Records group LA.AGOR028 - AGO Audio-Visual Centre

In 1926 the Art Gallery of Toronto approved the purchase of a collection of art-related lantern slides by the Education Committee, which were made available for loan in 1929 to support arts education. Known then as the Slide Library, the collection fell under the supervision of Arthur Lismer as part of the operations of the Education Committee. The collection continued to grow in the 1930s with subsequent donations and acquisitions of glass slides and was frequently accessed by schools, clubs, societies, and public libraries.

In the 1950s the Gallery began collecting 35mm slides to add to the Slide Library’s collection, and the original glass lantern slides were withdrawn from circulation in 1965. Over the years, the Gallery continued to add other audiovisual formats and materials to the collection as they became available, including 16mm film, media kits, video tapes, and discs, some of which were produced by the Gallery to complement Extension Services programmes.

In 1966, the Education & Extension department combined responsibility for the Slide Library with another function of the department, touring and lecturing, overseen by Eva Novlan. The following year Maia-Mari Sutnik was appointed the first Audio-Visual (AV) Librarian of the Gallery, and in 1968 the name of the collection was changed from Slide Library to Audio-Visual Library, which better reflected the multiple formats housed within the collection. In the late 1960s, the number of slides sent out on loan had to be limited due to high demand and to account for the cost of providing the circulation service. Recognizing the need for this service expressed by the growing demand, the Gallery received a grant from the Canada Council to support the production of slides. Susan Arthur succeeded Maia Sutnik as AV Librarian in 1973, and Catherine Jonasson (nee Goldsmith) and Margaret Brennan were heads of the Audiovisual-Centre from 1977 to 1987 and 1989-1990, respectively.

The name of the AV Library was changed again in 1977 to the Edward P. Taylor Audio-Visual Centre, a change that accompanied the Centre’s relocation into the newly constructed Canadian Wing after completion of the Stage II expansion project.

The AV Centre played an important role in educational film programming at the Gallery, providing a source for films that were circulated for Extension Services Film Programmes. Responsibility for programming relating to non-education films was transferred to the newly established Film and Video Programs department in 1988, but the AV Centre continued to support educational programming though series such as the noon-hour film series in the 1990s, with films drawn from the Centre’s collection of films and tapes on art and artists.
In the early 1990s the AV Centre remained a widely used resource by historians, teachers, students, artists and members of the public across Ontario and Canada, with the slide collection numbering over 145,000, in addition to its holdings of videos and media kits. The Slide Catalogue was available for consultation online in the 1990s, and a project to incorporate digital images in the online catalogue was in the early planning stages in the mid-1990s. However, this was soon curtailed and later canceled due to funding cutbacks.

In 1995 the Audio-Visual Center was permanently closed, and the contents of the slide collection were largely deaccessioned, except for a small selection of 35mm and glass lantern slides. The Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives maintains the remainder of the collection as part of the AGO Archives.