Fonds consists of photographs taken by Richard Harrington depicting aspects of Inuit life and views of such places as Coppermine (now Kugluktuk), Padlei, Spence Bay, Igloolik, N.W.T, 1948-1953, as well as photographs of covered bridges in central and eastern Canada, 1950-1975. The fonds also includes five journals written by Richard Harrington while on photographic expeditions to the Canadian Arctic, entitled Port Harrison (now Inukjuak) 1948, Coppermine (now Kugluktuk) 1949, Padlei 1950, Spence Bay 1951 and Igloolik 1952-1953. The journals contain accounts of the places and people encountered in his travels and provide background information for his photographs. Three of the journals, Coppermine, Padlei and Spence Bay, were published in his 1954 book,"The Face of the Arctic", 1948-1953. Two albums of photographs of the Yukon taken by Richard Harrington are in the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs fonds (see MIKAN record 204783 for further details). There are also photographs by Richard Harrington of British Columbia taken while on assignment for the National Film Board of Canada in 1956.
Harrington, Richard, 1911-2005 : Richard Harrington, born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1911, emigrated to Canada in the 1920s. His photographic career appears to have begun as an x-ray technician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto in the 1930s, and he thereafter entered into a career as a free-lance photographer. In 1946, he began working with the Hudson's Bay Co., taking photographs for the Beaver magazine, usually on assignment. He carried out a number of journeys throughout the Arctic from 1948 to 1952, which form the basis of much of his later published work. He also worked on assignment for the National Film Board in the 1950s. He became a free-lance photographer along with his wife Lyn, and developed a reputation as one of Canada's leading outdoor photographers. Several of his photographs were used in the notable photograph exhibition, the Family of Man, which appeared at Expo 67. He has since published several books and numerous articles in periodicals relating to his photographic expeditions all over the world in search of photographic subjects. Some of his books are: The Face of the Arctic (1952), Northern Exposures (1953), British Columbia in Pictures (1958), Richard Harrington's Antarctic (1976) and Richard Harrington's Yukon (1974). Richard Harrington died in October 2005, having been predeceased by his first wife Lynn, also born in 1911, and the co-author or author of many of the books cited above.
