Shining Light on Fieldwork in the Congo Free State: Belgian Colonial Officer and Explorer Charles Lemaire's Lantern Lectures at the Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp (1898–1906)

Abstract Between 1898 and 1906, Charles Lemaire, a Belgian colonial officer, led two scientific expeditions on behalf of the Belgian King Leopold II in the Congo Free State. He was a lauded speaker at the Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp (SRGA) in Belgium, which regularly invited traveller-explorers to lecture before the Society. Utilising an optical lantern, he projected photographs of his expeditions, vividly bringing the journeys to life for the Society's members—primarily Antwerp's commercial elite, an audience largely composed of scientific laypeople. Starting from the premise that neither Lemaire's position as a scientific expert nor the SRGA's status as a scientific organisation was self-evident, this article examines how scientific legitimacy was constructed within the Society's live events. The article explores how Lemaire's lectures were a form of legitimate scientific communication within the specific temporal and spatial context of the Society. The article investigates Lemaire's strategies in establishing scientific and moral credibility and trust with his audience, by using photographic images projected by the lantern and by fostering a sense of intimate connection between the audience and his fieldwork in the Congo Free State.