Graham Wesley Garrett reached the age of 80 years. I was notified by editor Bob Lansdale on the death of Mr Garrett in 2014 and added a post late in the year on this site. Part of Mr Garrett’s time was spent researching and writing his book on Daguerreotypists. This culminated in “A Biographical Index of Daguerreotypists in Canada 1839-1871” which was published in April 2008. A CD was pressed and sold by Archive CD Books Canada. Unfortunately, interest in Daguerreotypists, especially those operating here, was minuscule. The most prominent organization devoted to Daguerreotypes is The Daguerreian Society in America with members world wide.
On his death, his wife Hoda offered the PHSC Mr Garrett’s research plus permission to release the pdf version of his index to those interested in photographic history and research rather than see his efforts simply disappear.
Mr Garrett was of English (father) and Scottish (mother) heritage. His father was born in Bury, Lancashire, England in 1875 while his mother was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1897. The couple’s first child was born in the UK, a year before they emigrated to Montreal (1823). Graham Wesley was the couple’s sixth living child.
Mr Garrett grew up in Montreal and from about 1960 to 1972 he held many positions and proprietorships related to rare books, maps, documents, photography, and art. In 1972 he became proprietor of the Librarie Gilbert in Quebec City. In the late 1970s he moved to Toronto, initially as a consultant to an auction house and later as a dealer, appraiser, and cataloguer of art, and reference books. He was the Canadian representative for a number of foreign publishers as well as writing on Canadian themes. In all, he seemed to have had a special interest in photography, especially the Daguerreotype.
In 1986, he was elected member of the Napoleonic Society of America. A few years later, his first article, “Mirror with a Memory: The Daguerreotype in Upper Canada” was printed in the May, 1990 issue of Antique Showcase. That year, he joined the Toronto Arts and Letters club on Elm Street and the following year (1991) he joined both the Daguerreian Society and the PHSC. Mr Garrett published a number of articles related to Daguerreotypes in the Daguerreian Annual, The Beaver, The Daguerreian Society Newsletter, Photographic Canadiana (PHSC journal), and History of Photography magazine in the UK. In 2014, Mr Garrett had a number of works in preparation and was also doing research and writing about other non-photographic areas of personal interest.
In the fall of 1994, at our 20th anniversary banquet, Mr Garrett was our key note speaker. Reference to the supper and his contribution was published in issue 20-3 of the PHSC journal, Photographic Canadiana. An excerpt from president Les Jones’s introduction reads, ” … bring Canada’s Daguerreian photographers out in the light of day … first introduced to photography at the age of six … one time being a studio assistant for John O’Neil, a specialist in fashion and portrait photography in Montreal.
“… trained as a marine engineer .. attracted to the art and literary world … became a dealer and consultant … proprietor of Memory Lane [Montreal] … took over Librarie Gilbert [in Quebec City] … cataloguer for … auctions … consultant for estate and insurance claims … author …”.
Mr Garrett’s book “A Biographical Index of Daguerreotypists in Canada 1839-1871” in pdf format may be downloaded here.
