Search Results - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Byron Harmon fonds

https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions208

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: Fonds consists of the photographic records and sample materials of Byron Harmon Photos, the photographic business of Byron Harmon and his successors; as well as the personal photographs of Byron Harmon. I. Scenic / commercial, 1907-1975, ca.7600 items. Primary component of series is film and glass…

Date Range: [ca.1890-ca.1975]

Reference Code: V263

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

GMD: Motion picture; Film; Photograph; Negative; Photograph print; Postcard; Transparency; Textual record; Published record

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

Fonds Number: V 263

Sous-Fonds: V 263

Accession Number: 235, 980, 1549, 1622, 2588, 2656, 2770, 2792, 2895, 3005, 3394, 3423, 3657, 3807, 3824, 3859, 3988, 4028, 4076, 5052, 5181, 5205, 5254, 5381, 6070, 6127, 6587, 6602

Reference Code: V263

GMD: Motion picture; Film; Photograph; Negative; Photograph print; Postcard; Transparency; Textual record; Published record

Other Title Info: Also known as the Byron Harmon Photos fonds.

Date Range: [ca.1890-ca.1975]

Physical Description: ca.10,500 photographs (and ca.35 cm) : prints, postcards, negatives, transparencies, motion pictures, sample products

History / Biographical: Byron Hill Harmon, 1876-1942, was a professional photographer and businessman at Banff, Alberta, Canada. He was born near Tacoma, Washington, USA and operated a portrait studio there for a time. In 1903, while travelling around the United States and Canada as an itinerant photographer, he decided to settle in Banff and by 1907 had produced enough mountain views to begin selling a line of postcards. Between 1906 and 1913, Harmon was official photographer for the Alpine Club of Canada and made trips in numerous mountain areas, such as the Bugaboos (1910) and Mount Robson (1911, 1913). Harmon personally financed trips into other areas, such as Tonquin Valley (1918) and Lake of the Hanging Glaciers (1920, 1922), producing both still photographs and motion pictures for commercial sale. After his last major expedition in 1924 across Saskatchewan Glacier, through to Maligne Lake and back to Banff by packtrain, Harmon devoted most of his time to photographing scenes along the railway, skiing in the Assiniboine and Skoki regions, and the annual rides and hikes of the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies and the Sky Line Trail Hikers of the Canadian Rockies. At the same time he managed several businesses, including a drug store, fountain lunch, theatre and book store. In his later years, Harmon spent much time travelling and photographing in other parts of the world. The business, Byron Harmon Photos, was managed successively by his son, Don Harmon, then his grand-daughter, Carole Harmon.

Scope & Content: Fonds consists of the photographic records and sample materials of Byron Harmon Photos, the photographic business of Byron Harmon and his successors; as well as the personal photographs of Byron Harmon.; I. Scenic / commercial, 1907-1975, ca.7600 items. Primary component of series is film and glass negatives, 1907-1942, ca.6500 items. Also includes: postcard negatives and positives and production negatives to ca.1955; original prints; a wide range of sample products, such as postcards, enlargements and framing prints, calendars and viewbooks, mainly by Harmon business, some by other photographers; and lantern slides, ca.1913-192-, pertaining to Columbia Icefield Expedition, mountaineering, mountain landscapes, Indians, wildlife, Canadian Pacific Railway and Asian travel. Scenic / commercial series pertains to annual camps and expeditions of the Alpine Club of Canada in the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks, 1907-1913; private movie-making expeditions in the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks; mountain scenic views, primarily for postcard purposes; Banff events and development; skiing; birds and animals. Includes some material by Don Harmon and Lloyd Harmon, sons of Byron Harmon.; II. Personal, 189- to 194-, ca.370 items. Includes: family photographs and views received from others; motion picture out-takes pertaining to world travels, 1930s; and 35 mm. transparencies, ca.1940, pertaining mainly to world travels, also mountain and prairie scenics.

