portrait of Walter Carsen c1996 by Robert Lansdale
Toronto. As camera collectors, did you ever wonder how the instruments you cherish and lust after made it here as new products to be marketed by retail shops across our nation? For example, I recall the late Bill Belier telling me J F Hartz imported optical instruments wholesale including Leitz microscopes.
When Leitz introduced the Leica camera, Hartz decided not to import their cameras or camera lenses. Walter Carveth stepped into the breach becoming the importer of Leitz cameras and accessories along with Minox products, etc.
Bill himself (after WW2) was a rep for camera products, eventually becoming president of a small private importer. In issue 22-4 of the journal, Bob Lansdale wrote up his interview with a retired Walter Carsen. The article is titled, “50 Years Ago” and covers the saga of the post war camera import business in Canada in general and the Carsen group in particular.
Bob begins his report, “At the end of the Second World War in 1945 and with the return of troops to civilian life, there was a need to find consumer goods to fill the empty markets.
“In the photographic field, locating new equipment initiated a scramble to establish Canadian companies who could import and distribute scarce products that could be found throughout the world. During the war “the camera exchange” was the only source to purchase useable equipment that had been traded in by others.
“In 1946 Walter Carsen, being demobilized from the Canadian. Army, had to decide how he was going to make a living. He had the luck to accompany a delegation of the Toronto Chamber of Commerce as it toured Europe. It was during this trip that Walter renewed business contacts with some of the manufacturers in France, Germany and England whom he had known prior to the war when he was a binocular distributor.” …
Members read the rest of Bob’s report – and all of issue 22-4 in the relevant pdf file on the free members-only DVD. To join, see the notes above (under MEMBERSHIP menu item) and at the right. Any questions, just email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
