The University Photograph Collection contains over 13,000 images, and deals primarily with the growth and development of the University of Saskatchewan. Images of faculty, students, alumni, buildings, equipment, and various events and activities constitute the majority of the collection.
These images are searchable in our image database. We are in the process of entering every image from this collection into the database, so if you can't find what you are looking for please contact us.
There are other fonds and collections of photographs which document the history of the University of Saskatchewan. These include:
- Photographs by Division of Media and Technology
- Photographs by On Campus News photographers
- Dudley Foskett fonds - unpublished Greystone yearbook photographs, 1936-1939
- Dieter Martin slides relating to campus landscaping
- Bob McKercher fonds
- W.A.S Sarjeant fonds
- Lydiard Photograph Album
The Division of Media and Technology photographs and some of the On Campus News photographs are searchable in the photograph database. The other collections listed here are not yet available in the photograph database so please contact us if you wish to access them.
Other Photograph Collections
In addition to the general photograph collection, the University Archives also has photographs that are not related to the University of Saskatchewan itself, but rather reflect the research or avocational interests of former faculty and other groups and individuals. These collections are listed below with links to their databse record. Some of these images appear in our photograph database while others have not yet been added. Please contact us if you are interested in any of these collections.
The collections mentioned on this page are some of the major photograph collections in our holdings, but photographs will also be found throught many of our other collections.
Since 1984, Joanne Abrahamson has travelled extensively throughout Saskatchewan, and has documented virtually every city, town, village, and hamlet in the province, from Aberfeldy to Xena. Her photographs are primarily of grain elevators, schools, churches, railway stations, town offices; in some instances she has returned to a site after a period of several years, providing documentation of changes over time. This collection includes over 17,000 negatives. A selection of her photographs of grain elevators are featured in the exhibit The Changing Face of the Saskatchewan Prairie.
Hans Dommasch, an award-winning photographer and Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History, has studied the Canadian Arctic and the prairie landscape in great detail. His book, "Prairie Giants", depicting grain elevators of the prairie landscape, was published in 1986. The lecture entitled "Canada North of Sixty" has been presented in Germany, Scotland, England, the Czech Republic, the United States and Canada. The photographic exhibition of the same name has been displayed in Canada and the Czech Republic. The photographic material in this fonds covers a wide range of subject matters, with particular emphasis on medicine, natural history, the Canadian arctic, and grain elevators. For some of his photographs of the north, see the virtual exhibit Hans S. Dommasch: Canada North of 60; a selection of his photographs of grain elevators are also featured in the exhibit The Changing Face of the Saskatchewan Prairie.
Keith Ewart is a Saskatoon photographer who has published two volumes of his photographic documentation of railway stations and railway buildings. This collection includes over 1,000 photographs of schools, churches, and railway buildings, primarily in Saskatchewan. It also includes glass plates from a Moose Jaw photographer, ca. 1815-1900.
INSTITUTE FOR NORTHERN STUDIES
From 1960 to 1981, the Institute for Northern Studies operated as a multi-disciplinary unit dedicated to research on the Canadian North and other circumpolar regions, with a special emphasis on northern Saskatchewan. This collection includes over a thousand images of the Canadian North and its peoples.
Howdy established McPhail Airways in North Battleford (later, McPhail Air Services Ltd.) in 1952. During the spring and summer he sprayed crops; offered flying lessons; and began taking aerial photographs of farms and towns throughout the West and extending into BC, Ontario, and the United States. Farm photographs were ordered by the farm owners, often as small prints and in some cases, hand-tinted (a young Allan Sapp was one of the people hired to do this). Products were later expanded to include greeting cards and for images of towns, postcards and calendars. This collection contains images of farms and small towns, primarily in Saskatchewan, from about 1952-1962. The entire collection of McPhail aerial photographs have been digitized and can be viewed on the Howdy McPhail Aerial Photographs website.
David Courtney Milne was a fine art photographer and author of regional, national, and international significance. He was based in Saskatchewan, but photographed in all the provinces and territories of Canada, as well as in thirty-five other countries and on all seven continents. He published many books of his artwork, and his photographs have been used in at least other 18 books, 31 magazines/brochures/published reports, 20 CD covers and included in 14 CD-ROM/video productions. In addition, his individual prints, series, or mural images are represented in the permanent collections of 30 notable public and corporate galleries and educational institutions. When he passed away his entire collection was donated to the University Archives and Special Collections, which consists of over 486,000 original images in slide format, various prints including limited edition sets and exhibition prints, 2.9 metres of textual records, as well as audio, film and video, Milne’s reference library, his slide presentations, and a selection of equipment including a variety of cameras and lenses. Many of his photographs have been digitized and can be viewed on the Courtney Milne website.
Well known particularly for his portrait photography, John Reeves' work has appeared in virtually every Canadian periodical. This colection contains contains images of Canadian women of achievement; most were taken during the celebration of the International Year of the Woman (1975) and formed part of the exhibition, "30 Portraits of Women." A selection of these photographs is in the virtual exhibit John Reeves: Portrait of the Woman.
SASKATOON WOMEN'S CALENDAR COLLECTIVE (HERSTORY)
For over thirty years, this Collective has been publishing calendars highlighting the achievements of Canadian women. The University Archives holds photographs of hundreds of Canadian women who have appeared in the pages of "Herstory" since 1974. For a sample, check out "Herstory: An Exhibition."
A professor of biology, Dr. Saunders was an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of London and had his work displayed in galleries in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. The University Archives holds images relating to Saunders' research as well as his travels in Egypt, Ceylon, Brazil, Hong Kong, and North America.