Notes: For more information on the Byron Harmon photographs, see "Great Days in the Rockies: The Photographs of Byron Harmon, 1906-1934" (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1978) or "Byron Harmon, Mountain Photographer" by Carole Harmon and Bart Robinson (Banff: Altitude Publishing, 1992)

Name Access: Harmon, Byron

Subject Access: Arts; Environment; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life; Sports, recreation and leisure

Access Restrictions: Some restrictions on access to originals; Copyright, privacy, commercial use and other restrictions may apply

Language: Language is English

Finding Aid: Finding aids and reference tools: series description; selected modern reference prints; digital images in Images database and in Alberta InSight database

Related Material: Byron Harmon postcards can also be found in the Postcard general file (V466)

Creator: Harmon, Byron

Category: Arts; Environment; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life; Sports, recreation and leisure

Title Source: Title based on accession records and contents of fonds

Processing Status: Processed

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

Elliott Barnes fonds

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Part Of: Elliott Barnes fonds

Scope & Content: Fonds pertains to: Elliott Barnes and Barnes family; pack trips; wildlife; Alaska trip; Eau Claire logging operations in Spray Valley; Jumping Pound homestead, Morley and S-L Ranch; Sawback Lake trip; bear hunting trip; Banff area views; Paradise Valley ACC camp; hockey at Banff; Stoney Indians at…

Date Range: [ca.1905-ca.1914]

Reference Code: V48

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

GMD: Photograph; Negative; Photograph print

Part Of: Elliott Barnes fonds

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

Fonds Number: V 48

Sous-Fonds: V 48

Accession Number: 2512, 2580, 3247, 3307, 5431, 5076

Reference Code: V48

GMD: Photograph; Negative; Photograph print

Date Range: [ca.1905-ca.1914]

Physical Description: ca.500 photographs : prints, negatives

History / Biographical: Elliott Chappel Barnes, 1866-1938, was a rancher, outfitter and trail guide and professional photographer at Kootenay Plains, Banff and Jumping Pound, Alberta. Barnes was born in Rochester, New York in 1866. In the early 1890s he travelled throughout the American Rockies supporting himself as an itinerant photographer. In 1905, Barnes and his family immigrated to Canada and homesteaded on the Kootenay Plains. For a short time, Barnes ran a small outfitting operation out of Banff, mostly dealing with the newly-created Alpine Club of Canada and its members. Also, while wintering in Banff during 1907-1908, he worked briefly with Byron Harmon in the photographic business. Following this association, Barnes upgraded from a small "pocket" Kodak camera to a 5x7 Graflex with a stereo adaptor. Utilizing this camera, he published a set of stereo view-cards and custom postcards. In 1908, Barnes moved to a homestead at Little Jumping Pound Creek in the foothills west of Calgary and abandoned photography as a profession. After several farming ventures near Calgary, the family moved into the city, where Elliott Barnes died in 1938.

Scope & Content: Fonds pertains to: Elliott Barnes and Barnes family; pack trips; wildlife; Alaska trip; Eau Claire logging operations in Spray Valley; Jumping Pound homestead, Morley and S-L Ranch; Sawback Lake trip; bear hunting trip; Banff area views; Paradise Valley ACC camp; hockey at Banff; Stoney Indians at Kootenay Plains; Bankhead mine site and operations; winter trip; Mount Rainer, Washington; other (mainly people, places and activities)

Notes: A detailed biography of Elliott Barnes can be found in: "A Delicate Wilderness: The Photography of Elliott Barnes, 1905- 1914" by Edward Cavell (Banff: Altitude Publishing and the Whyte Foundation, 1983).

Name Access: Barnes, Elliott

Subject Access: Arts; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life; Natural resources; Sports, recreation and leisure

Access Restrictions: Some restrictions on access to originals; Public domain (other restrictions may apply)

Language: Language is English

Finding Aid: Finding aids and reference tools: modern reference prints

Creator: Barnes, Elliott

Category: Arts; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life; Natural resources; Sports, recreation and leisure

Title Source: Title based on accession records

Processing Status: Processed

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

Vaux family fonds

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Part Of: Vaux family fonds

Scope & Content: Fonds consists of two or more series. Series I. Photography, 1893-1913, is processed. Series II. Textual records are processed and consist of six series. Photography series consists of twenty-four sub-series: A. to O. Travel 1893 to Travel 1907; P. to S. Travel 1909 to Travel 1913; T. Travel ge…

