Collection PR-1258 - A.H. Maynard collection

Person affected with leprosy, D'Arcy Island Indigenous people on board H.M.S. Boxer Chinese man affected with leprosy, D'Arcy Island Chinese people affected with leprosy, D'Arcy Island Chinese man affected with leprosy, D'Arcy Island Ucluelet woman Seal Pelts On The Deck Of A Sealing Ship Tow-kau-ahl, the fish charmer and his sister Taul-kun, Duncan Agnes Deans Cameron and local First Nations boy; MacKenzie River

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

A.H. Maynard collection

General material designation

  • graphic material

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Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the collection.
  • Variations in title: A.H. Maynard fonds

Level of description

Collection

Reference code

PR-1258

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • [between 1896 and 1932] (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

490 photographs

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1857-1934)

Biographical history

Albert Hatherly Maynard (1857-1934) was born June 6th, 1857 in Ontario. He was the son of photographers Richard and Hannah Maynard and worked as a business owner and photographer in Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Albert Hatherly Maynard married Adelaide M. Graham in 1878. Between the late 1870s and early 1880s, they had several children including daughters, Mabel Price Maynard (b.1880), Lille Elizabeth (b.1884), and sons John Ridgemen Maynard (b.1879) and Richard James Maynard (b. 1881). Adelaide Maynard died in her early thirties. In 1914, Albert Maynard married widow Violet Mabel Graham.

Albert Maynard and his family are closely linked to the Maynard photographic studio business, Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery, as well as his father’s business. Richard Maynard, known for his field and landscape photography, made one of his early work-related excursions to Barkerville in the Cariboo with his son Albert in 1868. Upon his father’s retirement in the late 1890s, Albert took on the role of general manager of his father’s business as well as taking over management of the photographic stock. After the death of his mother Hannah in 1918, Albert was the executor of her will. Near the end of his life in the early 1930s, Albert Maynard facilitated the distribution of his parent’s photographic work to educational institutions such as those on the west coast of Canada and United States. Distributed works included ethnographic photographs documenting the territorial lands, resources, culture, and lifeways of Coast Salish and Interior Salish First Nation communities. Also during this time, he sold many of the original records of photographers Hannah and Richard Maynard to what is now the Royal BC Museum and Archives.

As a business owner, Albert Maynard operated photographic businesses with several locations over the course of his lifetime. He held business operations in Victoria, including at Pandora and Yates Streets. He advertised under various names such as "Albert H. Maynard, successor to R. Maynard, Photographic Supplies and Apparatus" and "Albert H. Maynard, Photographic Supplies + Apparatus" throughout the 1910s and 1920s. In the later years of his business, Maynard appears to have taken on a partnership with P.G. Stewart and a move to Yates Street from the Pandora Avenue location. For a period, the business was known as "Maynard and Stewart Photo Supply Co." In March 1932, Maynard was reported by The Daily Colonist to have transferred leadership of his photographic partnership to L. E. Maynard.

Albert Hatherly Maynard died in Victoria in 1934.

Custodial history

Presumed to be donated by A.H. Maynard sometime in the 1930's.

Scope and content

The collection consists of four discreet collections of photographs, the bulk of which are lantern slides. The majority of the fonds consists of several sets of lantern slides, the bulk of which contain photographic subject matter dating from 1868 to 1930. The photograph collections are attributed to Albert Hatherly Maynard, son of early pioneer photographer Richard Maynard (1832-1907). Within lantern slide collections, slides from creators of other distinct lantern slide collections (likely Charles Frederick Newcombe and William A. Newcombe), appear to be included. A small number of flexible negatives are also included in one of the accessions.

A large number of lantern slides depict scenes of the Fraser River gold rush era of the 1860s, in the regions of Yale to Barkerville, Quesnel and Cottonwood in the interior of British Columbia. Many of the reproductions of photographs featured in the lantern slides in this collection are attributed early pioneer photographer’s works including those created by Richard Maynard during the 1860s and A.H. Maynard’s works produced in the 1920s. It also includes the photographic works of other early B.C. photographers including Frederick Dally (1838-1914), likely Louis A. Blanc who documented similar subjects as the Maynards particularly Barkerville, the Cariboo and the Cariboo Roads in British Columbia during the period before and after the Fraser River gold rush of the 1860s. A small number of photographic works by Frederick Dundas Todd (1858-1926) and F. [Dewitt] Reed are also contained within several of the slide collections.

Accessions 198203-025 and 198203-065 consist of slide compilations that depict a visual narrative of the history of Barkerville, the Cariboo Road and Cariboo region in the B.C. interior during the period of the 1868 Fraser River gold rush era and sixty years later in the 1920s. The bulk of the scenes of the gold mining resource industry, as well as views of transportation roads and routes along the journey to the goldfields. To a lesser extent views of other resources industries (forestry, agriculture, fishing and farming/ranching) are depicted against the nature and lands of the B.C. interior. Mining towns within the Lighting Creek and Williams Creek Districts, including Barkerville (before and after the fire of 1868), Richfield and Cameronton are represented, as well as other scenes representing the following views of gold mining operations: claims sites, posed group portraits and likenesses of miners, equipment and the production activity of early mining technology of associated mining companies, businesses and partnerships in the area. Photographs of mining claims and claims sites and the miners and labourers involved at Mucho Oro, Aurora Gold, Minnehah, Never Sweat; The Rankin Company (Grouse Creek), Ne’er do Weel (Grouse Creek) and the Canadian Grouse Company (Grouse Creek) are included in the sequences. Imagery along and of the Cariboo Road(s) are described as depicting various views, scenes and activities including: freight and trade transportation, transportation methods and transportation routes (ox pack teams, gold escorts; steamer “Reliance” and Fraser River crossings; travelers); views along the Cariboo Road(s) that include the geological terrain of the Fraser River (its river banks and surrounding forested and arid landscapes) at various points along the route to the goldfields including the Fraser Canyon and Lady Franklin Rock; examples of civil engineering as such as bridges; homes and ranches as well as accommodations such as roadhouses and hotels (70, 83, 108 and 150 Mile Houses, Pioneer Hotel, Van Winkel Hotel at Stanley, Colonial Hotel at Soda Creek and the Hastings Hotel) and businesses (Masonic Hall at Barkerville) in colonial service towns and mining communities and settlements. Indigenous communities do not appear to be identified in lantern slide captions, though the geographical regions documented in slides reflect many traditional Indigenous territories in which the Fraser River gold rush traversed and was situated. It appears that traditional Indigenous fishing methods are present in some views, likely in those of the Fraser River. Several photographs of geological specimens (gold nuggets) are included within the set. There appear to be very limited images of regional wildlife. There are a small number of group photographs reflecting the diverse population of gold miners, pioneers and travelers of the Interior B.C. (“Crew of SS "Nechacco"), including women and children. The views from the 1920s, appear to reflect A. H. Maynard’s trips to Barkerville, the Cariboo Road(s) and the Cariboo region. Finally, there are several views described as from the period in between 1868 and the 1920s. These slides depict views including those of the Fraser Valley region by F. Dundas Todd, a surveying team in “East Kootenay” and a few images described as the Okanagan.

A smaller collection of lantern slides (accession 198203-066) feature a random mix of Fraser River gold rush era views, military subjects, theatrical entertainment and other topics. Many slides appear to be images reproduced from works of art, books and other published materials. Documentation of theatrical productions include images of scenes and portraits from Shakespearean plays (Macbeth, Othello, A Winter’s Tale), as well as Anne Hathaway's cottage. It also includes documentation of the destruction of religious institutions during World War I, primarily in Ypres. Some of these slides indicate “mounted by Edgar Fleming, Victoria, B.C.”

Another collection of photographs (accession 198201-068) consist of 107 black and white flexible film negatives depicting Canadian and American views taken between the period of May and June 1914. These include views include of Bowmanville, Toronto and Niagara, Ontario in May 1914; Rochester and New York, New York in May and June, and the "Rio Grande" in Colorado in June of the same year. Photographs of American destinations such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlantic City including Freemount Park, Salt Lake and [Ogden], Denver and Washington, DC are here. Several locations on Vancouver Island identified as Victoria, Saanich and Mill Bay also housed in this group of photographs. This unit also includes film negatives described as “C.P.R.y [Railway] 1914”. 25 copy prints were made from these negatives due to deterioration of original film negatives.16 images of Bowmanville and Toronto in May 1914 and 9 images of Vancouver Island including Victoria, Saanich and Mill Bay are available.

Notes area

Physical condition

47 b&w nitrate negatives of Scottish castles and churches from accession 198303-066 have deteriorated beyond redemption. They have been separately frozen to await destruction.

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Modern copy prints of Richard Maynard’s photographic works and works marketed by Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery, including field photographs relating to the Fraser River gold rush and the Cariboo Road(s) in the 1860s in British Columbia featured in this collection (including accessions 198203-025 and 198203-065), are available. Selected black and white modern copy prints of glass negatives (stereoscopic photographs) for selected works were made in previous years. Some are available in electronic form. Some are available in the reference collection of Maynard photographs. These include the following archive/reference code number range: HP012305/F-09570 to HP012339/F-09604. Please contact the BC Archives to determine the access status of these reference materials.

25 b&w copy prints are available of selected photographs of Ontario and Vancouver Island, made from accession 198201-068.

Restrictions on access

For conservation reasons, access provided to originals is limited. Researchers should consult online reference images prior to consulting the original. Please contact the BC Archives to determine the access status of these collection materials.

For conservation reasons, material in cool or cold storage requires special retrieval and handling.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Items are in the public domain.

Finding aids

Associated materials

Newspaper articles from The Daily Colonist relating to Maynard visits to Barkerville and the Cariboo region in the 1860s and the 1920s are held by the Victoria Times-Colonist. Articles include an entry in the September 24, 1868 edition acknowledging receipt of Maynard photographs of Barkerville before the town fire earlier in the month, as well as articles on Albert Hatherly Maynard’s visits to Barkerville in the 1920s such as “Resident of Cariboo Again: Scene of the Big Gold Rush” (The Daily Colonist, September 20, 1925). Digital access is available through the University of Victoria Libraries’ digital collection, “Daily Colonist Newspaper Collection.”

Newspaper articles from The Cariboo Sentinel relating to the Barkerville fire of 1868 are also available and held by the University of British Columbia Libraries. Digital access is available through the University of British Columbia Libraries’ digital collection, “BC Historical Newspapers.”

For records of other commercial studio photographers that provide documentation of the Fraser River gold rush region during the early 1900s, including individual and group portraits representing people and communities in Barkerville and Quesnel by Chinese Canadian photographer Chow Dong Hoy (C.D. Hoy), see RG138 Hoy family fonds. The collection is held by Barkerville Historic Town and Resource Centre.

Related Materials
Alternative lantern slide collections that contain A.H. Maynard produced lantern slides,
see MS-2964 Photographs and sketches (boxes 43-104, including box 72). Described as Newcombe Family fonds – PR-0356.

For records relating to photographic orders which include the provision of lantern slides by A. H. Maynard during the 1920s and 1930s to institutions in Canada and the United States, see MS 1077 Newcombe family papers (see file “A.H. Maynard. Lists and Photo Orders” in box 20, file 7 or reel A01755, vol 20, file 7). This file includes lists and correspondence with information on photographs such as captions and numbering schemes. Described as Newcombe Family fonds – PR-0356.

For related textual records, such as a register of negatives with information on the classification system used by Charles Frederick Newcombe for negatives including lantern slides featured in this collection, see MS 1077 Newcombe family papers (see file “W.A. Newcombe notebooks – C.F.N.'s Register of Negatives and Lantern Slides” in box 39, file 15 or reel A01762, vol 39, file 15, PM# 69). The register contains negative numbers, associated caption and other information. The register also includes a key to numbering system as well as an index. Series described in this register include series: EC (“collections”), E (“Ethnological”), Gg (“geographical”), Gl (“geological”), H (“Historical from early explorers”), V (“Various”) and X (“Lantern slides”) . Some pages appear to have been removed. Not all lantern slides in each series are described here, nor are all slides in PR-1258 mentioned in this register.

For prints relating to the photographic works of Albert H. Maynard, Hannah Maynard, Richard Maynard and Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery, including Albert Maynard’s trips Barkerville and sites of the Fraser River gold rush and the Cariboo roads in the 1920s, see MS-2964 Photographs and sketches (see box 9>10, files 263, 264, 286, 318, 328). In some cases, caption information on photographs is included. Described as Newcombe Family fonds – PR-0356.

For prints (stereographs) of Richard Maynard’s photographic works and works marketed by Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery, including field photographs relating to the Fraser River gold rush and the Cariboo Road(s) in the 1860s in British Columbia featured in this collection (including accessions 198203-025 and 198203-065), see the BC Archives Photograph Collection. Photographic views are related to the views depicted in those with the archive/reference code number range: HP012305/F-09570 to HP012339/F-09604. Captions and other information about individual images and photographic views are annotated on the verso of some of these prints.

For Maynard family photographic albums that contain composite images that appear to feature views of the Cariboo Road, see MS-2951 – My Automobile Trips/Lillian E Maynard in this collection. Described as PR-1259. This composite work include varying titles and is described as both “80 Views on the Frazer [sic] River” or “Some of the Many Scenes of British Columbia by R. Maynard.”

PR-1185 - Isabel Bescoby fonds holds an alternative photo album that contains photographic views attributed to Frederick Dally featured in the lantern slide collections in PR-1258 (accession 198203-025) and some to Richard Maynard. Views include those identified as depicting gold claims and claim sites (Mucho Oro, Stout's Gulch) and Barkerville town views before and after the fire of September 1868. See 197902-015 Isabel Bescoby Album. The Isabel Bescoby fonds also includes unpublished transcripts, correspondence and notes from an interview conducted in 1931 between Isabel Bescoby and Albert Hatherly Maynard which contains information on Albert Maynard’s 1868 trip to Barkerville with his father Richard Maynard. Additionally, more documentation regarding the 1931 interview can also be found in MS 1077 (Newcombe family papers). Described as Newcombe Family fonds – PR-0356.

For records of other commercial studio photography businesses that provide documentation of the Fraser River gold rush era in the 1860s, including textual and visual records related to Barkerville and the Cariboo roads, see the photographic albums of Frederick Dally (including album 1, album 2 and album 7 which are part of MS-3100). Described as PR-1380 Frederick Dally papers. See also the BC Archives Photograph Collection for photographs of Barkerville from photographer Louis A. Blanc (also known as L.A. LeBlanc).

Visual records, non-photographic material, depicting the Fraser River gold rush of the 1860s can be found in the BC Archives paintings, drawings and prints collection including watercolours of Barkerville in 1863 (PDP00111) from artist Frederick Whymper (1838-1901), sketches of First Nations communities in Yale in 1862 by Sarah Crease (HP062585/D-02126) and works from William G.R. Hind.

Records of the Natural History Society of British Columbia are available through several collections including MS-1077 (PR-0356. Newcombe family fonds) which contains a copy of the Revised constitution and list of members, correspondence, draft manuscripts, newspaper clippings, financial records, publications and other materials (see reel A01754-A01755, box 19, file 1-8; reel A01771, box 235, file 1-4; and vol 120 and 185). Also within PR-0356-Newcombe family fonds are several photographic prints including a group portrait identified as the members of the Natural History Society and attributed to Albert H Maynard (see box 9>10, file 325, in MS-2964 Photographs and sketches). In addition, MS-0284 contains minutes, membership lists, correspondence and other records of the Natural History Society of British Columbia from the period of 1895 to 1920. Described as PR-0528 Natural History Society of British Columbia fonds. Both MS-1077 and MS-0284 are available on microfilm onsite at BC Archives. The BC Archives Photograph Collection also hold a photograph similar to the group portrait found in MS-2964 and featuring individuals identified as the members of the Natural History Society (HP096359/G-03182).

For records reflecting A.H. Maynard’s early family life, including Maynard photographic albums that contain studio portraits of members of the Albert Hatherly Maynard and Adelaide Maynard (nee Graham) family, see MS-3334 (Photograph album of Mrs. A. H. Maynard, 1872 - 1892). Described as PR-1259.

Related materials

Accruals

General note

Accession number(s): 198201-068; 198203-025; 198203-065; 198203-066.

General note

Outdated historical terms are present in this collection used to identify people and lifeways of non-Anglo European ancestry.

General note

In the late 1850s, pioneer photographer Richard Maynard known for his field and landscape photography, had spent time to travel to the Fraser River on the west coast of Canada to participate early in the gold rush on the mainland of British Columbia. He later continued his prospecting enterprises in the northern Stikine region in the early 1860s. His son Albert Hatherly accompanied his father Richard in 1868 on one of his work-related excursions to Barkerville in the Cariboo region of the mainland of B.C. Other photographers were also known to have been active and produced and marketed photographic documentation of Barkerville and the Cariboo at that time in the 1860s, including Frederick Dally who was in residence there. Another photographer, Louis A. Blanc (also known as L.A. LeBlanc), was also known to have been operating a studio in Barkerville from the spring of 1868 to the summer of 1872. In September of 1868, the settlement of Barkerville suffered from a devastating fire. On September 24, 1868, the Daily Colonist reported receiving photographs from Richard Maynard depicting the town as it was before the blaze. In the 1920s, A.H. Maynard returned several times to visit Barkerville and sites of the old Cariboo roads(s) among other locations in the interior of British Columbia. He was interviewed about his time there in 1931 by Isabel Bescoby.

