William Notman, 'Canada's Most Successful Photographer'

William Notman 'Canada's most successful photographer'

Posted by Anne McDonald

*** This is a blogpost from a few years ago, but it came up again and I wanted to share it, especially as Mercy Coles writes of Notman and I write in more detail about him in Miss Confederation just published with Dundurn Press in June 2017.

On CBC Radio this eve (Oct 12, 2012) Part One on William Notman - famous photographer of, among other things - the eighth wonder of the world, or the Victoria Bridge in Montreal (for example), and the Fathers, and daughters, of Confederation.

 From CBC Idea's website:
"He [Notman] arrived in Montreal in 1856 as a fugitive from the law. He became Canada's most successful photographer. A rare combination of canny businessman and master craftsman, William Notman embraced the wondrous new medium of photography and left us a unique record of Canada's social history. A portrait by Montreal writer Elaine Kalman Naves.  ...

On the lam from the law, William Notman remade himself in Montreal.  He saw his chance and quickly mastered the brand new art of photography. His timing couldn't have been better.  Fascination with the astonishing new medium was sweeping Europe and North America - never before had it been possible to create a permanent image without an artist's pencil or paintbrush or engraver's tools.  Eventually, William Notman would own the largest photography business in North America ... "
 
      And to the 'Daughters' of Confederation:

Mercy Coles, who I wrote about last fall at this time (here and about weekly through November 2011)  and used in my novel To the Edge of the Sea, was the charming, beautiful and unmarried 26 year old daughter of Prince Edward Island delegate and Father of Confederation George Coles. She kept a diary of her trip to Quebec for the Confederation conference of 1864 and subsequent tour of the Canadas. Their first stop after the conference was Montreal. There she writes of her visit to William Notman's studio to have her photograph taken.

Saturday October 29, 1864 continued:

“ ... Ma and I have just been to the Convent Congregation Notre Dame. Mr. McDonald (stutterer) came and took Mamma and I. I have just come from Notman’s. My photograph was not good I don’t think, so I would not take it however the man said he would send me two dozen to the Island. ...”

        The CBC link has good pictures and a link to the McCord Museum in Montreal which has a phenomenal collection of pictures, videos and information on Notman and his work, (regardless of what Mercy Coles thought of her photo).
 UPDATE Oct 12, 2017  - this is a link to an article by Elaine Kalman Naves on her website - great and informative piece here

Most Anticipated Fall Non-fiction 49th Shelf

Very happy that Miss Confederation The Diary of Mercy Anne Coles, is included in the 49th Shelf's Most Anticipated Fall Non-fiction Preview. 

Miss Confederationwas published by Dundurn Press in late June so it's (she's?) out already. As the 49th Shelf points out, this is the story of Canada, as it talks of Confederation, from the very rarely heard, woman's point of view.
 "In Miss Confederation (June), Anne McDonald, through the diaries of Mercy Anne Coles, takes readers through the social whirlwind of Canada’s confederation from a (rarely depicted!) woman’s point of view."
      Mercy Coles' story is both a depiction of Canada as it was in 1864, and also of the creation of a self-identity of a young woman at a pivotal time in both Canada's history and that of the United States. Of course, the whole story of Confederation and Canada's 150 right now is a whole mixture of ideas and emotions. It is incredibly important that we hear what Mercy Coles had to say about it all at the time - primary documents are crucial to our understanding of the past.

There are many more great non-fiction books the 49th Shelf has profiled here. Ones I'm particularly looking forward to include, (from the end of their post to the beginning):
- b/c I love comedy and irreverence, and a female point of view - "What I Think Happened (October), the debut book by comedian Evany Rosen, is really two books: a no-holds-barred romp through the history of the western world, and the personal story of a self-described "failed academic" who recasts historiography from a feminist perspective—albeit an underqualified and overconfident one."
-b/c I love food and who on the Prairies could turn their nose up at the mention of Hawkins Cheezies "Janis Thiessen’s Snacks: A Canadian Food History (September) chronicles the history of Canadian snacks including Old Dutch Potato Chips, Hawkins Cheezies, and Ganong, and unwraps a social history of junk food."
-b/c yep, I want to figure out how to make Canada work "Graham Steele, whose What I Learned About Politics was nominated for the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, returns with a new insiders’ guide to Canadian politics, The Effective Citizen: How to Make Politicians Work For You (September)."
-b/c the stories help create change which is so desperately needed - "In Seven Fallen Feathers (September), focusing on the lives of seven Indigenous young people who died in the city of Thunder Bay between 2000-2011, award-winning investigative journalist Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this small northern city that has come to manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against indigenous communities."
- b/c it's a story of what is not known -  "Hunting the Northern Character (November) not only tracks former Yukon Premier Tony Penikett's footsteps in his hunt for a northern identity but tells the story of an Arctic that the world does not yet know.
-b/c it is 2017 - "In My Conversations With Canadians (September), “the book that Canada 150 needs” Lee Maracle engages with questions that are too big to answer, but not too big to contemplate."
-b/c the essence of childhood is life itself - " JonArno Lawson, whose work includes the award-winning wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers, playfully examines our understanding of childhood in But It’s So Silly (September)."
- b/c it looks at the importance of women's letters, diaries and writing - ie back to the top and Mercy Coles -  "Sheila Johnson Kindred's Jane Austen's Transatlantic Sister (October) is a  is a rich new source for Jane Austen scholars and fans of her fiction as well as for those interested in biography, women’s letters, and history of the family.
- b/c I admire and read everything Helen Humphrey writes, and I also love apples, and serendipitous finds -  "Helen Humphreys explores the history of the apple in North America in The Ghost Orchard (September), a fascinating journey into the secret history of an everyday food."
- b/c Neilsen Glenn's writing is always so illuminating, and again, the story is of women and their unheard voices/stories -  "Poet and essayist Lorri Neilsen Glenn works to unravel issues of racism, sexism, and colonial nation-building in Following the River: Traces of the Red River Women (November), which explores her Indigenous roots and haunting family secrets."
- b/c it's a discovery of Canada - "In A Newfoundlander in Canada (October), Alan Doyle tells his story of leaving Newfoundland and discovering Canada for the first time."
- b/c, well, it is about love and the search for it - and back to the top and Mercy Coles again -  "Essayist Mandy Len Catron’s debut is the collection How to Fall In Love With Anyone (June), a candid examination of what it means to love and be loved."
- both of these b/c they're both Regina and the world together -- "Ven Begamudré traces the history of both sides of his family in Extended Families: A Memoir of India (September). In The World's Most Travelled Man (October), Mike Spencer Bown shares stories from his decades of wandering, voyaging and trekking through every single country in the world."

