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Dept. of Public Works photographs

series1890-1963Fonds 200 > Series 372

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Held by
City of Toronto Archives via City of Toronto Archives
Creators
Toronto (Ont.). Dept. of Public Works; Toronto (Ont.). Dept. of Works; Toronto (Ont.). City Engineer's Dept.; Toronto (Ont.). Water Works Dept.
Dates
1890-1963 (indexed as 1890–1963)
Level
series
Extent
ca. 15,400 photographs ; 32 x 43 cm or smaller; ca. 26,000 negatives ; 13 x 18 cm or smaller
Scope & content
Series consists of 99 subseries, most of which were initially created and maintained by Arthur Goss in his position as official City Photographer. The content of the material in this series is extremely diverse, depicting both major public works and on-going maintenance projects. In both cases, Goss and his successors capture the public work, as well as the public workers and their surroundings, often providing both panoramic views and tight close-ups. The commissioned work is equally rich in information and historical context. Among the most striking works are Goss's photographs of housing conditions among the poor in Toronto (subseries 32), which he shot for the Health Department's crusading public health reformer, Dr. Charles Hastings. Hastings recognized the value of photographs to depict existing conditions and sway the public in his lectures and reports and Goss's photographs were both direct and moving. Commissions for the City Architect (subseries 1) yielded unusual views of well-known structures, such as repairs to the roof and stonework of City Hall in 1921 or inspections of the roller coaster at the CNE. Other major sub-series were produced for the Assessment department (subseries 3), the Parks department (sub-series 52), the Board of Education (sub-series 11), Toronto Hydro Electric (subseries 94), and Housing (subseries 33), which includes a large number of pictures of housing conditions in the area that was redeveloped into Regent Park.The first 82 subseries, which appear in alphabetical order, were created by Goss and continued by his successors. The archivist, however, has created additional subseries based on information written on the negatives or prints (from subseries 83 onward); and also a catch-all category, subseries 100, "General." Some of the material in subseries 100 may be related to items in other categories (e.g., about a dozen prints made from negatives in subseries 1, "Architects", are close-ups made in the darkroom of elements on the roof of old City Hall in 1921).Goss devised two basic types of categories: departmental subjects (e.g., Beaches, Danforth Ave. Car Line, Street Cleaning, and Sewers); and clients (e.g., Architects, Assessment, Parks, and Solicitor). He also created a general Portraits category, which contained photographs of mayors (like T.L. Church), civic bureaucrats (like City Engineer Charles H. Rust), and dignitaries (like the Duke of Connaught) as well as a genuinely Miscellaneous category, which contained Goss family photos, illuminated decorations for the 1901 Royal Visit, images of the 1908 flooding at Toronto Island, and the 1939 Royal Visit, among many other Goss-produced photo subjects. In many cases, Goss himself labelled the items as miscellaneous. By contrast, subseries 100, General, is an artificial, catch-all category created by the archivist, which contains items ranging in date from the 1890s to 1963, and includes over a hundred photographs by Turofsky for the Street Cleaning Department (including about a dozen of a December 1944 snowstorm, and over 50 documenting the clean-up of the burnt-out Noronic in 1949).The subseries vary dramatically in size: from a single item in subseries 85, Clarence Avenue Bridge, to over 3,000 photographs in subseries 8, Bloor St. Viaduct. The dates in the subseries also vary considerably. In some cases, the material pre-dates Goss's appointment as Chief Photographer in 1911 (e.g., subseries 37, Island Conduit which dates from 1905, but is composed of glass copy negatives of 1905 originals; and subseries 74, Toronto Water Works Tunnel, which runs from 1904 to 1907). In other cases, material post-dates Goss's death in 1940 (e.g., subseries 59 B, Sewers B, which covers 1950-1952; and subseries 70, Street Cleaning, which includes 1913-1949).
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Subjects
Goss, Arthur Scott, 1881-1940; Alexandra Studio; High Park (Toronto, Ont.); Sunnyside Amusement Park (Toronto, Ont.); Toronto Island (Ont.); STREETSCAPE; PARKS; ROADS; BRIDGES; TUNNELS; SEWERAGE; FILTRATION PLANTS; RESERVOIRS; WATERMAINS; WATER STORAGE TANKS
Harvested
2026-10-21T21:23:54Z · source datestamp n/a · toronto
Original metadata as harvested (toronto)