Date Range: [after 1855]

Reference Code: M107 / V653

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

GMD: Photograph; Album; Negative; Photograph print; Transparency; Textual record; Map; Private record; Published record

Part Of: Vaux family fonds

Description Level: 1 / Fonds

Fonds Number: M 107; V 653

Sous-Fonds: M 107; V 653

Accession Number: 739, 1117, 1118, 1793, 2883, 3236, 3942, 4012, 7202, 7579 (unproc), 7792 (unproc)

Reference Code: M107 / V653

GMD: Photograph; Album; Negative; Photograph print; Transparency; Textual record; Map; Private record; Published record

Date Range: [after 1855]

Physical Description: 2924 photographs: 2632 negatives, 167 transparencies, 125 prints. -- 1 photograph album (50 prints). -- ca.2.7 m textual records

History / Biographical: The Vaux family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were photographers, mountaineers and scientists. Mary M. Vaux, 1860-1940, George Vaux Jr., 1863-1927, and William S. Vaux Jr., 1872-1908, were the children of George Vaux (VIII) of Philadelphia. They were all involved in photography in the early 1880s and were members of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. All three were taking photographs when the family made its first trip west in 1885. The first Vaux family photographs of the Canadian mountain west were made in 1887 during a summer trip along the Canadian Pacific Railway to Glacier House in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia in 1887.; The family made frequent visits to the Selkirk and Rocky Mountains over the next two decades to study the Illecillewaet and other glaciers, photograph, paint and climb. George's and Mary's photographic work centred on the mountain landscape, while William's concentrated upon the movement and physical features of glaciers. Due to the size of their large format cameras, the two brothers took most of the photographs during these trips and Mary was responsible for all of the printing. William Vaux died in 1908 and George did not return to the Canadian mountains after 1911; however, Mary Vaux Walcott returned to the region virtually every summer for over forty years. A detailed discussion of their activities is contained in "Legacy In Ice: The Vaux Family and the Canadian Alps," Whyte Foundation, Banff, 1983

Scope & Content: Fonds consists of two or more series. Series I. Photography, 1893-1913, is processed. Series II. Textual records are processed and consist of six series.; Photography series consists of twenty-four sub-series: A. to O. Travel 1893 to Travel 1907; P. to S. Travel 1909 to Travel 1913; T. Travel general, 1894?-1912?; U. Prints, 1899-1907; V. Lantern slides, 1900-1909; W. Photograph album, before 1907; X. Textual records, 1893-1910; Y. Damaged Negatives; Z. Mary Schaffer Negatives. Photographic negatives, arranged chronologically, are prominent in the series. Images pertain to landscape studies and scenic views of the Selkirk and Rocky Mountains, especially the Glacier, Yoho and Lake Louise areas; glaciers in the Selkirk and Rocky Mountains, especially Illecillewaet, Asulkan, Yoho and Bow Glaciers; mountain scenes and panorama views in the Selkirks and Rockies; Canadian Pacific Railway in the Selkirks and CPR hotels; Glacier and Field, B.C. and Banff, Alberta and areas; climbing and other mountain activities; United States and Canadian views on trips to the mountains. Negatives include both glass (962 items) and film negatives (1740 items). Textual records are exposure records, original negative envelopes and publications.; Textual series consists of six series: I. Trip Series, II. Correspondence Series, III. Publications Series, IV. George Vaux: Legal and Finance Management Series, V. Photographic Related Material, VI. Other Series (O.S.). Textual records pertain to glacier study, including research papers, maps and publications; William S. Vaux Jr. papers re travels, engineering and architecture, other; George Vaux Jr. writing and other papers; Mary Vaux correspondence and papers re writing and presentations; and other records, 1877, 1912-1913. Textual records also include family travel papers, 1881-1911; George Vaux, Jr. "Glacier" files; correspondence between George Vaux and the Schäffers, 1899-1926; papers of Dr. Charles Schäffer, Mary Schäffer and Schäffer estate, 1855-1927.

