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 Letter
from the Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg... |
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Binders at work on the Lockwood
farm north of Dauphin, Manitoba
1906, by Horatio N. Topley
During the summer harvests, professional photographers
were commissioned by the Immigration Branch to travel
throughout western Canada and visit its larger and more
prosperous farms. Topley's photograph of the Lockwood
farm near Dauphin has an air of spontaneity about it.
It seems as if the workers briefly stopped their equipment
and momentarily faced the camera for a photograph. In
reality, however, the view was carefully composed by
Topley. Letters between the photographer and the Immigration
Branch indicate that he deliberately arranged the wheat
stooks. No doubt this was done in an attempt to emphasize
a productive farm.
[more]
Correspondence between the Superintendent of Immigration
and professional photographers, such as Topley and
John Woodruff, provide information about the production
and dissemination of photographic images. The photographers
were issued free travel passes by the Canadian Pacific
Railway and were given expense accounts courtesy of
the Immigration Branch. In return, the photographers
provided the branch with bound albums of their images
which could be used by immigration staff to order
prints and lantern slides on behalf of agents and
promoters working abroad.
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