Search Results - S. J. McKee Archives

History / Biographical: Edward Walker was born in Lymm, Cheshire, England in 1836. He emigrated to Canada at age 59 in 1895, from Stockport, England. Walker came to Canada with three of his children - Dora, Daisy and Theo - and settled in Millwood, Manitoba. In childhood, Walker was a victim of polio and walked with the aid of two canes throughout his adult life. Walker was a professional photographer. Once in Canada, he also took out a homestead at N.W. 18-19-229, though it appears that his son Theo did most of the work required to gain title to the property. In addition to his work as a photographer, Walker was appointed post-master for Millwood in 1901, and operated a small store. Edward Walker retired as postmaster in 1920. He died in 1923.

Custodial History: The Walker fonds arrived at the S.J. McKee Archives as part of the Lawrence Stuckey Collection in 2001. While the circumstances are not known, it seems evident that Stuckey acquired the Walker negatives in the course of his professional career as a photographer and collector.

Scope and Content: Fonds contains a variety of images of Millwood, Manitoba and the surrounding agricultural community, its people, and life produced by Edward Walker in the course of his work as a professional photographer. These images were produced from gelatin dry plate negatives, a process introduced around 1880, to replace the wet collodin process in which a photographic solution was applied to a glass plate just prior to exposure. Edward Walker’s pictorial account of life in and around Millwood Manitoba circa 1900, is an important photographic legacy of pioneer life on the upper reaches of the Assiniboine Valley. The village of Millwood was located in the Assiniboine River valley close to the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border just a few miles northwest of Binscarth and a similar distance southwest of Russell. It came into existence in 1887, with the construction of the Manitoba and North-Western Railway, a road that ran diagonally through the new West from Prince Albert, North West Territories to Portage la Prairie Manitoba.

Related Material: Several prints were located with the Walker Negatives. These were created by Lawrence Stuckey and have been located with the Lawrence Stuckey collection and identified as "Edward Walker" prints. RG 6, 8.2.4 (Library - S.J. McKee Archives - Archival displays).

Arrangement: Edward Walker – Millwood negatives 1. Manitoba and Northwestern railway steam shovel loading flat cars for the “fill” c. 1900 2. Completed “fill” near Millwood c. 1900 3. Steam shovel filling flat cars for the “fill” 4. Boy and pony 5. Farmer in field 6. Portrait – man 7. Portrait – man and woman 8. Portrait – man and women 9. Portrait – man 10. Portrait – little girl 11. Baseball game in progress 12. Cottage home 13. Portrait – man 14. Portrait – little girl 15. Gentlemen, horse and dog. 16. Portrait – two men 17. Portrait – mother and daughter 18. Mill and new Mill elevators c. 1896 19. Horse power in harness 20. Construction of railway bridge 21. Construction railway bridge 22. First automobile Millwood 23. Man, horse, carriage 24. Horse, sled filled with dead moose 25. Harvest scene reaper in action 26. Aboriginal people, tee pee 27. North Western railway bridge over the Assiniboine c. 1900 28. Railway trestle near the “Clay Dump”, on west hill near Harrowby 29. Team of horse in harness drawing a sled 30. Boy, horse with steer tethered to horse’s tail 31. Horse drawn wagon with children, woman and dog

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History / Biographical: The Brandon Co-op building is located between 6th and 7th Street on the south side of Princess Avenue. The building later housed the Brandon Public Library and Convergys.