Collection comprises works by John Elliott Woolford (1778-1866). Woolford was in the entourage of Lord Dalhousie, as his official draughtsman, when he arrived in Nova Scotia in 1816 as the new lieutenant governor. The set of five aquatint prints were executed by Woolford when he accompanied Lord Dalhousie on either his 1819 or his 1821 tour of Upper and Lower Canada. An album of sketches, entitled "American Sketches", documents spots on Dalhousie's 1821 tour to Lake Superior. Two watercolours, acquired in 2005, depict the City of Fredericton from the opposite shore of the St. John River and Officer's Barracks, Toronto.
Woolford, John Elliott, 1778-1866 : John Elliott Woolford (1778-1866) was an artist, topographical draughtsman and architect. At a young age, he served in the campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte's army in Egypt. A short time later, he accompanied Lord Dalhousie to Canada, as his official draughtsman, when Dalhousie was appointed lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. Dalhousie, in pursuit of a first-hand lay of the land, was well known for his travels throughout the colony. During the period 1819-1821, Woolford recorded many impressions of sites they visited, several of which were reproduced as aquatints. In 1821, he travelled with Dalhousie when he toured Lower and Upper Canada to Lake Superior. A sketchbook from this journey comprises drawings of over forty-four sites, with each location identified by the artist. In 1823, Woolford was appointed assistant barrack-master at Saint John and later barrack-master general in Fredericton. During a long career there, he was responsible for the design of a new government house, a building for King's College and a county jail. He continued his outdoor sketching and, in August 1842, he exhibited with other fellow Fredericton artists in the first New Brunswick Art Exhibition. After his retirement in 1859, he continued living in Fredericton until his death in 1866.
