Fonds consists of photographs covering Canadian and world wide events during the period 1948 to 1971. Most of the photographs were originally taken by Federal News Photo agency staff (ca. 26,000 negatives) while a smaller number (approximately 6,000 wire service photos) were received from other agencies and photographers.
The more than 32,000 items in this fonds represent the work of this Toronto-based photo agency. Founded and owned by Jim Lynch, the agency included as its main photographers Jim Lynch himself, as well as staff photographers Bil Tetlow, Bob Lansdale, and Bill Russell. Through both wire service and syndication service, Federal news photographs were supplied to most of Canada's leading newspapers from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s. Also included in the collection are wire photos and negatives from UPTEL, PHOTOPRESS, DPA, and other news agencies.
The collection includes the following photo subjects: protests, strikes, riots; fashions and fashion awards, beauty contests; sports events and championships including the Stanley Cup, Grey Cup, King's Plate; Queen's Plate; political figures and visiting dignitaries, including Prime Minister Nehru of India in1951, Sir Winston Churchill 1952, Queen Juliana 1952, President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953, H.I.H. Prince Akihito of Japan 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary 1954, Prime Minister Menzies of Australia 1955, Sir Harold MacMillan 1961, President John F. Kennedy 1961, Shah of Iran 1965, Alexei Kosygin, undated; entertainers and celebrities, including Barbara Streisand with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1970; Toronto events; events in other Canadian cities; Ontario government officials and functions, including sales missions; official openings of bridges, dams, historic sites, and the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959; openings of Parliament, the Stratford Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, and the National Ballet of Canada.
The fonds also includes photos of the signing of the St. Lawrence Seaway Treaty in 1951, as well as other official occasions, including the installation of Vincent Massey as the first Canadian Governor-General in 1952, the D-Day ceremonies in Normandy in 1954, the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Canadian centennial celebrations in Toronto, 1967, and the 10th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1969. There is also coverage of the Springhill mining disasters in 1956 and 1958, and the Aberfan, Wales mining disaster in 1966, as well as aircrashes and other disasters.
Political campaigns including coverage of most federal elections, more particularly of those of Diefenbaker, Pearson, and Trudeau, as well as political party conventions, are documented. Images of various conferences, including Federal-Provincial, Commonwealth, constitutional, and Canada-US-Britain conferences, including Bermuda in 1953, are also included.
The fonds also includes international tours, such as Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent to India in the 1950s, Lester B. Pearson to Moscow, USSR in 1955, and John G. Diefenbaker to Mexico in 1966. The funerals of William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1950, of George McCullough and King George VI in 1952, C.D. Howe in 1961, and Daniel Johnson, premier of Quebec, in 1968, among others, are also covered.
There is visual documentation about Canadian troops serving in peace missions around the world.
The fonds includes images relating to Expo 67 visitors, including Prince Albert of Belgium, Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvie, Queen Juliana, Earl Mountbatten, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Margaret, Nelson Rockefeller, and Charles de Gaulle.
Finally there is a great deal of coverage of British royal events and visits. The 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II includes images of RCMP officers as part of the event, visiting dignitaries enroute to Westminster Abbey, the Royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation, and official group photographs. Official visits to Canada documented include the tour made by Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in 1951, which included stops at Halifax, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Windsor, Fort William, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, and Washington, D.C. Such photos typically include photographs at City Halls, provincial legislatures, receptions, revues, motorcades, and the offical Royal Train, as well as RCAF planes, and RCN ships such as HMCS Antigonish and Ontario. Also included are royal visits to Bermuda in 1953, the opening of Canadian Parliament in 1957, the 1959 tour which included the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, as well as stops in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Banff, and tours to Canada in 1967 and 1970. There are also official photos of the Royal family at Windsor in 1959, and photos of other royal visits to Canada, including Prince Phillip in 1969, princess Margaret in 1958, and the Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth in 1962 and 1965.
