1291
24 January 1884 and was later known as the Ontario
Society of Photographers; among its fi rst leaders was
Toronto photographer S.J. Dixon. The PAC’s fi rst
president was R.D. Bayley, who as president of the
Huron Photographic Association helped initiate the
PAC. It survives today as the Professional Photog-
raphers of Ontario which is part of the Professional
Photographers of Canada.
Amateur Associations
The earliest formally organized associations of Cana-
dian amateur photographers, generally known in 19th
century Canada as camera clubs, were established in
the 1880s. The fi rst independent camera club in Canada
was the Quebec Amateur Photographers’ Association
located in Quebec City (1884–1886). The Quebec
Camera Club, also in Quebec City, was founded 8
February 1887 and disbanded in May 1896. The Mon-
treal Camera Club, preceded by the Montreal Amateur
Photographic Club (1886–1889), organized in 1890
and incorporated two years later. The Montreal Camera
Club still operates. Rivalling the province of Quebec
as an early centre of amateur associations is Ontario.
The Toronto Camera Club began on 23 February 1887
as the Photographic Section of the Royal Canadian
Institute. The club went its own way on 17 March 1888
as the Toronto Amateur Photographic Association, then
changed its name on 7 December 1891 to the Toronto
Camera Club, followed by incorporation in 1893.
The club celebrated its offi cial centennial in 1988 and
continues to exist. The Hamilton Camera Club started
as the Hamilton Scientifi c Association, Photographic
Section on 18 April 1892, and was followed by the
Camera Club of Ottawa in 1894 and both are into their
second century. Several other camera clubs in Ontario
are noted in Koltun (1984).
Attempts to organize amateurs in other urban centres
did not fare as well as Quebec and Ontario where the
bulk of the Canadian population resided and still does.
Sprange’s Blue Book for Amateur Photographers (1895)
reported the Winnipeg Camera Club, begun on 27 Sep-
tember 1892, as defunct. The Saint John Camera Club
was organized on 9 June 1893 and lasted at least into
the mid-1910s. The Halifax Camera Club was organized
in March 1896. There were two efforts to create camera
clubs in Vancouver, the fi rst in 1895, the second in 1897.
The later Vancouver Camera Club had 56 members in
March 1897, but appears to have disbanded by 1899 or
- One of the last Western Canadian amateur associa-
tions to organize in the 19th century was the Associated
Photographers of Manitoba and Northwest Territories
which met on 13 July 1899 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for
its fi rst annual meeting. When women applied for mem-
bership in the camera clubs, only the Toronto Camera
Club is known to have debated the issue and agreed to
admit them in November 1895.
Associations composed primarily of artists or those
broadly interested in the arts, especially after the Ko-
dak revolution, such as the Vancouver Art Association
(founded 1890) and Vancouver Arts and Crafts As-
sociation (established 1900) also included amateur
photographers and exhibited their works. The Canadian
Lantern Slide Exchange (1893), centred around Toronto,
Hamilton and Montreal in Ontario and Quebec, was
modelled on the American Lantern Slide Interchange
(1885). The amateur clubs often included professional
photographers among their membership. William James
Topley maintained a membership in the Camera Club
of Ottawa, likely from its start in 1894 until 1921, three
years before his death. Other professional photographers
such as Les Livernois fi rm in Quebec City, Quebec,
and the Edwards Brothers in Vancouver, BC, played an
important role in helping manage the amateur revolution
in photography brought about by Kodak roll fi lm. They
rented or sold cameras and supplies, helped process dry
plates or fi lm, and, most importantly, offered space and
darkroom facilities for amateur organizations to meet
and hone their technical skills.
Public and private art galleries, museums, libraries,
religious organizations (chiefl y in Quebec), private
societies, companies such as the Canadian Pacifi c Rail-
way, and academic institutions all played a signifi cant
role in preserving Canada’s early photographic history
before the establishment throughout the 20th century of
government-operated archives by provincial and local
jurisdictions. Some camera clubs, such as the Toronto
Camera Club, maintained their own records back to their
origins and only deposited these with national or other
archives in the 20th century well after their founding.
Several major collections by 19th century Canadian
professional photographers such as William Notman,
however, were preserved as business records and do-
nated or sold in the 20th century to public institutions.
Some studio collections by 19th century photographers,
primarily in the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick,
Prince Edward, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland), con-
tinue to remain in private hands into the 21st century.
Prints from Isaac Erb’s (1846–1924) negatives, a New
Brunswick landscape and industrial photographer begin-
ning in the 1870s, are sold on the Internet through the
collection owner Vintage Photo & Frame Ltd.
Of the provinces which were a part of the Confed-
eration of Canada in the 19th century, only British
Columbia and Nova Scotia appear to have had publicly
accessible government archives prior to 1901. While
all the provinces and their colonial predecessors had
records-keeping operations, these were mainly paper-
based. Historic photographs, where still used in the
course of a government agency’s work, such as the