Fonds PR-2188 - Gus A. Maves fonds

The fonds consists of photographs created by Gus A. Maves in his commercial business between ca. 1920 and 1944. At this time Maves, and his wife Margaret, lived in Oak Bay, near Victoria. Maves created most of the negatives using 8 x 10 nitrate film and these were numbered and entered into his index books by number and by subject. He also created two separately numbered negatives series for negative sizes 4 x 5 and 5 x 7. Many of these negatives were copies of the 8 x 10 negatives and were used to create postcards and other commercial products. A selection of copy negatives masked and titled for printing cards, calendars and other commercial products exist within the fonds. Maves created photographic prints and proofs from most of his negatives and arranged many of them in either number or subject order in four albums. These albums, which often include the negative number and caption under the print, may have been used as order or sample books for his commercial business. There are also a considerable number of loose photographs with many duplicates including some glass plate negatives, lantern slides, transparencies, prints and artworks hand coloured by Margaret Maves. The main subject of the photographs are landscapes, particularly Butchart Gardens, Beacon Hill Park, Oak Bay Golf Club and mountain and ocean scenic shots; still life photos of fruit, vegetables and flowers, agricultural and industrial photographs and interior and exterior photographs of homes. Most of the photographs were taken in the Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island area but there are also some photographs taken in the Okanagan. The fonds also includes textual records including three indexes to the 8 x 10 negatives (two arranged by number and one by subject), an order book, publications featuring artwork by Gus and Margaret Maves, miscellaneous advertising signs, two wood printing frames, a stand for darkroom work and a “No parking” stand with coloured transparency of still life with fruit.