How a collection of old photographs helped bring Black Canadian stories into view
An old trunk in an attic sounds like the beginning of a mystery. You lift the lid, move aside a few forgotten belongings, and discover faces looking back at you from another century.
For Rick Bell, that moment became a connection between family history and Ontario’s wider past. In his mother’s attic, he found a steamer trunk containing nineteenth-century photographs. The collection would eventually contribute to Free Black North, a 2017 exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017).
It is a compelling reminder to take another look before deciding that an old box contains nothing important.
Faces from Ontario’s Past
The photographs Bell discovered included tintypes, cabinet cards, and cartes-de-visite—small photographic portraits mounted on cards. These formats offer a distinctly different experience from scrolling through photographs on a phone: each image is a physical object that someone chose to keep (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017).
Imagine encountering an unfamiliar portrait among your own family belongings. Who is the person looking back at you? Why was their photograph saved? Was it exchanged between relatives or carried from one home to another?
Those questions are part of the excitement of exploring a family collection. Even when every answer is not immediately available, an image gives us somewhere to begin.
From an Attic to an Art Gallery
Bell and his family donated the photographs to Brock University. Selections from the collection, alongside photographs from the Archives of Ontario, appeared in Free Black North, curated by Julie Crooks (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017).
The exhibition featured portraits of Black people living in nineteenth-century Ontario, including descendants of people who had escaped enslavement in the United States. The AGO presented these photographs as evidence of how Black Canadians used portraiture to represent themselves and affirm their histories (Art Gallery of Ontario, 2017).
That journey—from family storage to a public exhibition—is remarkable. It shows how something kept within one household can help others encounter a broader community story.
Not every family collection needs to become an exhibition. Its importance might be deeply personal: identifying a great-grandparent, recognizing a childhood home, or understanding a family connection. That is reason enough to care for it.
Look Beyond the Face
When you explore an old photograph, give yourself time to notice its smaller details.
Look at the background. Is there a building, sign, or landscape you recognize? Examine the edges and reverse for handwriting or a photographer’s mark. Consider whether other photographs nearby show the same people, furniture, or setting.
A portrait can be the beginning of a conversation rather than the end of a search.
Try asking relatives, “What do you notice?” instead of immediately asking, “Who is this?” Someone might recognize a garden, a piece of jewellery, or the wallpaper in a room before they recognize a face.
Write down what they tell you, including who supplied the information. Keep possibilities separate from confirmed identifications. A promising guess is worth recording, but it should remain a guess until there is more evidence.
Your Own Discovery Can Start Small
You do not need an attic or an antique trunk. A biscuit tin, desk drawer, album, or envelope marked “old pictures” can offer plenty to explore.
Choose a small group of items and work on a clean, dry surface. Before rearranging anything, photograph how the materials were stored. Items kept together may have a connection that becomes clearer later.
Make three simple notes:
What do I know?
What might this tell me?
What would I like to investigate?
Perhaps you recognize a surname but not a face. Maybe an address leads you to an Ontario town you did not know was part of your family’s story. Follow the clue that interests you most.
You do not have to solve everything in one afternoon.
A Reason to Open the Lid
The appeal of an attic discovery is the possibility of meeting the past in an unexpected way.
A photograph that once seemed anonymous may become meaningful after a conversation. A familiar face may appear in an unfamiliar setting. An overlooked envelope may hold the detail that connects several items.
Start with curiosity. Look carefully, ask questions, and preserve the clues as you go. The discovery may be a surprising piece of history—or simply a new way to remember someone important.
At Fireheart Archives, I help organize and catalogue photographs, documents, and historical materials so their stories are easier to discover, understand, and share.
Source:
Art Gallery of Ontario. (2017, May 2). A treasure trove in a steamer trunk. https://ago.ca/agoinsider/treasure-trove-steamer-trunk