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The Man and the Studio
Stanley G. Triggs
Notman expands his business
With the growth of the city of Ottawa, the new capital of Canada, Notman decided the time was right for a second studio, which he opened at 90, Wellington Street in the spring of 1868. As manager he put in charge William Topley, a young man of twenty-one who had apprenticed for three years in the Montreal studio and had shown exceptional ability.
In the fall of the same year Notman opened a studio in Toronto at 120, King Street East. John A. Fraser became the managing partner in this studio, which was called Notman and Fraser. It continued to operate very successfully until 1880 when Fraser sold the business to pursue his career as a painter.
Notman's next venture was in Halifax, where he opened a studio under the name of The Notman Studio situated at 39, George Street just below the Citadel. It was first managed by William Webb, one of the chief photographers from the Montreal studio, but in 1876 Oliver M. Hill took over the position. When William Notman died in 1891 Hill bought the business, keeping the Notman name, and carried on until his own death in 1923. 1872 marked the opening of a studio in St. John, New Brunswick, under the management of William's twenty-one-year-old brother James Notman. The building was destroyed in June 1877 when most of the city burned to the ground in one of the most devastating fires in Canadian history. The Notmans re-established the business when the city was rebuilt, this time locating on Princess Street where the studio remained until closing in about 1890.
In the meantime William Notman had established a studio in Boston with his brother James and Thomas Campbell, one of his photographers from Montreal, as junior partners. The studio went under the name of Notman and Campbell until 1880, when the partnership was dissolved and the branch continued under the name of the Notman Photographic Company. Of the nineteen permanent and seasonal studios of his name established by Notman in New England, this was the longest-running of all. It had great success under the management of Denis Bourdon until it closed in 1930.
As early as 1869 Notman began to build up a sideline photographing schools in the north-east United States. From the beginning of his career he had photographed the students and professors at McGill College and gained expertise in that line. His first known venture into the States was to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in the summer of 1869. During the next decade Notman became the largest producer of school photographs in the United States. Some of his major contracts were with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Smith and Dartmouth colleges. He sent Benjamin Baltzly from the Montreal studio to set up temporary studios at each college and to take and process the photographs. All negatives were sent to Montreal, where the prints were made and mounted for return to the colleges. The excessive tariffs levied on photographs crossing into the United States caused Notman to open his first studio in Boston in 1877.
From time to time Notman borrowed considerable amounts of capital, usually from private investors in his own circle. These loans usually coincided with periods when he was expanding the business or acquiring new property. A familiar name among these backers was his old friend Alexander Ramsay. Wealthy female acquaintances were another important source for businesses needing capital. Marie Anne Claire Symes, who lent Notman $26,000, was the heiress of George Burns Symes, the wealthiest merchant in Quebec. Miss Symes, who married the Marquis de Bassano, was a great philanthropist and prominent in Montreal social circles.
When he first started his business in 1856, Notman worked alone, with perhaps one assistant to help carry the cumbersome camera, the portable dark tent and its equipment, and the heavy glass plates. But as the business grew he enlarged his staff in the Montreal studio, maintaining the number at an average of thirty-five and in the mid-1870s increasing it to a peak of fifty-five. At any one time he had from six to eight photographers working for him, some in the studio making portraits or doing copy work and others in the field. The latter group worked on assignments most of which were largely speculative in nature: Notman relied on his knowledge of the market for his choice of subjects, and on his faith in his photographers to render the views in a manner of which he approved. Over the years he and his photographers ranged widely throughout eastern Canada to take views of towns, villages, steamboats, railways, landscapes, waterfalls and the activities of the people.