There are many more fascinating books listed here too - bring on Canadian writers and writing and Canadian stories, and yes, especially female ones.  
      You can follow, and join, the 49th Shelf to keep in the loop about Canadian writing - Here
 You can also rate and review Miss Confederation yourself, or any of the other books too

 

PEI on Flickr thanks to the LAC

Library and Archives Canada has posted some great images of Prince Edward Island on their Flickr page.
   Interesting to preview as Miss Confederation: The Diary of Mercy Anne Coles, published by Dundurn Press is out this week. Mercy Coles was the 26 year old unmarried daughter of the PEI Father of Confederation George Coles. She, along with 9 other unmarried daughters of the Maritime Fathers of Confederation, went to the Confederation Conference in Quebec City - Mercy kept a diary of the events, people and time. Her diary has never been published before - until now!
   It was fascinating to research and I'll write more on that later.
        For now, it's fun to share the images she would have been part of (or some of them) - for example, there's no doubt she would have attended the events for the visit of the Prince of Wales to Government House in 1860  Visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 1860 to Charlottetown, PEI

For all the pictures, click here

Mercy Coles (photo by William Notman) and the Province House Ball (painting by Dusan Kadlec)  

Miss Confederation: The Diary of Mercy Anne Coles

I'm thrilled to announce that Miss Confederation: The Diary of Mercy Anne Coles will be published with Dundurn Press this summer 2017 in time for Canada's 150th anniversary!

Mercy Coles was the unmarried twenty-six year old daughter of George Coles, a Father of Confederation from Prince Edward Island. She went with her father to Quebec City for the talks to debate and layout the resolutions of the British North America Act which make up the constitution which still governs Canada today. While in Quebec and during the following tour of the Canadas, and northern US Mercy Coles kept a diary of the men and whirlwind of social events as they affected her and her desires.

Transcribed from the original document, the diary has never been published before. It offers a unique view of the men and events that made Canada. The fact that the diary has been known about for years, and yet it has never been published, speaks volumes about what, and who, we view as important in history.

 Miss Confederation at Dundurn Press 
(You can pre-order on Amazon at

Amidst the grand and heady spectacle of the balls, banquets, and events of the Confederation Conferences of October 1864, Mercy Coles is seeking adventure and love. She isn’t concerned with writing for posterity, or with propriety. Miss Confederation gives us history as it’s being made, without the veneer and gloss time creates.

I'll post updates on Launches and Tours as they're settled. If you'd like me to present a talk and slideshow on Mercy Coles and Confederation, please contact me. 

Word on the Street

The Word on the Street in Saskatoon is happening next Sunday September 23, 2012 from 11:00 am to 5 pm.

There are 30 authors reading, 4 tents including a kids and teen tent, music, booksellers and a marketplace - what more could a reader, writer - or savvy Christmas shopper want!

I'll be there reading from my award winning novel. To the Edge of the Sea, set during the Confederation Conferences of 1864 - where the sun is shining, island breezes (Prince Edward Island that is) are blowing, $13,000 worth of champagne is being poured, the circus is in town, and John A, the John A, is falling in love ... and so the story of Canada begins.
     Who knew Canadian history was so fascinating - tightrope walkers, the circus, champagne and love!

Some comments from judges, reviews and readers:

In the mid-19th century, three young Prince Edward Islanders explore their disparate futures at home and away, in a debut novel that is lyrical and precise in its descriptions of land, sea and people, and powerful in its accounts of both personal and political histories of the province and country.

