cheese boxes c1870 – tintype from LAC collection
Toronto. First, let me say a happy July 4th to our friends south of our border on behalf of the PHSC! Enjoy your holiday, folks.
The photos of box making in the 1870s are interesting in many ways: a record of work; taken by natural light (indoor shots); and taken as tintypes. Today, boxes or packings are made of other materials, not wood. Image collectors seek out scenes of workshops, factories, etc.
The tintype, an offshoot of wet-plate, dry-plate photography (the collodion process) is very cheap to make and strong enough to mail but most collectors have a few kicking around.
The ones in this article are unique and were added to the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection. The workshop shown was in a small Ontario village (100 souls in the 1870 period) and the workshop was identified by other photographs. The photographer who took the tintypes remains a mystery.
Editor Bob Lansdale explains in issue 37-4 of our journal (early 2012), “The information is in the detail. The larger this picture is increased then the better the details of information gleaned in regards to the making of cheese boxes in Maberly, Ontario in the 1870s.
“Tintypes are a rarity when it comes to recording industry so Guy Tessier of Library and Archives Canada chose these images as a highlight of his career during 33 years at the LAC. You will find the full story on page 4 with three pages devoted to the story.”
The detailed and well researched article on the box making tintypes is in issue 37-4 as notes earlier. Issue 37-4 was mailed to the members back then – or if members joined more recently, on the DVD we mailed (covers Photographic Canadiana volumes 1 – 40). Not a member? Just follow the steps to the right, or view the MEMBERSHIP menu item above. Sign up and the DVD will be sent to you via snail mail.
