Administrative History Biographical Sketch
The majority of these photographs come from a book entitled, “St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada: A Photographic Souvenir, July 1889.” The photographer or photographers are unidentified.
It is probable that this book is the work of D. Will McKay (MacKay). McKay was certainly taking photographs in St. Andrews at the time (see Will McKay Fonds - P682). PANB holds a book of photogravures of St. Stephen which McKay published through the Albertype Co. (N.Y.) in 1896 (MC80/4025), and the N.B. Legislative Library holds a copy of his 1896 book of St. Andrews photogravures, also published by Albertype Co. (917.1533 M153). This confirms that D. Will McKay was in the business of making photographic souvenir books in the last decade of the nineteenth century. These two books were reproduced in half-tone, with some variation in page order, by Print’N Press Ltd., out of St. Stephen, N.B. sometime around 1980. PANB holds both reproductions (MC80/3074, MC80/3075).
There is a photograph (P23-08) that appears in both the 1889 book held in P23, and the Print’N Press reproduction of McKay’s 1896 book on St. Andrews. This further entrenches McKay as the likeliest creator of the content in P23. However, there appear to be some inconsistencies in the Print’N Press reprints, most glaringly, that the title implies that all photographs therein were taken in 1896, when the presence of P23-08, which also appears in this collection from 1889, would suggest otherwise. Also, a photo of the Algonquin Hotel appears on page 1 of the reproduction, showing the hotel with it’s added wing, which wasn’t put on until 1907. Therefore, the Print’N Press reprints cannot be fully trusted, and confirmation of McKay’s work in both books will have to wait until the original Albertype Co. publication, held at the Legislative Library, can be viewed by PANB staff.
Perplexingly, there is a studio portrait in the P23 collection of a man with the handwritten caption: “The Artist (?)”. This photo appears in David Sullivan’s 2008 book, St. Andrews: an Historical Scrapbook, in which Sullivan claims it to be Will McKay, citing the Charlotte County Archives. The photo is held by the Charlotte County Archives (P1.42). However, the Charlotte County Archives hold another photo listed as being Will McKay which does not appear to be the same person. This second portrait of McKay aligns with a photo in PANB’s “Charlotte County Historical Society” collection (P128) which is also labelled as being Will McKay. So, either the photo in this book was improperly titled by someone other than McKay (the question mark may suggest that McKay didn’t write the captions), or the other photos of McKay have been improperly labelled and are not in fact D. Will McKay. A further possibility is that the photographs are the work of one of D. Will McKay’s two brothers, Hugh, and Dan, both of whom were also listed as photographers in an 1881 census. In this case, this portrait of “The Artist (?)” may be a portrait of Hugh, or Dan McKay.
Additionally, there are two outlying photos in the collection (P23-23, and P23-34). P23-23 was taken during the 1911 visit of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and tenth Governor General of Canada. the Duke visited St. Andrews where a school was opened in his name - the Prince Arthur School - which was in operation until the 1960's. A copy of this photograph is held in the Charlotte County Archives and is embossed with the name of D. Will McKay, which explains its inclusion in this collection. P23-24 appears to be from a similar time period judging by a renovated Wren's Drugstore.
Custodial History
How “St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada: A Photographic Souvenir, July 1889” came to the possession of PANB is unknown, as is its current location/owner. It is possible that PANB was loaned the book for photographing, or that the negatives themselves were donated to PANB, but our records do not make this custodial history clear. Perhaps the Heritage Resource Administration acquired and photographed the book and passed negatives on to PANB.
Scope and Content
St. Andrews scenes, residences and businesses
Block house, Algonquin, beach, Doucet's Island, St. Croix Island, Minister's Island, Johnston Mountain, Chamcook Mountain, Chamcook Lake, Tourist and Market Wharf, Water Street, Drug Store, churches, Custom House, Land Improvement Company, Miss Ellen's, Dr. Osburn's, CPR station, militia, Fort Tipperary, D. Will McKay, Wren's Druggist, Argyll Hotel, Mr. Forster.
Dates of Creation Note
All but two of the photos in this collection appear to be from the same book, shot and compiled by photographer D. Will McKay in 1889. The two outliers appear to be from 1911 (or thereabouts) - the presence of cars on the street point to the twentieth century, and the union jacks and banners suggest perhaps the photos were taken at the time of King George V's coronation in June of 1911.