Toronto. Our 2025 events wrap up with our November 9, 2025 Museum Auction featuring lots from the Sherman Hines Museum plus some estate items. Sorry, no consignment lots. Questions? Drop auctioneer Clint a note at auction@phsc.ca.
our November 9, 2025 Auction
Mike Toddington of the WCPHA c1999
Toronto. For our 25th Anniversary, editor Bob Lansdale worked his network of exchange journal editors to pony up an article for this volume of our journal – Photographic Canadiana.
The WCPHA (Western Canada Photographic Historical Association) had a friendly debate running with us when Ev Roseborough was editor. Their newsletter editor at the time, Mike Toddington, contributed this thoughtful piece on both camera use and camera collecting called “Hindsight … is 20/20”.
Mike begins, “Have you often thought of the time you have missed that perfect, once in a lifetime camera buy? It is one thing to ponder the pros and cons of an investment and then decide against a purchase but its quite another to miss the boat completely.
“Regrettably, I fall into the last category and mine is a sad and woeful tale. In 1956 I was a draftee into the UK Airforce. I worked in telecommunications and despite my numerous efforts to transfer to the photo section, the requests were always declined on the grounds that my psychological tests showed conclusively that I had ‘no aptitude for photography’.
“In spite of this ghastly revelation concerning my fanatical pastime, I continued to take pictures on the base (which required a special security permit). My ‘Voigtländer Vito I’ served me well.
“I processed my pictures at home, taking the finished prints back to the base and selling them to various individuals at a small profit. Much to the chagrin of the Base Photo Section, I was being asked by senior officers to take official photos.
“Questions were being asked as to why I was not working in the photographic section. When the reasons became known, the matter was never raised again. After all, who would want to be locked in a darkroom with a “wannabe photo psycho”?
“Determined to produce better pictures this ‘psycho’ decided to upgrade the Vito and changed to a Leica as used by the ‘pros’ in the base photo section.”
To learn the reason for his regret, members can read all of Mike’s sad tale in the pdf file for issue 25-3 on the free members only DVD/memory stick. See above or at right under MEMBERSHIP/Membership to join. Send any questions on membership to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
NB. As members we all regret the decision to not buy that camera/lens far more than we regret anything we bought! I can certainly relate to Mike’s sad tale … And by the way, today is FAIR DAY!!
Portrait on leather from c1862 courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum
Toronto. In the late 1800s, prints were made in a variety of ways on many different materials. Pannotypes used a process to convert Ambrotype photos from glass to patent leather. The above link offers some details.
The article was published in April, 2018 and credited Tania Passafiume with assistance from Shannon Perry. Shannon has spoken at the PHSC a few times including the November 2011 Toronto meeting.
In our journal issue 25-3, David Mattison’s copyright 1999 article discusses the leather portraits discovered by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The article, “G. R. Fardon’s Portraits on Patent Leather at the London International Exhibition, 1862” records this discovery and shows many of the photos.
David begins, “To say that my heart skipped a beat would not be exaggerating the effect that this e-mail [from the V and M] had on me. I responded the next day expressing a gut feeling that “I’m fairly certain these are the ‘Portraits & Views on patent leather’ taken by George Robinson Fardon late of San Francisco and, at the time of their international exhibition, one of the first commercial photographers in Victoria, British Columbia.”
“Even though he had not seen the original display board “for several years”, Mark had convinced himself that the wording of the display said the photographs were from Prince Edward Island. Having been invited to contribute an article to Photographic Canadiana on the find, Mark asked that I pinch hit for him.
“The Victoria and Albert Museum discovery also neatly coincides with the publication by the Fraenkel Gallery (San Francisco) and Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc. (New York) of San Francisco Album: Photographs of the Most Beautiful Views and Public Buildings.
“Well-known California photo historian Peter E. Palmquist and National Archives of Canada archivist/photo historian Dr. Joan M. Schwartz provide detailed accounts of Fardon’s career in San Francisco and Victoria. Their work and that of the other two essayists, Rodger C. Birt and Marvin R. Nathan, correct the impression left 22 years ago by Robert A. Sobieszek’s introduction to the Dover reprint of the San Francisco Album that nothing was known of Fardon.
“Dr. Schwartz’s scathing review of the Dover reprint in Afterimage (December 1978) set the record straight regarding Fardon’s origins and fate. The Fraenkel and Kraus book is an elegant, fitting tribute to Fardon’s work as a landscape and portrait photographer.”
Members read all of David’s article in the pdf for issue 25-3 on the free members only DVD/thumb drive. To join, see MEMBERSHIP above or Membership at right. Email any membership questions to Lilianne at member@sympatico.ca.
Join us at the Fall Fair this Sunday. You may not find a pannotype, but you will find lots of interesting items to add to your collection! Se the poster pinned above or read our PHSC News newsletter 25-9 for details.
A last run for a CNR engineer in the spring of 1960
Toronto. Old image collectors sometimes have photos that are railway related. Perhaps they are kept in a separate group, or just lumped into a transportation category.
The photo at left is just slightly out of focus (perhaps due to the film speed, or the camera setting, or the photographer just may have moved slightly).In any case, the photo shows an engineer pulling into a station on his last run before retiring some 65 years ago.
The PHSC 2025 Events offer many opportunities to discover even older train photos and other photographic nostalgia. Our event this month is Sunday’s Fall Fair (October 19th). Details are pinned to this website and are in the PHSC News newsletter for September (issue 25-9). While we can’t say you are sure to find a railway photo Sunday, we can say you will have a great time at the fair!
