Fonds consist of photographic material depicting artists F.H. Varley, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Barker Fairley, F. Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and J.E.H. MacDonald taken by Arthur Gross, at the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, Ontario. Other photographs depict road construction work, Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario; Franklin Carmichael, Frederick Varley, and their wives having a picnic, Ontario; Fred Haines cooking over an open campfire, La Cloche, Ontario; views of the interior of the Carmichael home, 21 Cameron Avenue, Toronto, Ontario; portraits of Gustav Hahn and Rowley Murphy, Toronto, Ontario; activities of the artist Franklin Carmichael, his family, and friends such as Grace Campbell, A.J. Casson, Joe Gauthier, Gustave Hahn, J.S. Hallam, Fred Haines, Tom Thomson, Fred Varley, Florence Wyle, as well as activities at the Carmichael cottage at Cranberry Lake, Ontario, and sketching trips in Ontario, ca. 1915-1978; views of National Parks and other tourist-oriented activity in Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, ca. 1927. Photographs are by Franklin Carmichael, William Notman & Son, Canadian Railways and unidentified photographers.
Other graphic material consists of 35 drawings of allegorical studies, studies for a poem entitled Am I Alone?, as well as studies for greetings cards; drawings from the Franklin Carmichael Estate; layout sketches for the Toronto General Trusts; cover design by Jesse Edgar Middleton for "Toronto's 100 Years". Also included are works by Franklin Carmichael such as 4 Exhibition Catalogue designs, 6 Christmas card designs, 3 book designs, 11 lettering designs, 10 commercial art designs, printed designs done for the 68th Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists Catalogue, 1940, 23 woodblocks, 2 engraved metal plates, 37 linocuts blocks, 7 linocut blocks mounted on wood. Works by Fred Haines include 92 folios and 111 drawings of a trip to Europe taken by Haines and Carmichael in 1913. Other graphic material includes designs (proofs) for Willards Forkdipt Chocolates; visual material, mostly of a commercial design nature, created by Franklin Carmichael during his commercial career, ca. 1915-1945; a booklet and two greeting cards from the Ford Motor Company of Canada; a card from McConnell & Ferguson, and the title page from the Ontario Society of Artists catalogue. As well, there is a large and varied collection of pictorial items, 1910-1943, done and/or owned by Franklin Carmichael including 3 sketchbooks, 21 commercial designs for a variety of companies, 21 works relating to book illustration and design, 30 original designs for greeting cards including hand-painted and printed cards, 13 greeting cards by other artists including Walter Phillips and Fred Varley, 11 engraved wood blocks cut by Carmichael, and 14 engraved wood blocks collected by Carmichael.
Textual material relates to Franklin Carmichael's commercial art and design; teaching; exhibitions; and unpublished manuscripts. Also included is additional memorabilia and miscellaneous material, as well as subject files, correspondence and clippings.
Carmichael, Franklin, 1890-1945 : Frank Carmichael, artist, was born in Orillia, Ontario, the son of a carriage-maker. He was a founding member of the Group of Seven. In 1911, he moved to Toronto to apprentice with the Grip Engraving firm but left with artists Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Tom Thomson, and Frank Johnston the following year to join the commercial art firm Rous and Mann. In 1913 he went to Europe to study at l'Académie royale des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp. After returning to Toronto and sharing quarters in the Studio Building with Tom Thomson, he married Ada Went in 1915 and worked as a carriage stripper in Bolton. In 1916 he rejoined Rous and Mann, where artist A.J. Casson became his assistant in 1919, and moved to Sampson-Matthews in the late 1920's, continuing to work as a commercial artist until his appointment to the Ontario College of Art in 1932. He remained at the Ontario College of Art, as head of the graphic and commercial art department, until his death.
Carmichael become known for his oil and watercolour landscapes and woodcuts. He exhibited with the Group of Seven throughout the 1920's. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (1925) and the Canadian Group of Painters (1933). He was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and its president, 1937-1940, as well as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He was a member of the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, and an amateur musician who played with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra.