Hamilton spectator story
Dig out your historic family photos, Burlington. The ‘Scan-a-Thon’ event will digitize them for posterity. Museums of Burlington is asking people to contribute old photographs and documents related to Burlington.
Updated 11 hrs ago
July 22, 2024
4 min read
By Mark McNeil Contributing Columnist
Every picture tells a story, but sometimes there is more than one tale to tell.
An old photo of a grandparent might conjure a pleasant memory for family members, but it could also have historical interest in the wider community.
Maybe the image was shot at a local fair that no longer is held, or in front of a downtown building that no longer exists. The setting might shed light on how people from a previous generation lived.
That’s the thinking behind an innovative initiative by the folks at Museums of Burlington. They’re asking people to bring forward old photographs and documents relating to Burlington so they can be digitized for posterity.
A “Scan-a-Thon” special event is scheduled for Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Museum staff at the Joseph Brant Museum on North Shore Blvd. will be on hand to digitize snapshots. A copy of each photo will be given to the family, and another kept for the community archive.
Pre-registration is required through museumsofburlington.ca/scan-a-thon, or emailing [email protected]
Organizers are looking for items that “illustrate the historic founding, settlement, and development of the Burlington area. This can include old landscape photos, event photos, portraits of family who lived and grew up in Burlington, family pictures at Burlington locations, etc.,” the Museums of Burlington website says.
Museums of Burlington, the organization that oversees museums and historical landmarks in Burlington, currently has more than 5,000 historic photos in its archives. That may not sound like a lot when it is common these days to have thousands of snapshots stored on a cellphone. However, the further one goes back in time, the fewer photos there are to collect.
And Burlington — unlike Hamilton and other older cities — did not have many early commercial photographers.
Examples of the kind of pictures being sought can be found in a collection donated in 2012 to Museums of Burlington by the family of hobbyist photographer Tom Waumsley.
“Tom Waumsley was known for taking everyday snippets of his life,” says Lynna Nguyen, acting curator of Museums of Burlington.
One notable photo, she says, shows a family wedding party at the former Burlington Junction Railway Station, which was also known as Freeman Station. The picture displays how the station looked like a century ago, as well as showing how people used to dress for weddings.
A wedding party at the Burlington Junction Station is captured in a photo taken between 1920 and 1940. The photo shows how the station looked at the time and offers a glimpse into how people dressed for weddings and how the special day was celebrated.
Museums of Burlington photoAnother photo by Waumsley, that was shot sometime between 1920 and 1940, captures a casual outing at the Burlington Pier. It’s interesting to see how well-dressed people would be for informal gatherings at the waterfront.
A casual outing at the Burlington Pier. Photo was taken between 1920 and 1940 by hobbyist photographer Tom Waumsley. The Waumsley family owned a bakery and magazine/smoke shop on Brant Street.
A third example, acquired from a different private family collection, shows the tranquil scene of a girl and her dog alone in a rowboat on Burlington Bay in a photo that was shot sometime between 1930 and 1950.
A photo of Marion Emery (née Gudgeon) with the family’s Great Dane named Guard. It was taken from their property on Burlington Bay at North Shore Blvd.
“There are a lot of people in the community who have collections of photographs and they are not sure where to go with them,” says Nguyen. “We are hoping this event might help.”
Gary Evans, of Burlington-based North Shore Publishing Inc., says, “a lot of pictures are going to be lost if someone doesn’t scan them.”
Printed photos and negatives degrade through time. And there is always the danger that someone will throw them away.
Evans — whose company is known for publishing local history books about Hamilton and Burlington — would sometimes hear about major photo treasures being destroyed.
In one example, several years ago, he learned about a massive collection of professional photographer pictures relating to the former Studebaker automobile manufacturing facility in Hamilton. It was sitting in someone’s basement, but before he was able to make arrangements to see it, the photos, negatives and documents had been hauled away to the dump.
“It was so sad to lose all that. There were two pickup truck loads,” Evans says.
Yet he believes there are still a historically significant photos in private collections to be found. And he is pleased to hear Museums of Burlington is making an effort to find and preserve them for future generations.
Speaking of North Shore …
Gary Evans and daughter Marni next to a display of some of the books published by their North Shore Publishing over the years. Gary started the company 1994, after a long career at the Hamilton Spectator. More recently, with the retirement of Gary, Marni has taken over running the business.
North Shore Publishing is celebrating its 30th year of operations this year. The company has put out more than 100 books over the years, with about 75 of them devoted to Hamilton and Burlington local history topics.
The company was started by Evans, who worked mostly as an editor at the Hamilton Spectator from 1968 to 1994. In the latter years of his career, he worked as a “special projects manager,” a job that included publishing books for the newspaper.
But then in 1994, he took a buyout and started his own home-based publishing company. He made a deal with the Spec to have access to historical photos from the paper that formed the basis of many of his releases.
He also used photos from the Hamilton and Burlington public libraries, national and provincial archives, as well as private collections.
Authors have included local historians Margaret Houghton, Brian Henley, and Bill Manson, who, sadly, have all died in recent years.
Evans himself has done several books about topics such as “Memories of the Beach Strip,” “1960 Hamilton,” and “1961 Hamilton,” along with historic picture books about Hamilton and Burlington.
At the age of 81, he is officially retired at this point, having handed off the business to his daughter, Marni.
“I can’t do it anymore because of my eyesight,” he says. He’s lost complete vision in one eye and finds it difficult to read.
Today, there are no immediate plans for new book releases. The company is concentrating on selling existing book titles while expanding into new areas such as heritage prints, Christmas cards, canvas wall art and mugs for the Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville area.
