Alexander Galbraith, born three months before Confederation, captured Toronto scenes and events over much of the first half of the 20th century, chiefly on 8-by-10 glass negatives.
"In all, he has taken 50,000 pictures," The Globe and Mail reported on Jan. 4, 1950, three months before his death at age 83. "Many have high historic interest, since they give a clear picture of the early life of Toronto."
The Globe bought many of his negatives in the late 1940s for that reason. Thousands had been lost, especially during the First World War, when photographic glass was scarce and manufacturers bought the plates to reuse them.
Hundreds of others became windows for chicken coops, Mr. Galbraith said in what appears to have been his last interview. "I got so I didn't have room for them all, so I sold them. One ingenious fellow discovered they made good window panes after the emulsion had been melted off."
The fourth of 10 children of Scottish immigrants, he was raised on farms in Scarborough Township, east of Toronto, and in Manitoba, but was working as a photographer in Toronto by the age of 30. His career spanned more than 50 years working in a series of studios, mostly called Galbraith Photo Co.
Although he is best known for his Toronto scenes, he loved to photograph trees, travelling 40,000 kilometres in his later years in search of a perfect example of each Canadian species. "Tree pictures have been one of the outstanding joys of my many years in photography," he told The Globe.