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
Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections
Home

A Few of our Favourite Things

Posted on by

Archives and Special Collections have so many weird and wonderful items in our collections. For the summer we decided to feature some of them in an exhibition in the display windows in front of our reading room.

Wood in Glass (RG 0.04.21)

Clear glass sphere with large piece of wood with smaller piece of wood glued to it inside

These two wood pieces were found during the excavation of the site for the pool located in Kerr Hall. This piece, along with another section of wood donated at the same time to the Archives, were purportedly carbon dated at 12,000 years old. It is unclear who displayed them in this glass bowl or created this display piece.

Doozers (2012.005.05.07)

Three small green plastic figures with hard hats on.

Doozers, small industrious workers found living in harmony with the Fraggles on Jim Henson’s “Fraggle Rock”. These small plastic wind up figurines are an examples of some of the promotional materials created to advertise the show that originally aired 1983-1988. These figures are part of the larger Robert Hackborn fonds in Special Collections. Robert Hackborn worked for the CBC for nearly 4 decades on set design and creation, and visual effects. He worked on Fraggle Rock with the late Jim Henson. You can learn more about Robert Hackborn and this amazing collection by reading our blog on the topic: “The Man Behind the Glass: Robert Hackborn“

Lamp of Learning (RG 0.04.23)

metal oil lamp on a cylindrical wood base. It is sitting on a red velvet pillow

Legend has it that the lamp was purchased by a faculty member in a small shop in Rome, Italy in the 1950’s. It was brought back to the school and graced the top of the Chariot Race trophy. Chariot races were held at TMU in the 1950s and 1960s – usually in conjunction with football games.

Two men in suits holding a trophy in between them
Howard H. Kerr, TMU’s first principal, and D. G. W. McRae, head of the Architecture program, with the Chariot Race trophy (RG 95.1.28.03.01)

In the late 1950’s the lamp was removed from the trophy, fastened to the wood cylinder it currently resides on and used to lead the stage party into Convocation. The Lamp of Learning was used at convocation until the 1980s.

Line of men in black robes and mortarboards leaving building along tree lined path. Man in front is carrying an oil lamp on a pillow
Lamp being carried after Convocation 1961 held at Deer Park Baptist. Lamp carrier was Professor J. Handley. Immediately behind him is Ontario Premier John Robarts, walking with School Principal Howard H. Kerr

“Library Book” by Lise Melhorn-Boe (N7433.4 M445 L52 2005)

Pop up book open showing various small books

An artists’ book about reading library books. Created by Melhorn-Boe, this limited edition hardcover pop-up book features a story authored by Wendy Cain, a renowned Canadian paper and printmaker, about how she came to read all of Andrew Lang’s colour fairy books. It features copies of H. J. Ford’s illustrations from Lang’s books.

Stack of books
Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Grey, and Pink Fairy books by Andrew Lang are part of the book collection in Archives and Special Collections

There are 12 Fairy books in total – Some of which can be viewed in the Archives and Special Collections reading room. Find them and other artist’s books by searching the library’s catalogue https://library.torontomu.ca/

Wellesley Hospital floor plan wood block printing plates (RG 946.02.12.04)

Three wood blocks with metal floor plan designs attached to them

Three wood block printing plates, created by Architect Frederick C. Lee, featuring the original 1912 floor plans for the Wellesley Hospital. The blocks are part of the Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association collection that came to Archives and Special Collections in 2011. If you want to learn more about the collection, The Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing, and how it came to be associated with TMU please consider reading the following blogs:

Magic Lantern Slide “Frogs” (2017.010.06.034)

Rectangular glass slide with 4 images of frogs in swimsuits jumping and playing in the water

Magic Lantern Slides were initially rectangular strips of glass with hand painted imagery and a mahogany wood border. Illustrations on the glass portion went from being hand-painted to mechanically produced, and by the mid 1800s photographic slides came into production as well. This slide is part of a larger donation of magic lantern and stereograph technology from the late Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass in 2018.

2017.017.01.004

The slides were projected by Magic Lanterns. The first time a magic lantern was constructed is considered to be in 1659 and were used for entertainment. The lanterns were first illuminated using candles or oil lamps, but this did not produce enough light to project a clear image from afar. Limestone began being used in the early 1800s, allowing for projection of the slides in large settings. By the mid 1800s, a huge variety of magic lanterns became available to the professional and home market. During this time they were also used more widely in educational settings. For more information on Magic Lanterns and Lantern slides please take a look at our earlier blog in the topic https://library.torontomu.ca/asc/2017/10/new-exhibition-projecting-magic/

Foundation of the University Archives (RG 12.192.004.009)

