The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has inscribed the Notman Photographic Archives on the Memory of the World International Register.
The register serves to safeguard and promote access to documentary heritage of global significance — archives that chronicle the history of the world and the heritage of humanity.
The Notman Photographic Archives, preserved at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal, consist of 200,000 glass plate negatives, 400,000 prints and hundreds of record books and ledgers produced by the Montreal Notman studio between 1856 and 1935.
This vast collection includes hundreds of thousands of individual and group portraits that demonstrate the unique aesthetic and innovations William Notman brought to portrait photography, earning him an international reputation as the most prominent Canadian photographer of his era.
The Notman studio pioneered several experimental techniques, including using magnesium to create an early form of flash photography, printing photographs on pages with letterpress text, and large composite photographs made by combining different photographs into a larger image.
Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko, Secretary General, Canadian Commission for UNESCO, said, “The vast number of studio portraits captured and methodically catalogued by Notman are invaluable documentation of 19th century Canadian society. He photographed not only the white business and political elite as might be expected, but also artists, sports clubs, tradesmen, Black railway porters, nannies, and former slaves to create an important historical record of Canadian multicultural society.”
At its height, the Notman studio employed almost sixty people, including many women. My great-grandmother, Amy Young Haire, worked for Notman, as well as two of her cousins, Annie Young and Mary Fyvie Young. Their employment may explain why there are more than 200 photos of my ancestors and relatives in McCord’s Notman collection.
Source: II-50117.1, Notman Photographic Archives, McCord Museum.
The studio’s photographers, in addition to documenting Montreal’s development into a major urban centre, were sent across the country to capture cityscapes, landscapes, and major development projects such as the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The images of majestic mountains, lakeshore living, industrial and port workers, Indigenous communities, and urban development were sold as souvenir prints to locals and tourists and widely circulated in magazines and books such as The Canadian Handbook and Tourist’s Guide (1866), contributing to shaping national and international notions of Canada both pre and post Confederation.
A number of Notman photos are available on McCord’s website.
