Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1905-[192-] (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
31 photographs
1 picture
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Melvin Ormond Hammond (1876–1934) was a Canadian journalist, editor, photographer and author. He was born in Clarkson, Ont. to Alvin and Catharine (Nauman) Hammond, and attended local public schools. In 1895 he became a reporter in Toronto with The Globe newspaper, where he continued in various positions for his entire career. In 1900 he married Clara Williams (b. 1875), with whom he had two children, Harold James (b. 1901) and Helen Isabel (b. 1909).
Melvin Hammond joined the Toronto Camera Club in 1906 and took up photography, the pursuit for which he is today best known, exhibiting his amateur photos at the Canadian National Exhibition and elsewhere in Toronto. His journalistic interest in Canada resulted in photographs of Canadian monuments and memorials and in portrait photographs of prominent figures of the day. As an author, he wrote three books, the last of which was Painting and Sculpture in Canada (Toronto : Ryerson Press, 1930).
M.O. Hammond was also a member of the Canadian Literary Club, the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, the Ontario Historical Society, and the Canadian Historical Society. He died in Toronto in 1934.
Archival history
The photographs in the M.O. Hammond collection were assembled probably between the First World War and 1934. The collection was afterwards acquired by marine-history writer Edwin Barry “Skip” Gillham (1941–2016) of Vineland, Ont. at an undetermined date, and retained until donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in 1984.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
AGO credit line: Gift of Skip Gillham, 1984
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Collection consists of early-20th-century photographs of Canadian historical figures and Canadian public monuments taken by M.O. Hammond and others. Portrait photograph subjects include Canadian poets Bliss Carman and Charles G.D. Roberts and artists Walter S. Allward, E.J. Dinsmore and Charles Eduard Huot. The collection also includes a copy print of a drawing of the first director of the National Gallery of Canada and studio portraits from 1905 of Canadan prime minister Robert Laird Borden and his wife Laura Borden. The memorials photographed are chiefly by British-Canadian sculptor Alfred Howell, with a photo of a statue of a soldier by Emanuel Hahn. Some photographs in the collection are by M.O. Hammond and the studio portraits are credited to Pittaway Studio (Ottawa).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open. Access to Special Collections by appointment. Please contact the reference desk for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Material in this collection is in the public domain. Permission of the Art Gallery of Ontario is required for publication.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Arrangement: The original order of materials in the collection is not known. Photographs have been arranged by the archives. Series-level description is omitted.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation revision deletion
Description and finding aid created 2016.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description and finding aid by Gary Fitzgibbon.
Archivist's note
Prepared by Gary Fitzgibbon, 2016.
Uploaded and adapted by Nirvana Chainani, 2019.