{"id":32204,"date":"2025-08-26T01:03:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T05:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=32204"},"modified":"2025-08-25T23:51:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T03:51:25","slug":"once-upon-a-time-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/once-upon-a-time-in-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"once upon a time in Toronto …"},"content":{"rendered":"
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photographer Butchart and wife – photos courtesy the Jessie Stenberg collection<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. In our journal, editor Bob Lansdale worked hard to present Canadian photographic history, often drowned out by the cacophony from across the border. While older Canadians learnt British history; younger ones through products, movies, magazines, TV, etc. learned about how great things American were.<\/p>\n

Any Canadian business, once it grew to the point of being a potential threat, suddenly moved south to where vast markets and demand held forth.<\/p>\n

In the times when we were a British colony; a British linked dominion, the influx of many people and ideas were from the UK. As an example, photographer David Coutts Butchart emigrated from Scotland to become an early Toronto photographer (first noted in 1859, before the Dominion was established). In issue 25-2 (over 60 pages) Walter J. Balfour \u00a91999 wrote an article titled, “DAVID COUTTS BUTCHART: An Early Toronto Photographer” about his great grandfather.<\/p>\n

Walter begins, “In 1985, while visiting my mother in Scotland, our conversation turned to a discussion of my activities at the University of\u00a0Victoria. I told her that part of my research involved photography which prompted her to remark that I might have come by\u00a0that naturally since her maternal grandfather had been a photographer by profession. His name was David Coutts Butchart,\u00a0with a studio in Toronto.<\/p>\n

“I thought little more of this conversation until some years later while visiting the National Archives\u00a0building in Ottawa I chanced to notice a\u00a0drawer labeled Canadian Photographers<\/i>.<\/p>\n

“On checking its contents I discovered,\u00a0much to my surprise, a file on my great-grandfather with references to some of his\u00a0work preserved in the National Archives\u00a0collection. This prompted me to talk to a\u00a0staff member who then introduced me to a\u00a0photo-archivist in Photography Acquisition\u00a0and Research, Mr. Andrew Rodger.<\/p>\n

“He knew of Butchart\u2019s work but said he had no biographical information and would like to have some. I thus decided to see what I could discover\u2026 this sketch [see pdf file or journal] is the result.<\/p>\n

“David Butchart was born in the\u00a0Scottish parish of Barry in what was at the\u00a0time Forfarshire, now Angus, on the last\u00a0day of the year 1831. He emigrated with\u00a0his parents to Canada in his twenties and\u00a0became one of Toronto\u2019s early portrait\u00a0photographers.<\/p>\n

“The Statistical Account of\u00a0Scotland of 1791 describes Barry as principally a farming and\u00a0weaving community of some twelve square-miles area, hosting a\u00a0population of 796. The region remains agricultural today.\u00a0David\u2019s father, Alexander Butchart, was a farm laborer. We\u00a0learn from the parish record that Alexander had married on 29\u00a0March 1829 a girl from the adjoining parish, Margaret Todd.<\/p>\n

“David was their second child and eldest son in a family of eight\u00a0children. There have been Butcharts recorded in the district\u00a0from the middle of the 15th century. The surname is probably\u00a0an anglicized form of the French Bouchard, brought across the\u00a0English Channel by the Normans. Earlier spellings of the surname range through Bowchart, Bowchard, Bouchard, Bouchart\u00a0and Buschart.” …<\/p>\n

The entire article and its many illustrations were viewed by members in the issue 25-2 pdf file on the free members-only DVD\/thumb drive. Joining the PHSC is easy and inexpensive – follow “Membership” above or at right. And email any membership questions to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while we can’t promise that you will spot a Butchart photo at one of our events, you will see lots of items that complement your collection. Our fall fair on October 19th is coming up fast. See the PHSC News 25-7<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n

NB, The title idea came from Quentin Taratino’s 2019 movie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/a>“.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. In our journal, editor Bob Lansdale worked hard to present Canadian photographic history, often drowned out by the cacophony from across the border. While older Canadians learnt British history; younger ones through products, movies, magazines, TV, etc. learned about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[402,5,59],"class_list":["post-32204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-people","tag-photographer","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32204"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32218,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32204\/revisions\/32218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}