Name Access: Schaffer, Charles; Schaffer, Mary; Vaux, George; Vaux, Mary; Vaux, William

Subject Access: Environment; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life

Access Restrictions: Some restriction/s on access; Copyright, privacy, commercial use and other restrictions may apply

Language: Language is English

Finding Aid: Finding aids and reference tools: arrangement outline; series description; file description for Series I; electronic finding aid for Series I; selected modern reference prints; digital images in Images database and in Alberta InSight database

Related Material: Related by provenance to the Vaux family collection of photographs held by the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Vaux collection of correspondence, documents and graphics held by Special Collections of Haverford College Library, Haverford, Pennsylvania

Creator: Vaux, George; Vaux, Mary; Vaux, William

Category: Environment; Exploration, discovery and travel; Family and personal life

Title Source: Title based on contents of fonds

Processing Status: Processed

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

1. Mountain

https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions29147

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2822

Description Level: 6 / Item

GMD: Photograph; Negative

1 image

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 6 / Item

Fonds Number: V263

Series: I. Scenic / commercial series

Sub-Series: A.1.a. Negatives, Main series : 13 x 18 cm and smaller

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2822

GMD: Photograph; Negative

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Physical Description: 1 photograph : negative, 13 x 18 cm or smaller

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Subject Access: Environment and Nature

Geographic Access: Canada

Creator: Byron Harmon (Banff, Alberta)

Images

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2 buffalo

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Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2975

Description Level: 6 / Item

GMD: Photograph; Negative

1 image

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 6 / Item

Fonds Number: V263

Series: I. Scenic / commercial series

Sub-Series: A.1.a. Negatives, Main series : 13 x 18 cm and smaller

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2975

GMD: Photograph; Negative

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Physical Description: 1 photograph : negative, 13 x 18 cm or smaller

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Subject Access: Environment and Nature

Geographic Access: Canada

Creator: Byron Harmon (Banff, Alberta)

Images

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

2. Mountain

https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions29146

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2821

Description Level: 6 / Item

GMD: Photograph; Negative

1 image

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 6 / Item

Fonds Number: V263

Series: I. Scenic / commercial series

Sub-Series: A.1.a. Negatives, Main series : 13 x 18 cm and smaller

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2821

GMD: Photograph; Negative

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Physical Description: 1 photograph : negative, 13 x 18 cm or smaller

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Subject Access: Environment and Nature

Geographic Access: Canada

Creator: Byron Harmon (Banff, Alberta)

Images

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

3 bears, from book

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Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2850

Description Level: 6 / Item

GMD: Photograph; Negative

1 image

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 6 / Item

Fonds Number: V263

Series: I. Scenic / commercial series

Sub-Series: A.1.a. Negatives, Main series : 13 x 18 cm and smaller

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 2850

GMD: Photograph; Negative

Date Range: [between 1903 and 1942]

Physical Description: 1 photograph : negative, copy, 13 x 18 cm or smaller

Scope & Content: Alberta or British Columbia

Subject Access: Environment and Nature

Geographic Access: Canada

Creator: Byron Harmon (Banff, Alberta)

Images

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

3 unidentified children on horse

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Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: [Stoney First Nation]

Date Range: [ca.1915-1925]

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 3297

Description Level: 6 / Item

GMD: Photograph; Negative

1 image

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 6 / Item

Fonds Number: V263

Series: I. Scenic / commercial series

Sous-Fonds: V263

Sub-Series: A.1.a. Negatives, Main series : 13 x 18 cm and smaller

Accession Number: n/a

Reference Code: V263 / NA - 3297

GMD: Photograph; Negative

Parallel Title: Indian children, three on horse

Other Title Info: Parallel title is original title

Date Range: [ca.1915-1925]

Physical Description: 1 photograph : negative, 13 x 18 cm or smaller

Scope & Content: [Stoney First Nation]

Name Access: Harmon, Byron

Subject Access: Banff Indian Days; First Nations; Indigenous Peoples; Stoney Nakoda; Recognizing Relations Collection; Stoney

Geographic Access: Alberta

Language: English

Creator: Harmon, Byron (Banff, Alberta)

Title Source: This image was part of the Recognizing Relations project, an archives initiative undertaken from 2014-2023 to name Indigenous people in photographs held by the Whyte Museum Archives. Identifications were not possible.