Bird’s-Eye: Tikkunista! has a lot of “what’s happening” photos, but now it’s time for some that showed what happened. We lead with a lovely collection of photos of Toronto a hundred years ago, follow with 1939 Montréal fashion in facial protection against snow storms (probably illegal now in Quebec, and for sure at airports), and an amazing photo from Petrolia “Canada’s oil town”, circa 1900
The images here are taken from 100 Views of Toronto, a picture book published at around 1900-1910. The original caption for each photograph is included, with additional notes in parentheses.
* Face Protection From Snowstorms flickr
Montreal 1939
* The Girl in the Middle is Dead Petrolia
This is a Petrolia post mortem photo by Robson . It was extremely expensive to have a photo taken during Victorian times. Only the wealthy could afford such a luxury. If a child or other loved one died it was a common practice to have a photo taken either alone or as in this case with the family especially if there was not yet a living likeness. If you look closely you can see a base behind the girls feet and a post would go up from that with clamps at the waist and neck and the clothing would be open at the back. The arms would have stiff wires running at the back to hold them in place. Also notice the strange placement of the hands. The pupils are painted on the closed eyelids.