2 page memo regarding collecting materials for an archives

This 2 page memo was sent by then school President Donald Mordell in November of 1970 encouraging all Deans, Chairmen and Department heads to stop discarding university records as “It is natural and laudable to throw out the ‘garbage’ from time to time but sometimes what is thought of as garbage may contain very useful information for the historian”. This memo was sent out before there was even an established archives or an archivist hired. The Archives was established in 1971 as a result of a recommendation in the the Smyth Commission Report (RG 220.54). The first Archivist Jim Peters was a member of the English Faculty. If you want to learn more about the foundation of the Archives you can view the following blogs:

Yashica-44 camera (2005.006.12.08)

The Yashica-44 series camera was first produced in 1958 by the Yashica Company (founded in 1949 in Nagano, Japan). The 44 model is a crank wind twin reflex camera with a waist level viewfinder and was advertised to be 25% smaller than their full reflex camera and weighed only 26oz. Three variations were created (44, 44A and 44LM) and production of the cameras continued until 1965. The camera used 127mm film and created black and white or colour 4 cm x 4 cm images – usually slides.

Baby Rollei Camera, c1957 (2005.006.12.06)

The Yashica-44 was based on the Baby Rollei Camera produced by Franke & Heidecke, a German Company founded by Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke in 1920. Both of these cameras are part of the Heritage Camera Collection and were donated to Special Collections by Wilhelm E. Nassau in 2011. You can learn more about twin lens reflex cameras by following this link https://archives.library.torontomu.ca/index.php/twin-lens-reflex-cameras

To see more of what Archives and Special Collections has to offer or to do research please contact us at asc@torontomu.ca.

“These are a few of our favourite things…” – The Expo Watch Camera

Posted on by

The staff in Archives and Special Collections bring you some of our favourite things. Objects and photographs from the collections that hold a special place in our hearts. Each week will highlight a different item, along with an explanation of why it stands out.

With such an amazing collection of materials – sometimes it is hard to pick just one…

This week’s post is Curatorial Specialist Olivia Wong’s choice:

Expo Watch Camera (2005.006.06.02)

Some of my favourite objects in the collection are specialized film and photography equipment. The Expo Watch Camera is part of our selection of detective or disguise cameras. As the name suggests, this novelty camera is the shape and size of a pocket watch. It uses a miniature daylight film cartridge that can hold up to twenty-five 16 x 22 mm exposures. The camera has a detachable external viewfinder, and the exposures are captured through the watch’s winding stem (the knob serves as a lens cap!)

This nifty gadget was manufactured by the Expo Camera Company in New York City between the early 1900s until 1939. An advertisement for the camera in a 1917 Photoplay Magazine stated: “Photography made a pleasure instead of a burden. You can carry the EXPO about in your pocket, and take a picture without any one being the wiser.” To see the full ad, click here

To learn more about the Expo Watch Camera, click here

To see what else is in the Heritage Camera Collection, click here

Camera Trends: Seeing in 3D

Posted on by
Stereo Cameras from the Wilhelm E. Nassau Camera Collection in the Special Collections

There has been a continual trend in the yearning for the representation of truth and the real within photography, and seeing an image in three dimensions is the ultimate depiction of reality. In 1838, a year before Daguerre’s official announcement of the discovery of photography, Charles Wheatstone provided the scientific basis for stereoscopy, or 3-D imaging, showing how the brain operates to allow us to see in three dimensions. Stereoscopy led photographers one step closer to accurate representation of the real world by mimicking how our eyes function.

Stereographic cards contain two separate images of the same scene, but from slightly different viewpoints, printed next to each other and corresponding the spacing of the eyes. The left picture represents what the left eye would see and the right picture represents what the right eye would see. Viewed through a stereoscope, the pair of two-dimensional images merges together into a single three-dimensional photograph.

Following are are some of the stereo viewers and 3-D cameras from the Ryerson Library Special Collections.

The Holmes Stereoscope (2011.018.328)

The Holmes stereoscope is a later version of the original stereoscope from the 1840s but was the most common one from 1881 until 1939. The stereoscope is not a camera but is a device for viewing stereographic cards. Without a stereoscope, the viewer must cross or diverge his or her eyes so that a central, third three-dimensional image appears.

A stereocard, which is a card with two images, creates a three-dimensional view when mounted and viewed through a stereoscope (2008.009.021)

Stereoscopes were used in homes, schools, and churches, and covered every subject imaginable from astronomy to pornography.

The Tru-Vue Viewer and a mounted stereo slide (2008.009.035)

Tru-Vue was a company that made binocular viewers and stereoscopic filmstrips. It began in 1931 and was purchased by Sawyer’s in 1951 – the manufacturer of the View-Master. Both the Tru-Vue and the View-Master were manufactured into the 1960s. Paired mounted slides, photographed on consumer cameras, are fed through the viewer, and, when held up to the light, the image appears in 3D.

The View-Master (2011.018.363)

The View-Master is a device from the 1950s used to view stereo images mounted in a paper disk containing fourteen film slides in pairs (and thus seven three-dimensional images). Though the View-Master is now marketed to children, it was originally oriented toward adults as the slides included educational and tourism content.