General note

Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery marketed the works of other photographers including Victoria photographer Frederick Dally, since photographers often sold their original glass plate negatives to other photographers when they went out of business, along with other business practices of the period.

General note

Richard Maynard’s photographic works depicting scenes of the Fraser River gold rush and the Cariboo Road(s) in the 1860s in British Columbia were marketed throughout the period when the Maynard Studio operated on Douglas, Johnston and Pandora Streets in Victoria. Card mounted stereographs (prints) featuring these images contain imprints with Maynard business addresses at Douglas, Johnston and Pandora Streets.

General note

In the early 1900s, pioneer photographers continued to be established in Barkerville and the Cariboo region. Chinese portrait photographer Chow Dong Hoy, also known as C.D. Hoy, operated a portrait photography business in Barkerville and Quesnel between 1909/1910 to 1920.

General note

Mr. Albert Hatherly Maynard is listed as a foundation member of the Natural History Society of British Columbia along with Charles Frederic Newcombe, in the Revised Constitution and List of Members of the Natural History Society of British Columbia published in 1924.

Conservation

Nitrate negatives belonging to accessions 198201-068 and 198203-066 have been frozen for conservation.

Lantern slides in accession 198203-065 were rehoused prior to 1982, from a wooden box labelled “Mainland – Interior.”

Some lantern slides, particularly those in accession 198203-066 and also accession 198203-065 and 198203-025, are damaged and broken. Please use care when handling.

Physical description

Includes 383 b&w lantern slides and 107 b&w flexible negatives.

Alpha-numeric designations

Several lantern slide collections contain alpha-numeric codes that appear to reflect the classification system used by Charles Frederick Newcombe for negatives including lantern slides. For examples, see codes on red outlined labels for lantern slides in accessions 198203-065 and 198203-025.

Some lantern slide collections contain codes in a numerical sequence, but many numbers are missing or not represented. As an example see accession 198203-065 (labelled 1-573) and 198203-025 (labelled C1-C99; labelled C105 to X443).

There are also some lantern slide collections that include alternative numbering schemes, such as the following featured on red outlined label attached to the slide with the caption “Superintendent’s House..Fish Hatchery…Lillooet”: “SL-52” in accession 198203-065.

Physical description

The bulk of lantern slide collections include handwritten captions and classification numbers on slide labels. In some collections, there are multiple handwritten captions that appear to be by different authors.

Physical description

Several lantern slide collections contain alternative captions other than those present on labels adhered to lantern slides or on paper sleeves surrounding the glass slide. Captions sometimes contain more or supplementary information about the image. These alternative captions can be found within the photographic image of an individual slide, but are sometimes obscured by the paper sleeve. See accessions 198203-065 and 198203-025.

Physical description

Brief creator supplied captions are included on original envelopes for negatives in accession 198201-068.

Physical description

Several lantern slide collections contain the following embossed stamp on the paper sleeves of slides: “A.H. Maynard, Victoria B.C.” See accessions 198203-065, 198203-066 and 198203-025.

Signatures note

Several lantern slide collections contain lantern slides with the following handwritten signature on the paper sleeves of slides: “A H Maynard, Victoria BC.” See accessions 198203-065 and 198203-025 for examples. Other slides here contain several different handwritten initials on the paper sleeves of slides including “P.G.E.” and “W.A.N.” See accession 198203-065 for an example of the latter.

Accompanying material

Additional documentation (Maynard family research files) is available. The Maynard family research files contain information and records relating to Albert H Maynard, including copies of newspaper articles published by The Daily Colonist in the 1920s and relate to Albert H Maynard and Richard Maynard’s photographic trips to Barkerville and the Cariboo region in the 1860s and 1920s. These files were created by current and past staff and researchers of BC Archives and includes biographical, contextual, and photographic research information. Please contact the BC Archives to determine the access status of these records.

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