Come out and join the fun – good friends, good food, free parking, and inexpensive admission! No need to take a train …
Royal Victoria Hospital Barrie c1909
Toronto. Old Photo Collectors often are postcard collectors too. Many postcards use photography as a tool to capture events, people, buildings, etc. in colour or in monotone to be hand coloured.
At left is the RVH on Ross Street in Barrie built in 1903 and decades later closed and moved further north in the city to new facilities in 1997.
Some of our members also joined postcard clubs such as the Toronto Postcard Club where we occasionally took a table to promote the PHSC and photo collecting.
While we may not offer postcards, our 2025 events do offer lots of nifty items to complement any photography collection. This month we will host the famous Fall Fair on the 19th of October. Details have been pinned to this site and are also in the PHSC News newsletter for September (issue 25-9).
A 1910s auto sporting a 1917 licence plate. Beside the car is its owner, a nurse, and her satchel of medical records, etc.
Toronto. The automobile has been with us for over a century and a quarter now, replacing the bicycle on the road over 100 years ago. Collectors find old auto photos of particular interest and often add a category of “automobile” to their collection. .
The photo at left shows a nurse with her car (displaying an auto licence of 1917). Written on the back in pencil is a notation “Ottawa, Illinois“. Unlike our federal capital city of the same name, the Illinois ‘city’ only has a population of around 19,000 souls in recent times (it is also a county seat).
While you may or may not find old auto photos at our 2025 events such as the Fall Fair on the 19th of this month, you will find lots of goodies to add to your collection! Details are pinned to this web site and in our PHSC News for this September (issue 25-9).
NB. The title of this post is a riff on the 1905 song, “In My Merry Oldsmobile“. The inventor, Ransome E Olds, ultimately sold his vehicle factory. The Oldsmobile name ended up with General Motors (GM) and prospered for decades until the auto industry phased out the number of automobile models and names. The Oldsmobile line ended in 2004.
summer of 1962, Dorval Airport Montreal in a Vanguard aircraft ready to go
Toronto. Functional “Heavier than Air” machines have been around for about a century and a quarter now making the machines a logical sub category of old photos for collectors.
The pivotal flight was by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903. In Canada, our first powered flight was the Silver Dart in 1909 flown by Doug McCurdy in Nova Scotia on Baddeck Bay.
Collectors can attend our 2025 events to add to their collection. Next is our Fall Fair on Sunday, October 16th. While there may or may not be old photos of aircraft available, there will be lots of interesting items to complement any collection. Details of the fair are pinned to the top of this site until later on the 16th. Collectors can also find details (and other interesting articles) in the September PHSC News (issue 25-9).
NB. This post was inspired by the c1958 Italian song, “Volare” sung here in Italian and English by Dean Martin. The actual post title is the same as that of a 2010 British TV series (to my surprise).
May 7 1945 – Toronto celebrated VE day and John Boyd snapped this photo for the Globe (from the Toronto Archives).
Toronto. Old Photo collectors are fortunate. There are so many categories of old photos to choose from – or collections can be eclectic!
One such category could be tagged as “celebrations” – national events, country based events, corporate events, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. etc.
The photo at left shows Torontonians celebrating the end of the war in Europe known as VE Day. A few months later in August it was VJ Day and the end of WW2 in Japan – and the beginning of the atomic age.
While we can’t really say you will find ‘celebration’ photos at our fall fair on October 19th, we can say you will find lots of interesting items for your collection. Take a peek at the poster pinned to this site until the show, or read the September PHSC News.
summer 1988 BC funeral
Toronto. Well, you know what October 31 is … Our Programme exec, Celio Barreto, has a special event for October 15, 2025 called “Spooky Images Show & Tell”.
Celio writes, “Spooky Season is upon us! Let’s talk about those interesting and spooky images in your collection!
“What are spooky images? Spirit photography, postmortems, medical, halloweenie stuff, erased relatives, funerary and surprising uses for human bones!
“Join us on October 15th via ZOOM and bring your spooky images for a special edition of our Show and Tell series!
“All you need to do is have your images ready to be screen-shared on ZOOM. If you require any assistance prepping your images, please get in touch with us at program@phsc.ca before Wednesday the 15th, and we’ll get them ready for you.
“The Spooky Image Show & Tell ZOOM link will be sent out on Tuesday, October 14th.”
And remember to visit our 2025 events. Our next event is the Fall Fair. While we can’t say there will be any ‘spooky photos’ to collect, there will be lots of interesting stuff for your collection plus free parking, good food, and easy admission. See the pinned post on this site or peek at our September PHSC News (issue 25-9) for details.
A Monarch Butterfly rests on a Toronto Island Chrysanthemum on its long flight south for the winter
Toronto. The photo at left was taken on Toronto Island in September about 50 years ago during the annual migration of Monarch butterflies to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.
These tiny insects survive some four or more weeks. They prefer to feast on milkweed plants (many varieties exist including the rather coarse common milkweed and the tastier (and daintier) cinderella swamp milkweed).
While old photo collectors prefer much old images, photos of various ‘bugs’ make an interesting (and often outdoors) sub group.
Join the fun at our 2025 events and pick up some interesting additions for your collection (there may or may not be bug photos). Up next on the 19th of October is the PHSC Fall Fair. Peek here and at the PHSC News for September (25-9) for more details.
EVENTS
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