By the 1920s, movies and other media supplanted stereoscopic images as the leading photographic medium. There was a resurgence of stereoscopy in the 1950s when stereo cameras were introduced to the public by a number of manufacturers.

The Kodak Stereo Camera (2011.018.349)

The Kodak Stereo camera was produced between 1954 and 1959. The dual lenses fire at the same time, creating an image for the right eye and one for the left. It was easy to use, allowing anyone to make their own 3-D photographs on 35mm slide film.

The Stereo Realist Camera (2011.018.345)

The Stereo Realist was the most popular 35mm stereo camera of all time. It was produced from about 1947 to 1971. It attracted celebrities throughout the 50s and its popularity continued on into the 60s. Harold Lloyd, a silent film star, formed a stereo camera club and was the most notable user of this camera. He shot portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Betty Page. Stereo advertisements of the time featured celebrities such as Vincent Price, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Joan Crawford, Doris Day, and Frank Capra, among others.

There was another revival of stereoscopy in the 1980s when point-and-shoot stereo cameras were introduced, but most suffered from poor optics and plastic construction, so they did not gain the popularity of the 1950s cameras.

The Nimslo 3D Camera (2011.018.440)

The Nimslo 3D camera was produced in 1982 by Nimstec and was the first consumer-level 3D camera of the 1980s that used 35mm film and that was easily portable. Four images are taken simultaneously, creating two 3D images per photograph. It was discontinued in 1990.

The Nishika 8000 Camera (2011.018.466)

Nimslo went bankrupt and was sold to Nishika in 1989. They introduced the four-lens Nishika N8000, the first Nimslo clone. It features a plastic body with plastic lenses, a fixed shutter speed, and 3 aperture settings. It is also focus-free. It uses standard 35mm film and creates lenticular images, which do not require a special viewer to see the 3D image. Four photos are taken simultaneously from four slightly different angles.

The FED Ctepeo Camera (2011.018.337)

The FED Ctepeo is a Russian stereo camera. It uses standard 35mm film to produce two images of 24x30mm per exposure.

As an impressive and entertaining illusion, stereoscopy quickly became an ongoing trend and the technique is still catching people’s eyes today!

If you would like more information on any of the special collections in the Ryerson Library please drop by the 4th floor of the library, or make an appointment: asc@ryerson.ca. You can search our collection online here.

References:

FED (Camera). (2012, April 17). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FED_(camera).

Kodak Stereo Camera (2012, February 9). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_Stereo_Camera.

Nimslo. (2012, April 13). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo.

Spiro, L. (2006, October 30). A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes. Connexions. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://cnx.org/content/m13784/latest/.

Stereo Realist. (2912, April 7). In Cameraopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Stereo_Realist.

Stereoscope. (n.d.). In Laura Hayes and John Howard Wileman Exhibit of Optical Toys. Retrieved July 6, 2016, from http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/opticaltoys.htm.

Stereoscopy. (2012, July 17). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy.

Tru-Vue. (2012, April 30). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru-Vue.

View-Master. (2012, July 16). In Wikipedia: The Free Enclyclopedia. Retrieved July 20, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View-Master.

Cameras beyond Kodak

Posted on by

The Kodak Canada Corporate Archives & Heritage Collection cameras are still on display in our summer exhibit on the 4th floor, but in today’s post we’re thinking outside the little black box. Although Kodak was easily the most popular camera manufacturer of the 20th century, and their products form the bulk of our camera collection, there were and are still other mass-market brands. One such company was Ernst Leitz, GmbH, located in Wetzler, Germany.

Leitz opened for business as an optical manufacturer called Ernst Leitz Optische Werke, an appropriate start for a brand that would become known for producing photographic lenses that rendered even small negatives sharp and clear. Their improved lenses allowed the Leica camera to use 35mm film, then the common gauge for motion picture film. Although 35mm stock was readily available to be chopped up as still film, the Leica was the first camera to make enlarging those small frames with clarity possible. Most consumer film cameras today use some variation of the Leica camera body design, spreading rolled film across the camera horizontally, from left to right and rewinding from right to left when each frame has been exposed. Add to these innovations a self-capping shutter that ensured an even exposure and it is easy to see why this portable, professional camera brand became the gear of choice for documentary photographers.

Leica IIf, ca. 1953-55, Heritage Camera Collection (2005.006.13.02)
Leica R4, 1981, Heritage Camera Collection (2005.006.13.01)

References:

Leica illustrated guide / by James L. Lager. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Morgan & Morgan, [1976, c1975].

Jason Schneider on camera collecting : a fully illustrated handbook of articles originally published in Modern photography. Des Moines, Iowa : Wallace-Homestead Book Co., c1978-c1985.

Disney, Michael (2001). The Leica and the development of the modern 35mm camera. Retrieved July 22, 2011 from Eight Elm Photo & Video website: