Toronto. I learnt a lot about my homeland from Bob Lansdale. Bob was devoted to promoting Canadian photographic inventions, studios, and photographers. When he stewarded our journal, Photographic Canadiana, he went the extra length to research and promote any and all Canadian content.
A case in point was his efforts to research the William Notman studio in Montreal and its success both to the north west and down the eastern seaboard of the states. In Ottawa, Notman was represented by a famous studio, founded by William Topley and continued on by his son, brothers and nephews.
Journal issue 31-3, release at the end of 2005, published a lengthy, well documented article by Thomas Ritchie titled, “William James Topley and Ottawa’s Topley Family of Photographers” followed by a full column of, “Notes and References”.
In the article’s précis, Ritchie writes, “William James Topley (1845 – 1930), his son, his two brothers, and his two nephews were Ottawa photographers whose careers in combination spanned from the decade of Canadian Confederation in 1867 to the third decade of the 20th Century, a time in which Canadians were engaged in the building of a new nation.
“Topley cameras captured images of both eminent and ordinary Canadians, of aboriginals and immigrants, and recorded the activities involved in nation-building. They photographed survey and construction gangs that laid out and built railways, and they pictured the work of the loggers, mill hands, fishermen, farmers and others.
“William Topley’s photographic career started with the gift of a camera from his mother, herself an amateur photographer. His professional skills were acquired in the studio of William Notman of Montreal, accounting for the high quality of his finished images.
“Thousands of Topley photographs are preserved in archives providing a rich record of this country’s history and development.”
The issue is included on the DVD mailed to members. Not a member as yet? Not to worry! See the right sidebar of this page, choose a one or three year membership; pay with your PayPal account (blue bar) or by debit/credit card (black bar) and your DVD will be mailed out to you. Easy Peasy!
NB, the title of this post brought to mind Billy Joel, but it was actually a riff on a line from a song sung by Joe Walsh (one time of the Eagles) titled, “One Day at a Time“. Here is the song as sung by Walsh.