Sask Book Award judges Joan Barfoot, Christine Cowley and Katherine Gordon

"Prince Edward Island is also a character in the story.  Seldom has any writer conveyed its essence so well.  And the beautifully constructed sentences and paragraphs flow like water, read like a prolonged dream, and would be worth reading aloud slowly ..."  Elizabeth Cran for the Charlottetown Guardian

"Anne weaves such an imaginative, descriptive spell in this wonderful story bringing life to Canadian history. It is so suspenseful that I found myself eager to hurry to each subsequent page to see what would happen next. This book is brilliantly written, and ranks with some of Canada's esteemed authors. It has such a poetic quality to it while being a superb narrative. A beautiful piece of writing!"  a reader in Ottawa

Willaim Shakespeare, John Wilkes Booth and Mercy Coles, New York City

Today November 25th, 1864, also a Friday, the Booth brothers below put on a benefit performance for one night only, the first and only time they performed together, to raise money for this statue of William Shakespeare in Central Park New York City. (It was April 14, 1865 when John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln.)

On top of that, less than an hour into the performance Confederates set fire to the city and to the house attached to the theatre. The New York Times called it "one of the most fiendish and inhuman acts known in modern times," Read more here

Less than 2 weeks earlier Mercy Coles and her parents were at the same theatre. Just interesting I think, all the connections of one thing to another.

 

Julius Caesar at The Winter Garden Theatre, with John Wilkes Bookth, Edwin Booth and Junium Brutus Booth Jr.

for more on the statue and Central Park   and  more here

Fact and Fiction Mercy Coles and John A Macdonald

October 1864 is when the Fathers of Confederation met in Quebec to create the 72 resolutions that make up the BNA Act of Canada's constitution - they took along their unmarried daughters and sisters too. Mercy Coles wrote of the events in her diary - I used it in creating her character in my novel and used the timeline to help structure the novel. On Wed Oct 26 she writes of John A at dinner with her - read that note here on my posting on Christopher Moore's history blog

AND FROM THE NOVEL - WHAT I MADE OF THE FACTS ...

When they all returned to their seats the conversation

continued, a little louder, more merry. They talked of

the tour ahead, of Montreal and Ottawa. Of the trip around

the lake, through Kingston and Toronto and on to the Falls of

Niagara. Everyone talked eagerly, looking forward to the trip.

Mercy was eating new potatoes, the taste of home, the first

time she’d enjoyed eating anything in the past two weeks. The

two of them, Mercy and John A, still connected in the dance,

a shift in one causing a change in the position of the other.

A synchronicity of movement though they were turned away

from each other and talked to the people beside them. Mercy

felt how every subtle movement in her changed him, knowing,

with an edge of thrill, that if she were to stand now and leave,

he would follow.

As dinner ended they moved to the drawing room, the

women first as the men lingered behind talking. Mercy sat on

the blue couch by the fire, a silk cushion at her back. She felt

a draft of night air come in through the window; the damp of

it mixed with the smell of the wood smoke in the small room.

Macdonald was the first to enter the room. He walked over to

her bringing her dessert. As if he ought to do it, as if he always

would do it.

He sat with the men and poured himself a drink. The talks

were over, Mowat finished with his finances. Seventy-two

resolutions, the draft completed. Next the tour to convince

the people. He rested back into his chair. He liked the smell

of damp wood, the same as the smell of night in the trees by

his lake and the wet leaves of fall at home. Here it was nearly

winter, rain becoming snow too soon in the season. They

were headed back now, towards home. He closed his eyes for

a moment, smiled. He’d stop, see Hugh John. He raised his

glass, drank.

Mercy sat silent holding her plate. She wished she could

take off her gloves and feel the air on her skin, the coolness of

the fork against her palm, the texture of the plate. She wanted

to touch, feel the air. She could feel the cushion at her back,

was conscious of how her legs touched each other under her

dress, and how her feet rested lightly on the floor, every inch

of skin aware, everything magnified. She watched a drift of

smoke rise to the ceiling, the air quivering in the damp. She

sat eating her cake. There was a crumb at the corner of her

mouth. Raising her hand, she dusted the crumb away, leaving

lemon sugar on her lip. She licked it away, a small indelicacy,

her napkin held in her hand. And she saw Macdonald look up

at her just then, but her small tongue was out of her mouth.

John A watching, smiled as he looked away, the tip of her

tongue sweet in her mouth.

My notes on Diarist Mercy Coles - one of main characters in my novel TO THE EDGE OF THE SEA

Mercy Coles diary (unpublished, in the National Archives of Canada) was a great source of information and also helped me to structure my novel. I loved the job of creating a character based on some real information - having to keep certain ideas in line, reading between the lines,  and most importantly following a time line - these were great structuring tools.

The Prince Edward Islanders left this week - on Wednesday October 5th to be exact, for the Quebec Conference. They went earlier than the others and went by train (and boat down the Bay of Fundy) rather than by the Canadians steamship The Queen Victoria which the Canadians sent for the rest. I'm not sure why the PE Islanders didn't go by ship with the others or why they went earlier (though I speculate why in the novel).

I've posted some of Mercy Coles's diary here on Christopher Moore's History News Blog