Toronto Reference Library Blog

You have just two more weeks to check out  Exposed, on display at the TD Gallery on the first floor of the Toronto Reference Library. Exposed is our first exhibition of images from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive – a collection of over one million images donated by the Toronto Star to the Toronto Public Library in 2014.

As you might imagine, selecting highlights from a complete archive of Canadian press photographs spanning the 20^th century was no easy task. I asked Carol Elder, the curator of Exposed, to share a bit of background about her role in the massive donation project and to describe how she tackled the challenging task of selecting the cream of the crop from this extraordinary collection.
 

Can you tell us about your experience working with the Toronto Star Photograph Archive (TSPA) and the donation of the collection to the Toronto Public Library?

My role as project manager of the Toronto Star Photograph Archive began in 2010 when the Toronto Star determined that its 20^th century photographic print collection should be donated for the benefit of all Torontonians and other Canadians.  I knew the collection well because I had already worked with it for many years researching images for Toronto Star reporters, book and magazine publishers, documentaries, and Torontonians interested in their family histories.  After developing a work plan for this complex project, I ensured better access to the collection by completing a finding aid to the photo folders and went through a rigorous process to determine the appropriate institution to donate the collection to.

I accomplished the digitization project with the help of a team of copyright experts and photo editors who chose approximately 144,000 photos with editorial value from the Star’s collection of over 1 million images to be digitized. During the course of the project I hired a large staff of graduates from Ryerson’s School of Image Arts, the University of Toronto’s iSchool and other graduate programs to help catalog the more important photos in the collection. The donation and digitization project took approximately four years to complete.

Is there anything that you think people would be surprised to learn about the collection?

The Toronto Star Photograph Archive was organized in 140,000 subject folders covering every topic imaginable. If you browse the collection by examining the folder titles in the finding aid you will certainly find some unexpected collections.  For example, there are folders entitled:  Abominable Snowman, Babies with chickens, Duels, Fairies, Fakirs, Ghosts, Hermits, Hippies, Hitchhikers, Junkmen, Lonely people, Magna Carta, Monsters, Noah’s Ark, Noise, Oxygen, Ozone, Pole sitting, Skeletons and skulls, Spray cans, Spitting, Virtual reality, Witchcraft and witchdoctors to name only a very few.

How did you go about selecting images for Exposed?

With space in the TD Gallery for only 100 or so photos and just six weeks in which to select the images, this was a challenging curatorial assignment. I wanted to showcase the strength of the archive in a number of areas, namely portraits of famous 20^th century individuals, dramatic sports shots, fascinating images from the Star’s international collection, iconic political and social events and human-interest stories.

Mother Teresa
Bob Olsen/Toronto Star
December 1979

White Cascade, Yosemite National Park, California
Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984)
1930s

Birth
Keith Beaty/Toronto Star
January 7, 1986

It was important that the exhibition illustrate the strength of Toronto Star’s award-winning photographers such as Boris Spremo, Bob Olsen, and Frank Lennon. I also wanted the exhibition to illustrate the ways in which many 20^th century photos were altered for publication in the newspaper. I worked with thumbnail copies of the images organized on a diagram of the gallery walls and cabinets to help select and arrange the images for Exposed.

Paul Henderson's winning goal in the Canada-Russia Summit Series
Frank Lennon (1927-2006)/Toronto Star
September 28, 1972

Do you have a favourite photograph in Exposed?

Gosh, in a sense I love them all!  But I particularly like the altered photos.  Each one shows the artistry of the Star’s art department – airbrushing, painting and cutting out photos in order to enhance the visual experience of each story for the Toronto Star’s readers.

My favorite image is the 1967 photo of the Marshall McLuhan reading in his office at St. Michael’s College.  If you look carefully, the part of the photo that shows McCluhan reading on his couch is actually a cut out from another photo that was ‘tipped into’ a photo of his office. The radiator behind McLuhan’s head was painted in because in the original photo another object was in front of it. It’s a masterpiece of alteration!  In order to protect the original print, the photo in the Exposed show is actually a faithful recreation by Toronto Public Library staff member Dona Acheson who duplicated the cut-out of McLuhan very expertly!

Marshall McLuhan
Unknown Photographer
c. 1967

What do you think makes a photojournalistic image powerful or iconic? 

An arresting, shocking, or dramatic image that reveals a deeper political or social situation or changes the way the world understands that event makes an image powerful or iconic. Portraits, such as those taken by Yousuf Karsh, for example, have become iconic because they reveal a deep understanding of the personalities of his subjects.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002)
c. 1940

Anything else you would like to share?

The TSPA is an amazing collection of photographs that documents Canadian and international events and people of the 20^th century. I hope the Toronto public will enjoy browsing the prints in the photo folders on their own and have the opportunity to view many more exhibitions that showcase this exceptional photographic collection.

A donation of this magnitude is a complex undertaking and it required the collaboration of a large number of people at the Star, in particular Robin Graham and Ed Greenspon, and the Toronto Public Library’s Special Collections department, notably Mary Rae Shantz and Linda Mackenzie, without whom this project could not have happened.

Exposed: Featuring Highlights from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive is on display now at the TD Gallery on the main floor of Toronto Reference Library. The exhibition is generously sponsored by TD Bank Group.

You can see many more images from Exposed on the Virtual Exhibit here. Better yet, stop by the TD Gallery to see the exhibition in person before it closes on June 14!

