On the Job: How Metro Works – Smith Monument – courtesy of George Dunbar
Toronto. Like all youths, we were very incorrect. When we passed a cemetery for example, it was called a ‘marble orchard’!
In response to a recent post on work photographs (workin’), my friend George Dunbar replied that he sent photographs over a period of time to the Star for articles about work in Toronto, ‘Your “workin’ ” column reminded me of a series (94 photos) I did for the Toronto Star 30 years ago. It was titled. “On the Job: How Metro Works.”‘
Contributions to a newspaper of the day is just one example of how photographers and photography contributed to local history. Years from now, newspaper archives will proudly display the photographs of the time alongside text.
To his email, George added a single photo. By chance the photo was about a cousin of ours and his family business! The business, Smith Monument Co Ltd, was illustrated by the massive inventory of marble ready for monuments or grave boundary markers. Many of the stones Smith used were from a quarry in Quebec. At Smith, the stones were selected, shaped, polished, and engraved as specified before being placed in the cemetery. Small world.
