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Byron Harmon fonds

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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.

Original, Copy, and Duplicate Negatives and Positives

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Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Scope & Content: File consists of 10 b&w negatives.. The negatives pertain to various scenic views in and around Banff, Yoho, Glacier, and Jasper National Parks; along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway; First Nations and Aboriginal subjects; various birds; Mount Robson area. File consists of composite negat…

Date Range: [ca. 1907 to ca.1975]

Reference Code: V263 / II / D / 1 / NA - 977 to 986

Description Level: 5 / File

GMD: Negative; Negative, copy; Photograph

Part Of: Byron Harmon fonds

Description Level: 5 / File

Fonds Number: V263

Series: V263 / II / D / 1: Original, Copy, and Duplicate Negatives and Positives

Sous-Fonds: V263

Reference Code: V263 / II / D / 1 / NA - 977 to 986

GMD: Negative; Negative, copy; Photograph

Date Range: [ca. 1907 to ca.1975]

Physical Description: Negatives: 10 b&w

Scope & Content: File consists of 10 b&w negatives.. The negatives pertain to various scenic views in and around Banff, Yoho, Glacier, and Jasper National Parks; along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway; First Nations and Aboriginal subjects; various birds; Mount Robson area. File consists of composite negatives.

Subject Access: Mountains; Glaciers; Landscapes; Indigenous Peoples; First Nations; Stoney Nakoda

Title Source: Title based on contents of file

Content Details: This material is presented as originally created, it contains outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Materials in historical collections reflect the attitudes, ideas, and norms of the era and culture in which they were created or collected. Offensive or harmful terms are retained for historical accuracy or to document the issues and social context of a specific time and the attitudes and opinions of the people who created the material. V263/II/D/1/NA - 977 [Captions on negative: Crowfoot Glacier; Peyto Glacier From Louise-Jasper Highway; MT. Athabasca; Columbia Icefields; Bow Glacier. Bow Lake; Athabasca Falls; Peyto Lake; MT. Chephren. Black and white composite negative. 21cm x 30cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 978 [Captions on negative: MT. Lefroy Lake Louise; On the Road To Moraine Lake; The Giant Stairway; MT Fay; Pinnacle Peak; Moraine Lake; MT. Temple, Consolation Lake; Summer Snow Storm, Lake Louise. Black and white composite negative. 21cm x 29cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 979 [Mount Robson from the east; Hell’s Gate in Fraser Canyon; Canadian Pacific Railway Train on Stoney Creek Bridge; unidentified canyon; Spiral Tunnels; Canadian Pacific Train below Mount Stephen. Black and White composite negative. 20cm x 25cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 980 [Canadian Pacific Railway Train on Stoney Creek Bridge; unidentified canyon; Spiral Tunnels; Canadian Pacific Train below Mount Stephen; Canadian Pacific Railway train in Kicking Horse Canyon; Albert Canyon. Black and white composite negative. 20cm x 25cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 981 [Captions on negative: Stoney Creek Bridge; 154. Cisco Bridge; 85. MT. Sir Donald; MT. Burgess, Emerald Lake, 167; 135. Lower Spiral Tunnell Field; 228. East Portal, Connaught Tunnell; 54. Mount Stephen Field; At Albert Canyon; 231. Connaught Tunnell; 131. Upper Spiral tunnel; 142. Lower Spiral tunnel; Albert Canyon 76; 217. Kicking Horse Canyon; 219. Kicking Horse Canyon; 166. Takakaw Falls; 90 Hells Gate.; Set No.3. Black and white composite negative. 25.5cm x 27.5cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 982 [Captions on negative: Bow Valley 246; Banff Village; Goat MTN 51; 40 Government Bath Banff; Bow Falls, Banff; MT. Edith Banff 60; 57. MT Rundle, Banff; 64. Castle MTN, Banff; 48. C.P.R. Hotel and Sulphur MT Banff; Three Sisters, Banff; 262. MT Assiniboine, NR Banff; Lake Minnewanka Banff; 157. Bow River and Goat MTN Banff; 287. Johnson Canyon, Banff; 88 Banff Avenue; 224. Johnson Canyon, Falls; 240. Cascade MTN Banff. Black and white composite negative. 19.5cm x 28cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 983 [Great Divide Monument. Captions on negative: 108 Lake Louise & Victoria Glacier; 264. Lake Louise; 61.; 106. Giant Stairway; 59. Lake Agnes; 147. On Field Hill; 178. Valley of Ten Peaks; 117. Victoria Glacier and MT Lefroy; 122. MT Lefroy Lake Louise; 72. Moraine Lake; Mount Temple; Lake Louise, Mirror Lake, Lakes in the Clouds, The Beehive, Lake Agnes, 109; 119. Lake Louise, MT Lefroy; 180. Consolation Valley; 149. On Field Hill. Black and white composite negative. 19.8cm x 27.5cm. One aperture missing.] V263/II/D/1/NA - 984 [Captions on negative: Stoney Encampment; Western Indian Squaw; Western Indian Family; 247. Indian Totem Pole; Indian Squaw; Indian Chief; Indian Chief; Western Indian Squaw & Family; Stoney Indian Encampment; Stoney Indian; Indian & Squaw; Indian Children; Bearskin Stoney Indian; Indian Chief; Western Indian Family; Indian Warrior. Black and white composite negative. 25cm x 27.5cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 985 [Captions on negative: Great Blue Herons; Canadian Duck on Nest; Willow Grouse; Canadian Geese; Canadian Gull; Gulls Nest; 454. Young Pelicans; 456. Blue Heron; 455. Widgeon; Ptarmigan and Young; Duck’s Nest; Snow Ptarmigan; Pelican on Nest; 452. Young Gull; Blue Grouse; 463. Comorant. Black and white composite negative. 25cm x 28cm] V263/II/D/1/NA - 986 [Mount Robson from the east; train crossing Stoney Creek Bridge; Spiral Tunnels; Canadian Pacific Railway train in Kicking Horse Canyon; Hell’s Gate, Fraser Canyon; unidentified canyon; Canadian Pacific Railway train below Mount Stephen; Albert Canyon. Black and white composite negative. 30cm x 25cm]