The collection contains stereographic views of Quebec including the Saguenay River, Tadoussac and; bake oven, spinning and weaving activities, fisherman and bay, Cap à l'Aigle, Quebec; Murray Bay, Quebec; Tadoussac Hotel, Tadoussac, Quebec; calèche; River Blanche, near Thurso, Quebec, ca. 1866; Victoria Bridge, City Hall, Dominion Square, Notre Dame, and St. James St. in Montreal, Quebec; and Quebec, Quebec, including Laval University. One stereographic view of Lorette Falls, Que. and one of Mountain Hill, Que., by J.W. Love.
Stereo views outside of Quebec include the Parliament Buildings, ca. 1866, and lumber mills, ca. 1872-1874, Ottawa, Ont.; Toronto, Ont., ca. 1880; Hamilton, Ont.; Owen Sound, Ont., ca. 1865; Saint John, N.B., ca. 1870. Above photos by E. Spencer, Stiff & Gregory, J.G. Parks, J.W. Love, James McClure, L.P. Vallée, William James Topley, Ellisson & Co. and William Notman. Stereoscopic views of Silver Islet, Ont.; the Suspension Bridge and a tightrope walker, Niagara Falls; Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and the Rideau Canal locks, Ottawa, Ont. Photos by James Esson, George Barker, Charles Biershadt, J.P. Sproule and J.W. Love. Additionally there is one stereographic view of the bridge across the Grand River, Elora, Ont.; one at Penryn Park, Port Hope, Ont., Sept. 1877; and one at "At Jones Falls'', Ont., photo by Canadian Stereoscopic View Co., Waterloo, Ont.
Additionally, the collection consists of an Ambrotype view of man with barrel; a cabinet photo of three girls, by Jarvis; a Canadian Railway and Steamboat Guide; view of the Bluenose, photo by W. MacAskill; anonymous photo of Michigan Cantilever and Suspension Bridge, Niagara, ca. 1885; views of Victoria, B.C., Toronto, Ont., Saint John, N.B., and Yarmouth, N.S.; and Inuit scenes.
Other photographic material in the collection, by Ralph Greenhill, includes examples of nineteenth-century Ontario architecture which appeared in the books Rural Ontario (1969) and Ontario Towns (1974); as well as views of architecture and streets in Almonte, Newburgh, Hazzards Corners, Warsaw and Perth, Ont.; the pond and mill at Westwood, Peterborough County, Ont., ca. 1968; barn group, Hope Township, Ont., ca. 1968; Huron County Jail, Goderich, Ont., ca. 1970; Wellington Hotel, Windham and Woolwich Sts., Guelph, Ont., 1973; countryside scenes near Gananoque and Wilmot, Ont.; railway stations at St. Thomas and Peterborough, Ont.; mills in Baltimore and Paris, Ont.; engine house in Perth, Ont.; wagon shop, Walsingham Township, Norfolk County, Ont.; oxen drawn truck in Upper Canada; flour mill, Beauport Road, Quebec; Lanark County jail, Perth, Ont.; Mennonite Church, Altona, Ont.; dressed-log house, Goulbourn Township, Ont.; Gartshore pumping engines, Hamilton Water Works; tapping floor and dipping room of Fittings Ltd., Oshawa; stone bridge, Pakenham, Ont.; Prince of Wales viaduct, Ottawa; Lewer Arch Bridge from American side, Niagara Falls; bridge, Smith's Falls, Ont.; abandoned railway station, St. Mary's Junction, Ont.; London Soap Co., London, Ont.; oil well, Enniskillen, Ont.; and the gap-bed lathe, Oil Well Supply Co., Petrolia, Ont.
The collection also contains an art print depicting a view of the first Parliament Building in Ottawa published in the "Canadian Illustrated News," Feb. 26, 1870 by an unknown artist and a half-tone leggotype of William Augustus Leggo, 1871.
Additionally there is a photograph of Canadian art collector Douglas M. Duncan and other examples of Greenhill's work can be found in the Robertson Davies fonds.
Greenhill, Ralph, 1924-1996 : Ralph Greenhill (1924-1996), photographer, photo-historian, collector. Born England, 1924. Flourished 211 Sheldrake Blvd., Toronto, ca. 1957 to 1966; and 18 The Donway East, Toronto from 1971 to 1986. Moved to 84 Durham St., Guelph in 1986. Studied photography at Ryerson Institute, Toronto, Ont. Influenced by Walker Evans and Edward Weston. Noted for documentation of Ontario sites, especially historical architecture. Author of seminal history of Canadian photography (1965). He died on May 11, 1996.
Works located in: National Archives of Canada: 1977-075, 1977-146, 1978-102, 1978-211, 1980-094. Information from daughter (Pauline Greenhill).
