Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau. Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
This view of Orillia’s waterfront, taken from Cedar Island, was published by Orillia photographer G. A. Brown.
The photo dates from around 1920 and illustrates how important the role of Orillia’s waterfront was to the community. The lumber companies, boat builders and rowboat and canoe rental shops seen here all played an important role in Orillia’s development.
The R. O. Smith Company located in downtown Orillia published hundreds of postcard views of Orillia using local photographers such as G. A. Brown and Frank Stewart. They could provide the quality photos needed for printing by publishing companies in Ontario.
Many postcard publishers employed a staff of photographers who travelled across the country from spring to early autumn and then spent the winter processing their photos. These large publishing companies also employed several artists to hand colour the photos. The publisher requested that the buyer submit a clear photo and specify the principle colours with their order. The colour schemes were otherwise selected by the artist to comply with different printing processes. During the golden years of postcard collecting from 1904 to 1914 most high quality postcards published in Canada were printed in England and Germany.
Image #2 is the exact same postcard with the bottom name cut off and the left side marked to indicate what needed to be cropped for a balanced view. This card was sent for printing to publisher J. E. Evans, in Port Rowan, Ontario.
Image #3 is the back of the submitted postcard with instructions such as the quantity to make, title and series number. Notice the publisher’s time stamp showing date and time received. Also requested is to print on face of card “published by ROSCO Wholesalers, Orillia, Ont.” There is also a short German translation written above this request. J. E. Evans was one of the few Canadian postcard publishers to deal with Germany after WW1. Germany had some of the best printing equipment in the world and the devalued mark would provide good value for a quality finished product.
Image #4 is the finished product cropped and hand coloured by the artist. The perspective is greatly enhanced with clouds drawn into the finished photo and lighter greenery in the distant hills. The dark to light blue shading in the water also provides distance and depth to the image. Many talented people were involved in manufacturing this postcard. A local photographer, a downtown business promoter and a printing company and artist from Germany all contributed to producing this wonderful early view of Orillia’s active waterfront.
