Classic Canadian historical photos

Classic Canadian Photos

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3630022)

Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario, winter 1940.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3335267)

Castle Mountain, c1925. Castle Mountain is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castle Mountain Fault which has thrust older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks forming the upper part of the mountain over the younger rocks forming its base. The mountain's castellated, or castle-like, appearance is a result of erosive processes acting at different rates on the peak's alternating layers of softer shale and harder limestone, dolomite and quartzite.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3318056)

Cave of the winds, Niagara Falls, 1891.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 2909613)

Coat of Arms of Canada.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4951614)

Lester B. Pearson, 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952029)

Dolores Eitel undergoing police training in the use of her service revolver, 1959.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950181)

RCAF High Altitude Indoctrination (HAI) training, 1951.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4949507)

Ms. "Bunny" Crawford, whose job was to give the exact time to anyone who telephoned for it in 1959.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952329)

Radiotelescope, 1960.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3522206)

Briefing the Press, General Morrison explaining how the artillery strafed the Germans during the Vimy attack. Visit of Canadian Journalists to the Front. July, 1918.

Grandfather Walter Ray Estabrooks served as a gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and took part in the barrage of Vimy Ridge.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223884)

A 4.7-inch (12 cm) gun crew of the destroyer HMCS Algonquin piling shell cases and sponging out the gun after bombarding German shore defences in the Normandy beachhead, June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950268)

Firing a harpoon gun, 1948.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4842055)

Team photo of RCAF Flyers on the ice after winning the hockey gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, 8 Feb 948.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4741188)

While Jonathan and Sean were playing hockey in France in 1991, Bob Gainey came to talk to the boys in their dressing room.  He was a class act.  I found this photo of him in the archives: Bob Gainey (number 14) makes a diving play during the gold medal hockey game between Ontario and Alberta during the second Canada Winter Games in Saskatoon Feb 1971.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3608218)

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens. Action shot, 18 Jan 1964.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3399065)

"Rapids King" shooting Lachine Rapids, near Montreal, Quebec, between 1903 and 1912.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3195638)

Workmen tapping molten steel from ladle into ingot forms at Sorel Steel plant, December 1940.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3628595)

Chief Inspector of Quebec District J.A. Samson checking a lifeboat while two male crewmen look on, July 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3197399)

View of a welder welding a support for the 3/4-inch steel plate covering outside gas lines of an aircraft carrier escort vessel at the Burrard Dry Dock at Lapointe Pier, May 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205248)

Depth charges explode astern of a frigate during trials, January 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3195933)

Foundry horse waits on the foundry floor of the Cherrier bomb-making plant, Quebec, May 1941.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950083)

Inuit hunters, 1951. The square umbrella is a camouflage shield used to sneak up on seals. They often used .22 LONG RIFLE to hunt the seals that were sunning themselves on top of the ice. Without this the seals would spot the hunter before he could get within range for an accurate shot, and the seal would slip into the water. It was important to shoot them while they were on the ice as a dead seal would sink as I recall. I have a seal pelt that my father brought back from the Eastern Arctic in 1959 that has a bullet hole in it. He bought it from the Eskimos, and the holes around the edges show that it was cleaned and stretched out laced to a rack to dry. at Pond Inlet or one of the other harbours where the Eastern Arctic Patrol C.D. Howe stopped. (Colin McGregor Stevens)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950126)

National Film Board photographers setting up by an iceberg, 1951.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952095)

Trans-Canada Highway, Castle Mountain, Banff, Alberta, 1958.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4949287)

Men portaging, 1950.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4953606)

Cowboy herding horses at the Cochrane Ranch which is run by the Mormon Church. The ranch is in a typical Alberta foothills region and the mountains of Waterton Lakes National Park can be seen in the background, September 1953.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952093)

Victoria, British Columbia, 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952090)

St. John's, Newfoundland, view of the harbour from Signal Hill, 1948.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3199016)

HMCS Pictou (K146), RCN Flower-class Corvette, July 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4951746)

RCMP on horseback, Ottawa, Ontario, 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3651923)

"Blythewood II" - 150 h.p. Sterline Sea - Gull Motor, (1800 R.P.M.), length 37 feet, beam 7 1/2 feet, built in 1926.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3581981)

Aerial view of Ottawa in 1941.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223631)

Fokker Universal Reg. No. G-CAHF, aboard S.S. Larch during the Hudson Strait Expedition, 31 August 1928.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3193794)

Inuit hunters hauling a walrus out of the water, Igloolik, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), 1952-1953.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3332718)

Schooners at low tide, Murray Bay, Quebec, c1900.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3922270)

HMCS Iroquois (DDG-280) alongside a replenishment vessel, performing a replenishment at sea (RAS), c1970s.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3311099)

Car on the hoist "back in the day".  

