William Topley: Exposure on Ottawa

The William James Topley photographic collection is one of the most important visual records of Canada. The photographs produced by the Topley Studio provide a vivid documentation of the political, social, cultural, economic, technological, and architectural changes during the first 50 years of Canada after Confederation. The collection documents life in the Ottawa area—as well as people and events in other regions of the country—between 1868 and 1923. In this episode, we speak with Library and Archives Canada (LAC) archivist, Emma Hamilton-Hobbs, about the Topley collection, which is one of the most widely consulted sources of late 19th- and early 20th-century photographs held at LAC.