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 one scrapbook containing ca. 65 news article clippings, 24 track and field ribbons, 5 sports team patches and 2 hand-drawn pencil illustrations of hockey goalies [one captioned "Charlie Gardiner"]. Content pertains to Jack Kidney MacAulay's hockey career including awards, Banff hoc…
2 cm of textual records (1 scrapbook : 19 pages ; 26 x 30 cm)
Scope & Content
File consists of one scrapbook containing ca. 65 news article clippings, 24 track and field ribbons, 5 sports team patches and 2 hand-drawn pencil illustrations of hockey goalies [one captioned "Charlie Gardiner"]. Content pertains to Jack Kidney MacAulay's hockey career including awards, Banff hockey games and team members [late 1930's], and numerous news articles announcing updates on local military members and obituaries of individuals local to the Banff area. Includes articles announcing marriage and death of Margaret Simpson.
File consists of 14 colour and b&w oversized promotional posters and information boards for Banff Indian Days celebrations, promoted by Canadian Pacific. Posters largely feature identified and unidentified Indigenous people, notably Chief Spotted Eagle and Blind Eagle. Art medium includes oil pain…
Published and artwork attributed to Ernie Kehr, W.L. Kihn, G.H.W. Ashley, Crag & Canyon Press, Palenske, Canadian Pacific and Multi Color Poster
Date Range
[ca. 1930-1950]
1936
1937
1949
Physical Description
14 posters : colour and b&w ; 35 x 56 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 14 colour and b&w oversized promotional posters and information boards for Banff Indian Days celebrations, promoted by Canadian Pacific. Posters largely feature identified and unidentified Indigenous people, notably Chief Spotted Eagle and Blind Eagle. Art medium includes oil paint process mounted on cardboard made in Canada and distributed by Exhibits Branch Canadian Pacific, lithographic prints, and a mounted drawing attributed to Palenske. Some have annotations or stamps on the back.
Notes
Possibly unassociated shipping packing material addressed to Norman Luxton at the Trading Post from E.A. Kehr found in box - this has not been assigned a number.
D3-10, a lithographic promotional material from 1936 has an identical design to LUX / II / F1 / 47, an Indian Days poster from 1928
Items LUX / I / D3 / 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 were originally associated with LUX / I / D3a / 6, which contains brochures and a flyer from Banff Indian Days
LUX / I / D3 / 8, Palenske may have potentionally used photograph LUX / I / D3a / PA-26 as reference
Material Details
Some posters have foldable cardboard stand at back to place upright on surface, adhesives, and perhaps mounting additives.
File consists of 5 colour advertising posters, 2 calendar pages, and one hand-drawn illustration. Content pertains to 'The Banff Chairlift on Mt. Norquay'; a Laurie Signs Ltd. ad with a Nicholas Morant image and metal hanger (formerly a page from a calendar, date unknown); a 'Bourne Bros.' calendar…
File consists of 5 colour advertising posters, 2 calendar pages, and one hand-drawn illustration. Content pertains to 'The Banff Chairlift on Mt. Norquay'; a Laurie Signs Ltd. ad with a Nicholas Morant image and metal hanger (formerly a page from a calendar, date unknown); a 'Bourne Bros.' calendar dated '1913', featuring a large image of a woman named 'Berenice' on a metal hanger; 4 red and white Royal York Hotel advertising posters with cardboard attachments on back to stand upright; and an illustration addressed to Nicholas Morant (unknown artist), drawn in pencil, depicting a character covered in porcupine quills (?) with an easel, painting the message 'dere Marantz thanks 4 the encouragement'.
Notes
4 Royal York Hotel posters formerly stored in individual brown paper packaging with cardboard supports inside, labelled 'Royal York Hotel Poster' on the front of each in black marker. Original packaging has been removed for conservation reasons.
Storage Range
In file box M300 / II / C / 6 / 1 to M300 / II / C / 6 / 8 & M300 / II / C / 6 / 70 to 72