The Nicholas Morant fonds consists of Morant's freelance work from his early days with the Winnipeg Free Press to his retirement from the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1981. It is national in scope and also includes some international material. The fonds is comprised of three series: I. Photograp…
Nicholas Everard Morant, 1910-1999, was a professional photographer based at Banff, Alberta, Canada. He was a Canadian commercial photographer of international repute and Canada's premier railway photographer of the 20th century.
Morant was born at Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of Francis and Mollie Morant. After attending the University School at Victoria, Morant served as Special Photographer to the CPR from 1929 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1981. From 1935 to 1939, he was a cameraman for the Winnipeg Free Press, and from 1940 to 1944 worked with the Wartime Information Branch of the federal government (later to be known as the National Film Board Stills Division).
Morant had a prolific career as a freelance commercial, portrait, magazine, landscape and documentary photographer. His work appeared in numerous books and magazines, including Time, Life, Liberty, Saturday Evening Post, (Toronto) Star Weekly, Northern Sportsman, Reader's Digest, Country Guide, The Standard, National Home Monthly, Canadian Photography, Outdoor Canada, National Geographic, the Globe & Mail, Winnipeg Tribune, New York Daily News, and the two Canadian Pacific Railway magazines, The Spanner and Rail News.
Two wartime images were featured on postage stamps, while three landscape views appeared on Canadian $10, $50 and $100 bills. His images were also used for corporate annual reports, postcards, brochures, calendars and advertisements. From the 1950s to 1980s Morant gave public slide shows of his work, two of the most popular being "A Talk Without Words" and "The World At Your Feet".
Morant married Ivy May "Willie" Young in 1936 when he was a photographer with the Winnipeg Free Press. Beginning in 1929, and until the end of her life, Morant's travelling and working companion was his wife, "Willie," 1910-1986.
Scope & Content
The Nicholas Morant fonds consists of Morant's freelance work from his early days with the Winnipeg Free Press to his retirement from the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1981. It is national in scope and also includes some international material. The fonds is comprised of three series: I. Photography; II. Professional records; III. Personal and family records.
I. Photography series consists of: A. Negatives and transparencies, B. Transparencies, C. Prints, D. Other photographs. II. Professional records series consists of: A. Working records, B. Career records, C. Topical files. III. Personal and family records series consists of: A. Nick and Willie Morant, B. Nick Morant funeral and memorial, C. Francis and Mollie Morant, D. Collected material
Notes
Full summary of sub-sub-series levels:
I / A : 1) Darkroom Files [ a) Negative Albums b) Black/White Series I and II c) Colour Series I and II
d) Leica Negs ]
2) GD Files
I / B : 1) Presentations [ a) Topical Files b) Thematic Files ]
2) General Files
3) Other
I / C : 1) Print Files
I / D : 1) Exhibition and Display Prints
2) Photographs used by John Garden
3) Other Photographs
II / A : 1) Log Books
2) Notebooks
II / B : 1) Career Binders [ a) Postcards b) Brochures and Advertising c) clippings and articles
d) Calendar Photographs ]
2) Scrapbooks [ a) Content 1933 - 1946 b) Content 1940 - 1980 ]
II / C : 1) Numbered / Titled Files [ a) Group A b) Group B c) Group C d) Group D e) Group H
f) Group P g) Group R ]
2) Other Topical Files [ a) Railway; i) Timetables ii) Publications iii) Other
b) Photography; i) Textual Records ii) Print Material
c) Travel d) Exhibitions and Galleries e)Personal f) Other ]
3) Postcards, Greeting Cards and Ephemera Collection
4) Published Images and Text
5) Professional Photography
6) Promotional Items, Awards and Correspondence
7) Presentation and Interview Materials
III / A : 1) Correspondence
2) Personal Papers [ a) Personal Records b) Notes and Notebooks c) Lists and Card Files
d) Awards and Retirement ]
3) Personal Photographs
4) House Records [ a) Construction b) Household Records ]
5) Business, Financial and Legal Papers
6) Interviews, Reminiscences Personal Recordings
7) Other Records (Signs, Cartoons, Drawings, etc.)
