worked with them, and those who are either curious about 35 mm slides or might have to work with them within the future. The resources range from academic articles from journals to various print and web sources. The wide range of resources in this guide allows not only the academic researcher or student and professional who is interested in this topic to learn about 35 mm slides but also the everyday person whose interest has been piqued by this medium.