Category Archives: history

Vieux Montreal

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar writes, “Plenty of wonderful archived images for viewing and sale at this site: https://www.shorpy.com/. George used the photo at left of Jacques Cartier Square c1900 in Old Montreal as an example of the interesting and historic photos available … Continue reading →

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king of the heap

Posted on October 14, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. A game we played as kids was “King of the Castle”. The young kids struggled to get on the top of the pile – the others were all  “dirty rascals”. The idea of the game applied to many industries, … Continue reading →

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sweet!

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. The January 1956 ad for Graflex in Popular Mechanics magazine was typical of the photography ads of the time. The ad touted Graflex products as ideal for colour images. Not mentioned was that colour transparencies and electronic flash were … Continue reading →

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the man speaks for himself

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Karsh emigrated to Ottawa where he became a famous Canadian photographer. He was interviewed by the ICP many times and you can hear the recordings of his interviews in this article posted on December 23, 2018 by Christopher George. … Continue reading →

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digging in

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Photo historians are blessed with a rich source of photographic history – a community archive of photographs from long ago local studios. The names and often addresses paint a picture of the community as it grew. Verification can often … Continue reading →

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entertainment in the late 1800s

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Did you ever wonder how people amused themselves before movies, radio, television, etc? Books, newspapers, and stereo cards? Well thanks to the Megalethoscope, patented in 1862 by Swiss born Carlo Ponti, people could also be entertained (and educated) by … Continue reading →

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tribute to a couple of Ws

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. Keystone is a familiar name to members of the PHSC. As publishers of stereo view cards and sets (at one time), their wares are seen at many PHSC fairs. At left is a shot of one of the Keystone … Continue reading →

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an innovator called Karl

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. You have likely used his designs or innovations, especially if you took photographs last century with smaller roll film cameras (127 and 35mm) or used an SLR. A young Dutchman, Johan Steenbergen, moved to Dresden in 1912 where he … Continue reading →

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help!

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. At a recent PHSC auction, one lot of photographs included the photo at left. The lady seems to be wearing an unusual costume with what looks like padded bloomers. Also, the lady seems to have vaguely Oriental facial features. … Continue reading →

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a debt unpaid

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Robert

Toronto. … promise made is a debt unpaid … as Robert Service wrote in his 1907 epic Yukon poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee“. Service was born in England and lived in many places, including Canada (he once worked for … Continue reading →

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