Notman Photographic Archives

The Notman Photographic Archives are composed of about 200,000 glass plate negatives, 400,000 prints and hundreds of record books and ledgers produced by the Montreal studio founded by William Notman in 1856 and operated by his sons until 1935. They constitute a rare, largely intact record of a prolific nineteenth-century photography studio operating at a time when the medium was developing into an industrial form of image making. As the repository of hundreds of thousands of portraits, landscape views and cityscapes executed over eighty years, the Notman Photographic Archives bear witness to an evolving Canadian society.

UNESCO Memory of the World International Register

In April 2025, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has inscribed the Notman Photographic Archives on the Memory of the World International Register. The register serves to safeguard and promote access to documentary heritage of global significance: archives that chronicle the history of the world and the heritage of humanity.

The vast number of studio portraits captured and methodically catalogued by Notman are invaluable documentation of 19th century Canadian society. He photographed not only the white business and political elite as might be expected, but also artists, sports clubs, tradesmen, Black railway porters, nannies, and former slaves to create an important historical record of Canadian multicultural society. I am pleased that the inscription of the Notman Photographic Archives on the Canada Memory of the World Register in 2019 served as a stepping-stone to this international recognition.
Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko, Secretary General, Canadian Commission for UNESCO

The Notman Photographic Archives are endlessly fascinating, as evidenced by the many contemporary artists who research its visual content and use it as source material in their own work. The photographs provide artists with a tool through which to engage in a critical dialogue with the past.
Zoë Tousignant, Curator, Photography, McCord Stewart Museum

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Notman: A Visionary Photographer

Born in Scotland in 1826, Notman was a visionary entrepreneur who saw the great commercial, technological and artistic potential of photography and sought to exploit its various dimensions to the full. After launching his first studio in Montreal, he soon expanded his business by opening several branch studios elsewhere in Canada and the United States. Notman was also part of a broad photography network committed to showcasing photography’s technical and aesthetic advancements, which operated through the illustrated press and international exhibitions and fairs. During his lifetime, Notman earned a reputation as Canada’s most prominent photographer.
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  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>William Notman and his sons William McFarlane, George and Charles</i>, 1890. McCord Stewart Museum, II-93256
  • William Notman, <i>William Notman, Montreal</i>, 1868. McCord Stewart Museum, I-30283
  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>View of the harbour from the Canadian Pacific Railway elevator, Montreal</i>, about 1885. McCord Stewart Museum, VIEW-1938
  • William Notman, <i>Mr. Barnjum’s gymnastic group</i>, 1870. McCord Stewart Museum, I-45615
  • William Notman, <i>Chaudière Falls, Ottawa, Ontario</i>, 1870. McCord Stewart Museum, I-49783
  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>Petit-Champlain Street, Quebec</i>, about 1890. McCord Stewart Museum, VIEW-2335.0
  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>Miss Guilmartin</i>, 1885. McCord Stewart Museum, II-77923
  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>Fraser Canyon above Spuzzum, British Columbia</i>, 1887, McCord Stewart Museum, VIEW- 1761
  • Wm. Notman & Son/William McFarlane Notman, <i>Young Niisitapiikwan brave, near Calgary, Alberta</i>. 1889. McCord Stewart Museum, VIEW-2167
  • Wm. Notman & Son, <i>Gent for Mrs. Austin</i>, 1889. McCord Stewart Museum, II-90236

Online Collections

Explore the Notman Photographic Archives via the Online Collections platform.

Access over 70,000 copyright-free images, downloadable free of charge in the highest resolution available, with no restrictions on their use.

Use them:
  • To enhance your historical and genealogical research projects
  • To design educational programs
  • To illustrate articles, reports, lectures or books
  • For commercial or decorative projects
  • As a visual resource for a creative art practice
  • … and much, much more!
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Blogue

Notman, Creator of the first halftone

William Notman (1826-1891), a forward thinker, was a pioneer in the photomechanical reproduction of pictures for the press. This printing innovation would pave the way for the explosion of visual culture that came with the proliferation of photographs. Notman must be credited with being the creator of the first photograph ever reproduced using printer’s ink.
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Chronology

Learn about some of the key dates, people and events that have shaped the history of the Notman Photographic Archives.
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Selected Bibliography

The images that compose the Notman Photographic Archives are regularly used as illustrations in scholarly studies that investigate various aspects of nineteenth-century history – for example, the histories of slavery, of westward colonialism or of railway technology. The Archives have also been the subject of numerous articles, theses, books and films on the histories of photography, art and visual culture.
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