Category:Images from Archives of Ontario - C 130 Marsden Kemp fonds

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English: Images from Archives of Ontario's Marsden Kemp fonds

A collection of images from the Marsden Kemp fonds housed at the Archives of Ontario. The photographs were taken during the late 1800s to early 1900s in Eastern Ontario including Picton, Cornwall, Barnhart Island, New York, as well as other locations. A majority of the images do not indicate where they were taken. His most prolific period of photography was in the early 20th century, from about 1900 to 1914.

<nowiki>Marsden Kemp fonds; fonds held at the Archives of Ontario; C 130</nowiki>
Marsden Kemp fonds 
fonds held at the Archives of Ontario
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Instance of
  • fonds (1968–)
Location
  • Canada
Creator
  • Marsden Kemp
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Marsden Kemp was a piano tuner, amateur photographer, and avid gardener. Kemp, his mother and all of his siblings were born in Jamaica. Otherwise, not much is known about his life or family. A hunting accident prematurely ended a promising start as a pianist and he moved on to become a piano tuner in Kingston, Ontario. Later in life, he moved to Picton and enjoyed gardening. Kemp died on April 5, 1943.

Kemp's photographs document leisurely activities of middle- and upper-class families. Activities depicted include picnicking, people in parlours, drinking tea, and people by the lake. Kemp would often feature pianos or plants when depicting a subject in a parlor. It was not uncommon for him to depict people in front of houses or outdoors also.

George Miller, an antique dealer from Picton, had come across the Marsden Kemp glass plate negatives in the 1960s. There were about 4000 to 5000 negatives found but only 1000 negatives were salvageable due to storage conditions and time impacting their condition. Miller made prints from the negatives as well as numbered and compiled descriptions of the negatives in a notebook. The source for his descriptions is relatively unknown as few negatives had inscriptions. Possible contacts who knew Kemp were found in Miller's notebook and original enclosures may have provided information but this has not been confirmed.

In 1968, Miller donated 64 copy prints of the negatives to the Archives of Ontario, and in 1970 the original glass plate negatives were acquired from Thomas Bouckley of Oshawa. A single copy print had later been identified as a Kemp photograph that was originally donated in 1967.

The Archives of Ontario has chosen to share these images because they document fashion, dress, leisurely activities, and domestic life among the middle- and upper-class families in the early twentieth century.

Media in category "Images from Archives of Ontario - C 130 Marsden Kemp fonds"

The following 200 files are in this category, out of 876 total.

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