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Narrative

In this image, the photographer was near the north side of the Gorge Bridge inside today's Saanich Gorge Park, in Saanich, BC. The view is looking east, with Curtis Point mid-ground at left.

This late 19th Century photograph album contains 50 mounted photographs taken around Victoria, BC during the 1890s. Images include streetscapes where the Dunsmuir houses Craigdarroch and Fairview are visible. Another shows the Dunsmuir steamship, “Joan”. The images generally depict urban settings, including various streets, funeral processions, views from the tower of Metropolitan Church at Pandora and Quadra Streets, Beacon Hill Park, etc. One image of the Esquimalt Graving Dock shows the HMS Warspite in drydock. The locations of the two loose land/seascape photographs are undetermined, but are believed to be taken in the area of southern Vancouver Island, B.C.

The mounted photographs are of professional quality, clear, well-focused, properly exposed, well-composed, and printed on high quality paper mounted on cardstock. They are titled by hand. This may be a souvenir album assembled by a person who selected them from a professional photographer’s studio offerings. At least two of the photographs are duplicates of examples held by the Royal BC Museum, BC Archives.

The photographs were collected by Dunsmuir family members in the 1890s. The album is useful in recreating Craigdarroch’s period interiors. The album and the individual photographs are useful in presenting the story of early Victoria in exhibits, publications, and on social media. It was collected for these reasons.

History of Use

This album was once owned by Joan Olive Bryden (1887-1959) and prior to that, by her mother Elizabeth Hamilton Bryden (nee Dunsmuir – 1848-1901) or her grandmother Joan Olive Dunsmuir (1828-1908).  It is known to have been kept at the Bryden house in Esquimalt named Dalzellowlie, and next at the Macdonald farm in North Saanich called Duntulm. At the time of of its donation to Craigdarroch, it was house in the Oak Bay residence of Joan Dunsmuir’s great great granddaughter.

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