Most recently the company has been venturing into photo restoration, as well as proofreading and editing services.
Updated 11 hrs ago
July 22, 2024
4 min read
By Mark McNeil Contributing Columnist
Every picture tells a story, but sometimes there is more than one tale to tell.
An old photo of a grandparent might conjure a pleasant memory for family members, but it could also have historical interest in the wider community.
Maybe the image was shot at a local fair that no longer is held, or in front of a downtown building that no longer exists. The setting might shed light on how people from a previous generation lived.
That’s the thinking behind an innovative initiative by the folks at Museums of Burlington. They’re asking people to bring forward old photographs and documents relating to Burlington so they can be digitized for posterity.
A “Scan-a-Thon” special event is scheduled for Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Museum staff at the Joseph Brant Museum on North Shore Blvd. will be on hand to digitize snapshots. A copy of each photo will be given to the family, and another kept for the community archive.
Pre-registration is required through museumsofburlington.ca/scan-a-thon, or emailing [email protected]
Organizers are looking for items that “illustrate the historic founding, settlement, and development of the Burlington area. This can include old landscape photos, event photos, portraits of family who lived and grew up in Burlington, family pictures at Burlington locations, etc.,” the Museums of Burlington website says.
Museums of Burlington, the organization that oversees museums and historical landmarks in Burlington, currently has more than 5,000 historic photos in its archives. That may not sound like a lot when it is common these days to have thousands of snapshots stored on a cellphone. However, the further one goes back in time, the fewer photos there are to collect.
And Burlington — unlike Hamilton and other older cities — did not have many early commercial photographers.
Examples of the kind of pictures being sought can be found in a collection donated in 2012 to Museums of Burlington by the family of hobbyist photographer Tom Waumsley.
“Tom Waumsley was known for taking everyday snippets of his life,” says Lynna Nguyen, acting curator of Museums of Burlington.
One notable photo, she says, shows a family wedding party at the former Burlington Junction Railway Station, which was also known as Freeman Station. The picture displays how the station looked like a century ago, as well as showing how people used to dress for weddings.
A wedding party at the Burlington Junction Station is captured in a photo taken between 1920 and 1940. The photo shows how the station looked at the time and offers a glimpse into how people dressed for weddings and how the special day was celebrated.
Museums of Burlington photoAnother photo by Waumsley, that was shot sometime between 1920 and 1940, captures a casual outing at the Burlington Pier. It’s interesting to see how well-dressed people would be for informal gatherings at the waterfront.
A casual outing at the Burlington Pier. Photo was taken between 1920 and 1940 by hobbyist photographer Tom Waumsley. The Waumsley family owned a bakery and magazine/smoke shop on Brant Street.
A third example, acquired from a different private family collection, shows the tranquil scene of a girl and her dog alone in a rowboat on Burlington Bay in a photo that was shot sometime between 1930 and 1950.
A photo of Marion Emery (née Gudgeon) with the family’s Great Dane named Guard. It was taken from their property on Burlington Bay at North Shore Blvd.
“There are a lot of people in the community who have collections of photographs and they are not sure where to go with them,” says Nguyen. “We are hoping this event might help.”
Gary Evans, of Burlington-based North Shore Publishing Inc., says, “a lot of pictures are going to be lost if someone doesn’t scan them.”
Printed photos and negatives degrade through time. And there is always the danger that someone will throw them away.
Evans — whose company is known for publishing local history books about Hamilton and Burlington — would sometimes hear about major photo treasures being destroyed.
In one example, several years ago, he learned about a massive collection of professional photographer pictures relating to the former Studebaker automobile manufacturing facility in Hamilton. It was sitting in someone’s basement, but before he was able to make arrangements to see it, the photos, negatives and documents had been hauled away to the dump.
“It was so sad to lose all that. There were two pickup truck loads,” Evans says.
Yet he believes there are still a historically significant photos in private collections to be found. And he is pleased to hear Museums of Burlington is making an effort to find and preserve them for future generations.
Speaking of North Shore …
Gary Evans and daughter Marni next to a display of some of the books published by their North Shore Publishing over the years. Gary started the company 1994, after a long career at the Hamilton Spectator. More recently, with the retirement of Gary, Marni has taken over running the business.
North Shore Publishing is celebrating its 30th year of operations this year. The company has put out more than 100 books over the years, with about 75 of them devoted to Hamilton and Burlington local history topics.
The company was started by Evans, who worked mostly as an editor at the Hamilton Spectator from 1968 to 1994. In the latter years of his career, he worked as a “special projects manager,” a job that included publishing books for the newspaper.
But then in 1994, he took a buyout and started his own home-based publishing company. He made a deal with the Spec to have access to historical photos from the paper that formed the basis of many of his releases.
He also used photos from the Hamilton and Burlington public libraries, national and provincial archives, as well as private collections.
Authors have included local historians Margaret Houghton, Brian Henley, and Bill Manson, who, sadly, have all died in recent years.
Evans himself has done several books about topics such as “Memories of the Beach Strip,” “1960 Hamilton,” and “1961 Hamilton,” along with historic picture books about Hamilton and Burlington.
At the age of 81, he is officially retired at this point, having handed off the business to his daughter, Marni.
“I can’t do it anymore because of my eyesight,” he says. He’s lost complete vision in one eye and finds it difficult to read.
Today, there are no immediate plans for new book releases. The company is concentrating on selling existing book titles while expanding into new areas such as heritage prints, Christmas cards, canvas wall art and mugs for the Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville area.
Most recently the company has been venturing into photo restoration, as well as proofreading and editing services.