8) Personal Correspondence and Notes
9) Travel Documents and Maps
III / B : 1) Nick Morant Funeral, Memorial and Estate
III / C : 1) Mollie Morant Papers
2) Other Family Papers
III / D : 1) Sound Recordings
2) Biographical Material
3) Other Papers and Photographs [ a) Burton Wheatley Family b) Other ]
4) Personal and Family Photography
5) Personal Interest and Gifts
File consists of 49 b&w prints, various sizes, pertaining to a wide range of topics and dates. Contains professional photographs of Nicholas Morant at various ages, some of him working; picture of Nicholas Morant by Ivy Morant (1949) in a Beefeater costume, posing for a cover photograph for Christm…
Produced by Nicholas Morant, Ivy 'Willie' Morant, Laird Brown and Ace Williams
Date Range
[ca. 1930 - ca. 1940]
[ca. 1940 - ca. 1944]
1949
[ca. 1950 - ca. 1960]
1964
ca. 1979
[ca. 1980]
Physical Description
49 Photographs: prints; b&w
Scope & Content
File consists of 49 b&w prints, various sizes, pertaining to a wide range of topics and dates. Contains professional photographs of Nicholas Morant at various ages, some of him working; picture of Nicholas Morant by Ivy Morant (1949) in a Beefeater costume, posing for a cover photograph for Christmas dinner menus at Empress Hotel, 1949; pictures by unknown photographer(s) of Nicholas Morant taking WWII action shots, and other photographs by Morant of soldiers; other miscellaneous photographs by Nicholas Morant of balance beam performers, factory workers, staged promotional images, etc.
Storage Range
In file box V500 / II / C / 5 / PA - 326 to V500 / II / C / 5 / PA - 648
Photographic prints in this file are not to be accessed or distributed without the explicit permission of their identified copyright owners.
Reproduction Restrictions
Photographic prints in this file are not to be reproduced without the explicit permission of their identified copyright owners.
Language
English
Conservation
Prints with ink or other risky materials attached need to be stored in mylar to protect adjacent prints. File must be stored in appropriate conditions.
File consists of 27 black and white photograph prints and 1 colour tinted photograph print, 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller. File pertains to the trail rides that Jean participated in, particularly in 1937 and 1939. File documents every day life on the trail ride at the camp (entertainment, setting up camp…
28 photographs : b&w and col. ; 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 27 black and white photograph prints and 1 colour tinted photograph print, 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller. File pertains to the trail rides that Jean participated in, particularly in 1937 and 1939. File documents every day life on the trail ride at the camp (entertainment, setting up camp); various trail riders, including Nicholas Morant and John Murray Gibbon; several of Jean with her horse and her husband Jack and Anna Cran (sister-in-law); and mountain scenery.
Notes
Several photograph prints are annotated on the back.
One of the photographs of Jean with her horse is colour tinted.
File consists of 5 framed photographic prints. Content pertains to various railway scenes: one image of a steam train taken close-up with black tape secured around the edges; one image of a train turning a corner with a mountain in the background, in a gold-painted frame with an engraved border des…
File consists of 5 framed photographic prints. Content pertains to various railway scenes: one image of a steam train taken close-up with black tape secured around the edges; one image of a train turning a corner with a mountain in the background, in a gold-painted frame with an engraved border design; and 2 steam-pressed photographs on cork bases (one depicting a b&w photograph taken by Nicholas Morant in 1938 of a train at a set of signal lights with a forest, mountains and lake in the background, and one depicting a colour image of a train travelling through a rocky pass in the early morning (?) with a body of water on its left). Also consists of one b&w portrait of Nicholas Morant as a teenager, dressed formally, with a grey metal frame and raised 'bubble-shaped' glass front.
Notes
Item V500 / III / D / 4 / PC - 3 is very similar to a photograph by Ivy 'Willie' Morant (print labelled and stored as V500 / I / C1 / 6 / PA - 28 ).