Summer Hours: We are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. To schedule an appointment, please fill out our appointment form or email us at asc@torontomu.ca
For those of you who were not able to visit the Library during the meet-and-greet with student designers last week, you still have two more weeks to view the products of their labour in the Special Collections display cases on the 4th floor. Students in a first year Interior Design course at Ryerson partnered with The Stop Community Food Centre to design a fund-raising item for their annual gala, which helps raise money for The Stop’s critical anti-hunger programs and services.
The exhibit was curated by Professor Lorella Di Cintio. Items will be on display from Feb 22nd to March 7th.
A bowl that can also be used as a cup, by student Iona Ionescu
A natural spoon, by student Kristalee Berger
Salad fork and spoon, by student Dorota Lemierzwicz
Taking photographs is like second nature to us now; we can snap a quick shot on our computers, laptops, cell phones, and with increasingly small and inexpensive digital cameras. It’s cheaper and easier than ever before to preserve special moments and with no film or processing to worry about anymore, every moment can be documented and remembered. How many photos did you take on your last holiday?
A No. 2A Brownie point and shoot camera from the Historical Camera Collection in Archives and Special Collections (2005.001.7.005)
It’s difficult for us to imagine a time when most people could only have photos taken at a professional studio. In the 19th century, amateur photography was time consuming, often dangerous, and always very expensive. Some images were taken directly on metal or glass and only one copy could be had. Photographic “film” that allowed copies consisted of glass plates or paper soaked in chemicals.
When the Eastman Kodak Company introduced the first personal use camera in 1888, it was the beginning of the amateur snap shot. The Kodak Camera cost about $25 (that may not sound like much, but that would be about $550 today) and came pre-loaded with 100 shots. When the film was done, the customer packaged up the camera and sent it back to the Kodak Company in Rochester, NY for developing. The pictures were mailed back, along with a newly loaded camera for the price of $10 (about $235 now). Kodak had made photographs easier, but they were still expensive. To really make money, and make sure the Kodak name was in every home, they had to make it cheaper.
The “Baby Brownie” (1934-1941) from the Historical Camera Collection in Archives and Special Collections (2005.001.7.033)
A brilliant entrepreneur, George Eastman challenged his designers to come up with the cheapest camera possible; something that was economical to make and easy to use. The Brownie Camera was born. First sold in 1900, the Brownie cost $1.00 (less than $25 today) and was a simple box design with few moving parts. Ads claimed “Any school-boy or girl can make good pictures with one of Eastman Kodak Company’s Brownie Cameras!” With a product cheap and sturdy enough for a child to use, Kodak aimed its marketing campaigns at kids, opening “Brownie Camera Clubs of America” and enticing budding photographers to get snap happy. Nearly 250,000 of the first Brownies were manufactured. The Brownie evolved over the years, becoming sturdier, smaller and eventually including flash.
The Brownie Hawkeye camera (c. 1949-1951) from the Historical Camera Collection in Archives and Special Collections (2005.001.7.126)
Ryerson Library Special Collections holds an extensive Heritage Camera Collection, including many popular models Kodak cameras. Make an appointment (asc@ryerson.ca) or drop by the fourth floor to have a look!
The Brownie Flash camera (1946-1954) from the Historical Camera Collection in Archives and Special Collections (2005.001.7.451)
For more information on the history of the camera, check out these Ryeron Library Resources:
Ever wonder what your campus may have looked like 100 years ago? What were the older buildings used for before they were part of the University? What kinds of structures were here before the new facilities appeared?
A wonderful historical resource was recently donated to Special Collections from the collection of Edward Koshchuk: The Atlas of the city of Toronto and suburbs was published in 1910 in 3 volumes, expanded from the original 1890 edition because “the City has increased so rapidly, and the area is now so much more extensive.” The atlas contains maps of the city of Toronto including the land now occupied by the Toronto Metropolitan University campus, and was revised using small pasted-in bits of paper and handwritten notations, so that the current view is actually more accurate to 1923.
The area identified as St. James Square in the detail below is now bordered on all four sides by the endless tunnel known as Kerr Hall, and all that remains of the Upper Canada Normal School, founded by Egerton Ryerson as a Teacher’s College in 1852, is the thin façade marking the entrance to our underground gym (the RAC). These buildings survived to the 1950s, just hitting the 100 year mark before they were removed for the construction of Kerr Hall. The Archives has a diorama of the Square and the buildings shown on this map in their reading room, and more information about Ryerson campus history is also available on this website.
Of note are the many different religious houses in the area, including a Catholic Church where Lake Devo is now, a Synagogue, Lutheran Church and a Congregational Church at Bond and Dundas. The Synagogue is now a Greek Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church is still standing, hidden behind the construction for the new Image Arts building.
Other landmarks that have changed include a former public school where the Victoria Building stands, and the O’Keefe Brewery occupying the space now filled by the Bookstore, a parking garage and a Tim Hortons. Sadly, we have to count the Empress Hotel (more recently known as “the building that Salad King was in”) as a former landmark.
If you would like to take a look at the atlas yourself (Vols. 1 & 2 only), or one of the earlier atlases of the area such as The Illustrated historical atlas of the county of York and the township of West Gwillimbury & town of Bradford in the county of Simcoe, Ont, 1878 and The Topographical and historical atlas of the county of Oxford, Ontario, 1876, please make an appointment by sending an email to asc@ryerson.ca or phone 416-979-5000 x7027.