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4976228)

HMCS Oriole (KC 480), 24 October 1958.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4948681)

Winter logging operations in the Canadian north, 1956.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950137)

Canadian Coast Guard Ship d'Iberville, 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN  No. 3197157)

Riveters on scaffolding fasten the anchor port hole using a welding torch during the construction of a ship at the Canadian Vickers yard, September 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN  No. 3223714)

Steel-making operations, 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3374204)

McIntyre Mine - (Surface) Main hoist 50-tonfly wheel - slip regulator on extreme right background. Schumacher, Ontario,1936.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3518053)

Archway over an entrance to a historic building in Ottawa.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3517685)

Pyramid Creek Falls, British Columbia.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950206)

Benedictine monk, 1950.

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(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194192)

Steam locomotives are fascinating.  These women workers are cleaning a fast freight locomotive with rags in the roundhouse, January 1943.  

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4948992)

Our Parliamentary Library in Ottawa in 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3629891)

Canada's Parliament Buildings, showing the original Center Block and "Victoria Tower", completed in 1878, but lost to a fire when it burnt down in 1916. Architects: Thomas Fuller (1823-1898) and Chilion Jones (1835-1912). Photo taken ca 1880.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3624716)

Return of Canadian soldiers from South Africa, November 1900.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584491)

Parliament Building, 25 April 1951.

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(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4953598)

Opening of the 20th Parliamentary session of Canada, in 1947, Black Rod (officially known as the Lady Usher of the Black Rod or, if male, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod) is an official in the parliaments of several Commonwealth countries. The position originates in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position is similar to one known as a serjeant-at-arms in other bodies. In the United Kingdom, Black Rod is principally responsible for controlling access to and maintaining order within the House of Lords and its precincts, as well as for ceremonial events within those precincts. The Black Rod for the Senate of Canada is the equivalent to the office for the House of Lords. The Legislatures of Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island have also incorporated Black Rods into their respective parliamentary systems.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224744)

Hoisting of Upper Chord Eyebars. North Span, Quebec Bridge, 15 September 1915.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4370223)

Visitor examining the Bickell globe in a geological display in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, 15 Feb 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3230945)

When you want to brag about where you are from! "A Girl From Canada". Woman costumed by H.M. Murray, the Canadian Government agent in Exeter, England, to advertise Canadian prosperity in a parade, September 1907.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950271)

Bank tellers are receiving used money from counters for eventual destruction at the Bank of Canada, Ottawa, 1955.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4309975)

Barbara-Ann Scott, North American and Canadian women's champion, figure skating in Ottawa, March 1946.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3192079)

Barbara-Ann Scott, gold-medal winning North American and Canadian women's champion figure skater, photographed by Yousef Karsh, 26 Nov 1946.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3623122)

Karen Kain in a production of "Mirror Walkers", National Ballet of Canada, 1970.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4309911)

John Marsha and Janet Baldwin dance a waltz in Boris Volkoff's Canadian Ballet production of "Divertissement," March 1946.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4369530)

Bonnie Wesse, Canadian water-skiing champion, on water-skis, April 1959.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4951991)

Lady curler, 1959.

Model Elaine Bedard, 1956.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4948854)

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(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952294)

Men weaving strands of rope to make ship fenders in 1959.  In boating, a fender is a bumper used to absorb the kinetic energy of a boat or vessel berthing against a jetty, quay wall or other vessel. Fenders, used on all types of vessels, from cargo ships to cruise ships, ferries and personal yachts, prevent damage to vessels and berthing structures.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3407722)

Top of the line music at Norton's Phonograph Parlor, Yukon, 1898-1910 (long before 8-tracks came and went).

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4301801)

Men standing on a rotating dredger being used to loosen shale, shown here above the water. The photograph is taken In the Beauharnois vicinity during the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, May 1959. The shear forces at the pivot point to the left must have been severe.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4314349)

Canadian Guards wearing bearskin hats holding flag outside Parliament of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, September 1961.

The flag is the Canadian Guards' Regimental Colours. CAF units would move to regimental colours with the new Canadian Flag (and its red maple leaf) after 1965. The other colours would be the Queen's Colours which would have a Crimson background and paraded only when the Sovereign would be in house. Note that there are no battle honours inscribed on the colours in the pic, as the Canadian Guards were created in October 1953 - so too late for the Second World War or Korean War. The photo appears to have been taken a few moments before the colours were paraded in front of the New Guard during a Changing the Guard ceremony on Parliament Hill - The Colour Party would complete its march and set itself in the centre of the New Guard formation, as an indication that the New Guard is ready to take on sentry duties at HEGG residence.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3625097)

Woman war worker posing with a bomb made at the Cherrier plant in Canada, May 1941.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4301937)

Queen Elizabeth II wearing crown, blue sash and pink gown, standing on balcony in Buckingham Palace, 1959.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4301940)

H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, at Buckingham Palace, London, England. Official portrait taken before the 1959 Royal tour.

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