Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present

MacKinnon, Steve; Teeple, Karen; Dale, Michele

ISBN 10: 1552774082 / ISBN 13: 9781552774083

Published by James Lorimer & Company Limited., Publishers, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2009

About this Item

Designed to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Toronto's incorporation, this lavishly illustrated, stunning book is full of hundreds of period black-and-white photographs drawn from official city archives, including the rare set of 25 panoramic images of downtown sent to Britain in 1857 as the city made its bid to become the capital of the Province of Canada. The photos & text offer a unique perspective on a modern urban area's development from its infancy across nearly two centuries. Oversized hardcover with matte black boards & silver lettering to front cover & spine is Fine in Fine, unclipped DJ: both are virtually flawless & look, feel, & smell nearly brand new! GUARANTEED gift-giving quality! Completely clean & tight & square; NO writing, underlining, or highlighting. NOT ex-lib. NO fading or creasing to DJ, which has been protected in new archival mylar cover. Photos show the Exact book you will receive, never "stock" images of books we don't actually have on hand.SORRY: book is too large for expedited domestic or international shipping without preapproval of extra (at least double) postage per USPS rates. Seller Inventory # 009004

Bibliographic Details

Title: Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City ...

Publisher: James Lorimer & Company Limited., Publishers, Toronto, ON, Canada

Publication Date: 2009

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Edition: First Edition First Printing

About this title

Synopsis:

Twenty-five fascinating images that offer a 360º panorama of the Toronto's downtown in 1856-57 mark the beginning of the use of photographs to document Toronto's growth, its achievements, its great civic works, and its citizenry. Since 1856, the City of Toronto has been commissioning photographs to document and to promote it.

This book, published to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the city's incorporation, brings together more than 100 of these images, selected by city archivists from their collection of hundreds of thousands.

Waterworks, roads, and bridges, many of them familiar landmarks today, are seen as they are being built. The Bloor Street Viaduct, the R. C. Harris water filtration plant, and the old and new city halls are all celebrated in these images.

Toronto's citizens are also captured in these photographs, going about their affairs on the street, as proud workers, or as spectators at public events. At times, in an effort to raise public concern about poverty and poor housing conditions, city photographers have documented conditions for residents in low-income neighbourhoods. Some of these photographs are included here, in an impressive series of poignant images.

In the past fifty years, as Toronto has grown into the cosmopolitan metropolis it is now, city photographers have recorded the construction of key projects like the Yonge Street subway, the new City Hall and the CN Tower while documenting major public events and celebrations.

This book offers a visual overview of Toronto's history and at the same time documents attitudes and values expressed by City officials, from 1857 to the present.

About the Author:

STEVE MACKINNON graduated from Ryerson University's Photographic Arts program in 1981. He has been an archivist at the City of Toronto Archives since 1992, where he has worked extensively with the City's archival photographs.
KAREN TEEPLE received an M.A. in Canadian Studies from Carleton University and worked at the National Archives of Canada for two years before moving to Toronto. She has worked as an archivist and manager at the City of Toronto Archives for over twenty years and became City Archivist in 2007.

MICHELE DALE has a history and drama degree from Queen's University. She is the Supervisor of Collection Management and Standards at the City of Toronto Archives. Previously she worked as a senior archivist at the Archives of Ontario, and as records manager and archivist for the Toronto Harbour Commission.