Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1918-1993 (Creation)
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1891-1895, 1946-1955 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
ca. 3,000 photographs : b&w
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Earnest Edgar Strathy Smith was born in Toronto and educated at Jesse Ketchum Public School and Northern Vocational School. He died of a heart attack on February 8, 1993 in Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital. He established Canada Pictures Ltd. at 96 King Street West in 1946, with his three partners: Howard Anderson; Fred Davis, who was the first official photographer of the Dionne quintuplets; and Jerry Richardson, who specialized in studio work. The company produced a wide range of commercial photography including advertising, newspaper, and documentary work. Among the company's staff photographers was Eric Trussler who worked on their TTC subway construction project contract. Strathy Smith began his career in journalism in 1934 as an office boy at the Toronto Telegram. By 1935 he was working part-time as a freelance photographer for the Toronto Globe and Mail, and in 1937 or 1938 he joined the pool of freelance photographers at the Toronto Star. On January 11, 1941, Strathy Smith married Edith, with whom he had a son, Stephen, and a daughter, Joni. In 1943 he signed up with the Canadian army and went overseas as a war photographer. When the war ended, he returned to the Star for a brief period, before establishing Canada Pictures Ltd. which he operated until 1978. Mr. Smith was a founder of the Commercial and Press Photographers' Association of Canada, and a member of the Canadian War Correspondents Association.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of approximately 3,000 negatives, most of which were taken by Earnest Edgar Strathy Smith and his colleagues at Canada Pictures Ltd., the studio he founded in 1946. The majority of the images in this fonds document the development of Canada's first subway system, in Toronto. The remaining images consist of views of Toronto in the 1940s and 50s, and a group of images that Smith copied from an unconfirmed source (possible the National Archives of Canada) also documenting Toronto in the first half of the 1890s. The original arrangement of all images (generally chronological and by project number) has been maintained. The Yonge Street Subway construction photographs, consisting of approximately 2,400 negatives commissioned by the TTC and produced by Canada Picture, are significant for their extensive coverage of this development in urban mass transit. They document the building of the Yonge Street Subway beginning with the letting of the contract on July 7, 1949, and recording the excavation of Yonge Street, the construction of the underground tunnels, the laying of the track, the building of the stations, and the exterior and interior of Toronto's new subway cars. There are photographs of the tours of the subway which were arranged for visiting journalists and dignitaries, which included Metro Councillors and the Governor General of Canada, Sir Rupert Alexander. There are also 75 photographs documenting the official opening of the subway on March 30, 1954, showing crowds and dignitaries, including Metropolitan Toronto Chairman Fred Gardiner and Mayor of Toronto Alan Lamport, attending the opening ceremonies at the Davisville Station. The Toronto Views, 1940s-1950s series consists of about 400 photographs documenting Toronto streets and prominent buildings in the post-war period, including some that have been demolished such as Government House at Chorley Park, the Armouries on University Avenue, and the neo-classical Land Registry building. The 1890s series consists primarily of copy negatives of about 160 historic photographs documenting Toronto sites and buildings, including the Don Valley Brick Works, the Library at the University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall, City Hall (1899-1965), and the Legislature at Queen's Park while under construction and after completion. Fonds consists of the following series: Series 381, Yonge Street Subway construction photographs Series 380, Toronto views, 1940s and 1950s Series 379, Miscellaneous views, 1890s
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The photographs were acquired from the creator in 1982.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Microfiche copies of two series are available in the photo area of the Research Hall at the City of Toronto Archives: Series 379, Miscellaneous views, 1890s (16 mm) and Series 381, Yonge Street Subsay construction photographs (35 mm). Contact prints (9.5 x 12 cm) of Series 380, Toronto views, 1940s and 1950s are available for reference in the photo area of the Research Hall.
Restrictions on access
Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Use of any of the images in this fonds for anything other than research or private study, i.e., publication, exhibit, broadcast, in a film or video, or on a website, requires the written permission of the City of Toronto Archives. To request permission, complete an Image Permission Request form obtainable from the Reference Desk at the City of Toronto Archives.
Finding aids
A printed listing of the images in each series is available with the photo inventories in the Research Hall.
Associated materials
Additional material relating to the Yonge Subway line may be found in the Eric Trussler fonds (Fonds 1567) and the Toronto Transit Commission fonds (Fonds 16).
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
General note
Originals for Series 379, Miscellaneous views, 1890s are at the National Archives of Canada.
General note
To preserve the negatives and original prints, researchers should consult the reference copies (fiche or contact prints) available in the photo area of the Research Hall. See binders for Fonds 1128 (SC 128).
General note
Previously cited as: SC 128