Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c.1860-1920 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
2 albums
83 loose photographs
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Matilda Anderson was the child of John Anderson and Mary Roblin. She lived at 6 Forin Street, Belleville.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Items were transferred from the Quinte Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in January 2015.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Two leather-bound photograph albums, one with the name Matilda (Tillie) Anderson on a label on the front, and 83 loose photographs.
Matilda Anderson's album contains 110 photographs, most of which are identified. An inscription in the front of the volume reads "Matilda (Tillie) Anderson, 6 Forin St. Belleville Ontario Presented this day to Miss Grace R. Graham, Belleville, Ont. March 3rd 1938". This album also contains photocopies of 5 photographs and of a newspaper clipping,and a pasted-in typewritten document outlining Anderson family ancestry. Repairs have been with sticky tape, some of which is on the images, and a few photographs are loose. Most photographs are partially identified and names used include: Bruce, Hazel, John, William, Frank, Martha, Ridley, Howard and Alex Anderson; James Redner; Elizabeth and Mary Wallbridge; John and Phillip Roblin; Morley Day (possibly became a Belleville doctor); David Southard (of East Lake Shore); Seymour Emmons. There is a group of 8 portraits of clergymen, surnames include - Knight, Wilson, McCauley, Bell, Cook, Wright, Carr. One image is of a young woman (surname illegible) who attended Ontario Ladies' College at Whitby (a Methodist institution). There is a portrait of a little girl (Fanny Bowsfield) in winter clothing with a sleigh and snowshoes. Two images are of uniformed men: a William Anderson is noted as having fought the Fenian raids.
The other album contains 132 photographs, mostly unidentified. The few people with names attached are: Dwight L. Moody, Mrs P. P. Bliss, Mr P. P. Bliss, William Lewis Jackson 1868, Princess Louise. Most of the portraits were taken by Belleville photographers.
The loose photographs are generally studio portraits (mostly taken by local photographers) and are unidentified. The images range over several decades and several image types. Most images were created in photographers' studios although there are several "snaps". Photographs are present in several sizes and are mainly studio portraits of unknown persons. There is a stock printed image of Queen Victoria; what appears to be a clipping of a much-published photograph of Justice Thomas Chandler Halibuton, the author of the "Sam Slick" stories; a small image of Rev. T. Jeffers; an image of Herbert James Noxon (11 months); an image of John Elvin, son of Edward Elvin by the J.H. Ford studio of Belleville, Ontario. There are two tintypes; 40 images from Belleville, and district i.e., Trenton, Madoc, Deseronto, Picton; 6 from other parts of Canada; 5 from the United States, i.e., New Jersey, Amsterdam, N.Y., Cleveland, Ohio, San Francisco; 29 with no known origin. The images include: a nurse in an early 1900's uniform; a man and woman in a poultry yard; little girls with bowling balls [c 1901]; man beside a car with a 1927 Ontario licence plate; group portait of rural school pupils.