Will Down and youngin, ca 1920.
When we started the BDA, we knew history was highly valued in the community, but we didn’t have the tiniest grasp of what gems were awaiting the light of day. We spread the word and the floodgates opened. Here are little squib bios behind some of our collector heroes.
- Hover over each collection to read more
The Latimer Collection
Hugh Latimer’s father owned a popular store in the village of Orland, about eight kilometres north of Highway 401.
His passion for photography resulted in more than 450 informal portraits of customers. His are not posed formal offerings – no, these show the reality of the day, from a rural doctor stopping by to farm families shopping for essentials.
The Brighton Barn Project
The Brighton Barn Project was initiated in 2017 - and just in time, because barns had already been lost and are still coming down.
From posing the question “How many could there be?” 200 were identified on every road in the Municipality of Brighton, and 125 barns were captured in high resolution images. This launched the idea of an annual calendar, with the first two years featuring the barns.
Bud and Jill Guertin’s Postcards
Bud and Jill were long-time antique dealers and collectors. Their phenomenal collection included more than 30,000 postcards and photo cards, including 350 relating only to Brighton.
These postcards tell the stories of their era in the professional images of the cards, as well as the personal messages written and sent to loved ones.
The Bangays and Memory Junction
Ralph and Eugenia Bangay founded and operated Memory Junction Museum from 1995 to 2017.
Their love of history and astute eye for memorabilia, including artifacts, photos, deeds, and documents created a gathering place for Brighton history - and left the BDA with perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 images to add to our site. Prodigious!
Cheer
The Cheers are a multi-generational family in Brighton; their photos likewise cover years of how Brighton played, from hockey to horseback riding to games at Presqu’ile, to photo records of the family at home, growing from infant to elder.
Once again, the number of images for the BDA to work with are beyond valuable.
And, and, and...
Innumerable additional families whose names populate Brighton’s history are reflected in the gifts of their photographic memories to the BDA.
If we try to list them all, we will be in danger of missing someone. We are as full of gratitude as we are people and their stories. As you will discover for yourself when you explore Our Collection.