| Cyril R. Littlebury by Diane Strandberg |
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For about 10 years, a dapper gentleman with a large-format camera, neat penmanship and an interest in news, shipping and industry roamed the streets and harbours of Vancouver. Between 1922 and 1932, Cyril R. Littlebury took thousands of photos that recorded how the wheels of industry turned in the city. And then, his prodigious output stopped. Four years later, in 1936, as the Depression was in full-swing, he died of cancer. He was only 39 and his carefully-recorded collection disappeared. Or it would have, except for another man with an interest in photography who had his own business producing commercial films for Vancouver industrialists. Alfred Booth had a car with a trailer in 1946 when he was talked into helping a friend remove a load of junk from a house whose occupant had recently died. Among the belongings and other debris, Booth found a small, wooden attaché case, inside of which were jammed hundreds of large negatives. Booth, casually handed them over to his son, Dudley, just 14, who had no idea about what the negatives were about. "You couldn't really tell what [the images] were," he said. "I just tucked it away." Gathering dust Dudley Booth must have had some inkling they were worth saving, and he kept them. He took them when he married and moved with his wife, Wilda, to Coquitlam. He stored them while he worked as a sales rep for a welding company. He kept them as he raised his children into adults. And when he retired, the negatives were with him still, spilling out of envelopes in the small, wooden case. For nearly six decades, they sat, untouched, until Dudley, out of curiosity, pulled a few of the negatives out of the case and took them to a photo lab for developing. He was astonished at what he saw. The photos were sharp, clear scenes of Vancouver city life in the 1920s and during the Depression years, including beach scenes, pictures of boats and buildings, such as Hotel Vancouver, that were under construction at the time, news events and Stanley Park view points. History revealed The quality of the photos and their historical subjects, particularly the pictures of freighters and ships, prompted Booth to visit the Vancouver Maritime Museum. It was there he started on a quest that would turn him into a historian. He was determined to find out more about the mystery photographer and the pictures he took. Leonard McCann, now curator emeritus of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, recognized a ship in one of the photographs and produced a smaller version of the photo that was the same in every way, except the height of the tide was different. But while the museum had only one of Cyril Littlebury's photos – and a tiny one at that – Booth had hundreds of negatives that could be enlarged to reveal images in amazing detail. Over the years, as computer technology developed and Booth was able to scan the negatives and make his own prints, he began to archive them and research the subjects. Mystery man But the photographer continued to elude him. In photos Littlebury had taken, or took himself by unknown technical means, he is revealed to be a slim man with a prominent nose and slicked-back hair, in the fashion of the 1920s. He stares back at the camera with an inscrutable expression. "This has become a bit of a passion, to try to find out about him," Booth said. What he has learned, however, is that the photo collection his father gave him belonged to Littlebury's father, who died 10 years after his son in Vancouver. The family was from England and owned a printing business at about the same time as the photos were taken. But Cyril Littlebury had no children and Booth has few details about his life. Judging by the images in the photographs, Littlebury must have been a man who knew where the action was. The collection includes pictures of the dedication of Pier B.C. and the Harding Memorial in Stanley Park, photos of the Vancouver cenotaph being built, as well as of many remarkable ships and airplanes. There are even photos of hobos living in shanty towns south of what is known as Yaletown, near False Creek, during the Depression. Littlebury was careful to record information on the edge of the the negatives, even noting photo conditions and details about aperture and shutter speed. "Without this we wouldn't know anything about them," Booth said. Detailed notes The notations have enabled Booth to research many of the subjects, which he is happy to share to bring history alive for people. Next Wednesday, Nov. 30, at Port Moody's Inlet Theatre, he will be presenting a slide show on the Littlebury collection, along with details about many of the photographs. Booth also has in his possession several pages of a notebook in which Littlebury listed in alphabetical order the names of hundreds of ships he photographed, possibly for commercial purposes, along with a number, which likely formed a filing system. The numbers have led Booth to suspect the full collection of photos was 10,000, of which fewer than 1,000 exist today. But if it weren't for Cyrial Littlebury's father's quick action, and Booth's decision to keep the negatives all these years, even this small portion of the collection would have been lost forever. Diane Strandberg Reporter, Arts Coodinator, Assistant Editor The Tri-City News 1405 Broadway Street, Port Coquitlam, B.C. V3C 6L6 Phone: 604-525-6397 . Fax: 604-944-0703 Editorial email: contact Diane Strandberg Website: Tri-City News |
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