You have just two more weeks to check out  Exposed, on display at the TD Gallery on the first floor of the Toronto Reference Library. Exposed is our first exhibition of images from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive – a collection of over one million images donated by the Toronto Star to the Toronto Public Library in 2014.

As you might imagine, selecting highlights from a complete archive of Canadian press photographs spanning the 20^th century was no easy task. I asked Carol Elder, the curator of Exposed, to share a bit of background about her role in the massive donation project and to describe how she tackled the challenging task of selecting the cream of the crop from this extraordinary collection.
 

Can you tell us about your experience working with the Toronto Star Photograph Archive (TSPA) and the donation of the collection to the Toronto Public Library?

My role as project manager of the Toronto Star Photograph Archive began in 2010 when the Toronto Star determined that its 20^th century photographic print collection should be donated for the benefit of all Torontonians and other Canadians.  I knew the collection well because I had already worked with it for many years researching images for Toronto Star reporters, book and magazine publishers, documentaries, and Torontonians interested in their family histories.  After developing a work plan for this complex project, I ensured better access to the collection by completing a finding aid to the photo folders and went through a rigorous process to determine the appropriate institution to donate the collection to.

I accomplished the digitization project with the help of a team of copyright experts and photo editors who chose approximately 144,000 photos with editorial value from the Star’s collection of over 1 million images to be digitized. During the course of the project I hired a large staff of graduates from Ryerson’s School of Image Arts, the University of Toronto’s iSchool and other graduate programs to help catalog the more important photos in the collection. The donation and digitization project took approximately four years to complete.

Is there anything that you think people would be surprised to learn about the collection?

The Toronto Star Photograph Archive was organized in 140,000 subject folders covering every topic imaginable. If you browse the collection by examining the folder titles in the finding aid you will certainly find some unexpected collections.  For example, there are folders entitled:  Abominable Snowman, Babies with chickens, Duels, Fairies, Fakirs, Ghosts, Hermits, Hippies, Hitchhikers, Junkmen, Lonely people, Magna Carta, Monsters, Noah’s Ark, Noise, Oxygen, Ozone, Pole sitting, Skeletons and skulls, Spray cans, Spitting, Virtual reality, Witchcraft and witchdoctors to name only a very few.

How did you go about selecting images for Exposed?

With space in the TD Gallery for only 100 or so photos and just six weeks in which to select the images, this was a challenging curatorial assignment. I wanted to showcase the strength of the archive in a number of areas, namely portraits of famous 20^th century individuals, dramatic sports shots, fascinating images from the Star’s international collection, iconic political and social events and human-interest stories.

Mother Teresa
Bob Olsen/Toronto Star
December 1979

White Cascade, Yosemite National Park, California
Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984)
1930s

Birth
Keith Beaty/Toronto Star
January 7, 1986

It was important that the exhibition illustrate the strength of Toronto Star’s award-winning photographers such as Boris Spremo, Bob Olsen, and Frank Lennon. I also wanted the exhibition to illustrate the ways in which many 20^th century photos were altered for publication in the newspaper. I worked with thumbnail copies of the images organized on a diagram of the gallery walls and cabinets to help select and arrange the images for Exposed.

Paul Henderson's winning goal in the Canada-Russia Summit Series
Frank Lennon (1927-2006)/Toronto Star
September 28, 1972

Do you have a favourite photograph in Exposed?

Gosh, in a sense I love them all!  But I particularly like the altered photos.  Each one shows the artistry of the Star’s art department – airbrushing, painting and cutting out photos in order to enhance the visual experience of each story for the Toronto Star’s readers.

My favorite image is the 1967 photo of the Marshall McLuhan reading in his office at St. Michael’s College.  If you look carefully, the part of the photo that shows McCluhan reading on his couch is actually a cut out from another photo that was ‘tipped into’ a photo of his office. The radiator behind McLuhan’s head was painted in because in the original photo another object was in front of it. It’s a masterpiece of alteration!  In order to protect the original print, the photo in the Exposed show is actually a faithful recreation by Toronto Public Library staff member Dona Acheson who duplicated the cut-out of McLuhan very expertly!

Marshall McLuhan
Unknown Photographer
c. 1967

What do you think makes a photojournalistic image powerful or iconic? 

An arresting, shocking, or dramatic image that reveals a deeper political or social situation or changes the way the world understands that event makes an image powerful or iconic. Portraits, such as those taken by Yousuf Karsh, for example, have become iconic because they reveal a deep understanding of the personalities of his subjects.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002)
c. 1940

Anything else you would like to share?

The TSPA is an amazing collection of photographs that documents Canadian and international events and people of the 20^th century. I hope the Toronto public will enjoy browsing the prints in the photo folders on their own and have the opportunity to view many more exhibitions that showcase this exceptional photographic collection.

A donation of this magnitude is a complex undertaking and it required the collaboration of a large number of people at the Star, in particular Robin Graham and Ed Greenspon, and the Toronto Public Library’s Special Collections department, notably Mary Rae Shantz and Linda Mackenzie, without whom this project could not have happened.

Exposed: Featuring Highlights from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive is on display now at the TD Gallery on the main floor of Toronto Reference Library. The exhibition is generously sponsored by TD Bank Group.

You can see many more images from Exposed on the Virtual Exhibit here. Better yet, stop by the TD Gallery to see the exhibition in person before it closes on June 14!