Toronto Through the Lens

About the Exhibit

King Street, looking East from N.W. corner of Yonge St. 1878.This exhibition presents the work of professional photographic studios, talented amateurs, and unknown photographers working in Toronto in the latter half of 19th and early 20th century. It gives the viewer a sense of the city's past through the selection of images of Toronto's people, streetscapes and institutions. The photographs are from the Toronto Public Library's Special Collections Centre and include examples that use original photographic processes such as daguerreotypes, albumen prints, gelatin silver prints and stereoscopic photographs

In 1839, five years after the incorporation of the City of Toronto, a report appeared in the Quebec Gazette describing "The New Art of Sun Painting." This was the first printed reference to photography in Canada. The growth of Toronto and the evolution of "the new art" of photography paralleled each other in time, with photography in all its forms, leaving us with a lasting record of our city.

Exhibition Items:

Toronto and the Early Photographers, 1850-1870

Rossin House

York Street, southeast corner King Street. 1867.

Photographer: Octavius Thompson.

"It seems like magic!... We question whether there is a town in the world which has advanced more rapidly than Toronto."
-The Globe, February 5, 1853.

After recovering from the economic depression of the late 1840s, Toronto entered a period of dynamic growth marked by the construction of a number of important public and private institutions including St. Lawrence Hall, 1849-1850; 7th Post Office, 1851-1853; County of York Court House, 1851-1852; Trinity College, 1851-1852; Mechanics' Institute, 1853-1855; Toronto General Hospital, 1853-1856; and Rossin House Hotel, 1855-7.

The strong economy was also reflected in the steady increase in the number of photographers in the city. The city directories show eleven studios active in the 1840s. By the end of the next decade this number had grown to twenty-four and by 1870, over seventy studios were in business. The bulk of their work was portraits, which were enormously popular despite the discomforts for the sitter. A single exposure for a daguerreotype often lasted over half a minute. Almost all portraits were taken and processed in studios because of these long exposures and the technical requirements of the early processes. Photographic technology changed rapidly, each process being replaced in its turn by an easier, more efficient one.

Glimpses of Toronto, 1870-1890

Toronto downtown. ca 1876

Looking northwest from east side of Church Street, just south of Lombard Streets. ca 1876.

Photographer: James Esson.

In 1870, Toronto was on the brink of the industrial age. Growth in the early days of the city had been based on land settlement, and now, fuelled by railway construction, manufacturing began to dominate the development of the city. Between 1871 and 1891, the number of manufacturers rose from 530 to 2401, and the work force increased from 9400 to 26,242. The expanding population provided an ever-widening market for the city's photographers.

The introduction of mass-produced card-mounted paper stereographs created a new market for scenic photographs of Canadian cities and wilderness. Stereographs could be viewed, in three dimensions, with a small-box stereoscope, which soon became common sight in Canadian homes.

Dawn of the Amateur, 1890-1920

Dufferin Gate, Canadian National Exhibition. ca 1907.

Photographer: Joseph A. Blakey.

"The new amateurs owed their existence to significantly improved equipment, which removed photography from the confines of the professional studio. The mass produced gelatin dry plate freed the photographer from recourse to a dark room for sensitization and development every time he exposed a negative."
-L. Koltun, Private Realms of Light: Amateur Photography in Canada 1839-1940.

The face of city was changing as new buildings rose to alter streetscapes. The provincial parliament buildings completed in 1893 now dominated the view looking north up University Avenue. Other structures disappeared: Moss Park, the home of the Allan family for three quarters of a century was demolished in 1903.

Photography was also changing. The roll film camera was developed around 1890, making photography more accessible and popular. In 1888 the Toronto Amateur Photographic Association was founded. Some professional photographers felt that the amateurs posed a threat to their livelihood, while others recognized them as part of a growing market for photographic supplies and services.

The changes allowed greater freedom for photographers at all levels, in particular the amateur. The photographs of Charles A. Williams and Joseph A. Blakey, two important Toronto amateurs represented in this exhibition, demonstrate how important the democratization of photography had become in documenting the day-to-day life and the growth of our city.

School boys at dinner" S.S. No. 7, Scarborough. 1908.

Photographer: Joseph A. Blakey.

Long Branch Theatorium. ca 1915?

Photographer: Charles A. Williams.