ITHACA, N.Y. -- A collection of glass lantern slides that provides a snapshot of the history of design through the 1950s and 1960s, from prefabricated housing to room interiors and furniture, has been donated to Cornell University's Rare and Manuscript Collections at Kroch Library. The slides document the work of Ruby Loper, New York state's first female extension architect.

Many of the slides -- positive transparencies sandwiched between two 3 1Ž4-inch by 4-inch glass plates -- are thought to have been taken by Cornell photographer Jon Troy and used by Loper both for teaching and research. Loper worked at Cornell from 1946 to 1967 and died in 1990.

The slide collection has been cataloged by Cornell undergraduate Dorothy Williams-Neagle, a junior from Bonnieville, Ky., majoring in design and environmental analysis (DEA) and working as a research assistant for Jan Jennings, associate professor of DEA. "Loper helped farm families attain appropriate housing, conducted building technology seminars for building-trades people, assisted in planning extension headquarters and worked on plans for community food service facilities," says Williams-Neagle.

Jennings is interested in the slides for her U.S. Department of Agriculture Hatch Grant project to assemble a photographic database of ordinary houses and interiors in remote parts of the country from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.

Loper, besides being a benefactor to the College of Human Ecology, served on national housing committees and authored housing-related articles for extension and architectural, engineering, home economics and commercial magazines.

"Her slides give us a visual presentation of the thorough and multifaceted work that she did while at Cornell, in which she established her authority and taught all-male audiences in the building trades," says Williams-Neagle, who researched Loper's career from materials in the Cornell archives in Kroch Library. "Cataloging these slides was a fantastic opportunity for me as I was able to view first-hand these images, which provide a unique window into the history of design."

Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release.

o The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library:

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ .

o Jan Jennings: http://www.human.cornell.edu/faculty/facultybio.cfm?netid=jj20&facs=1

o Department of Design and Environmental Analysis:

http://www.human.cornell.edu/dea/index.cfm