Sources & Resources

In addition to numerous contemporary exhibitions and articles focusing on Hannah Maynard’s life and work, there is a great deal of historical writing on and by the photographer. Maynard’s photographs were often written about in the St. Louis Practical Photographer, and notices and advertisements for her studio can be found in many local British Columbia newspapers. We are even lucky enough to have an interview with Maynard published in a newspaper that reflected on her lengthy career as a photographer.

Posthumous Exhibitions

Books and Journal Articles on Hannah Maynard

Allen, Mary. “Situating Hannah Maynard: A Comparison with Hannah Hoch.” History of Photography 33, no. 3 (August 2009): 237–48.

Bellerby, Greg, and Petra Rigby Watson. The Photographs of Hannah Maynard: 19th Century Portraits. Vancouver: Charles H. Scott Gallery and Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, 1992.

Bridge, Kathryn. “The Maynard Northwest Coast Photographs at the Southwest Museum: The History of a Collection.” Masterkey 61, no. 4 (1988): 3–10.

Dammer, Anita. “Hannah Maynard (1834–1918).” Photo Life 29 (November 2004): 82.

Finlay, Karen, and Tusa Shea. A Woman’s Place: Art and the Role of Women in the Cultural Formation of Victoria, B.C., 1850s–1920s. Victoria: Maltwood Museum and Gallery, University of Victoria, 2004.

Forster, Merna. 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2004.

Johnson, Monique L. “Montage and Multiples in Hannah Maynard’s Self-Portraits.” History of Photography 41, no. 2 (May 2017): 159–70.

Jones, Laura. “Hannah Maynard: British Columbia.” Canadian Woman Studies 2, no. 3 (1980): 8–9.

Laurence, Robin. “Hannah Maynard.” Canadian Art 9, no. 4 (Winter 1992): 70.

Lazebnik, Elizabeth, dir. The Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard. Toronto: Lumanity Productions, 2004, 12 min.

Mattison, David. “The Multiple Self of Hannah Maynard.” Vanguard 9, no. 8 (1980): 14–19.

———. “The Maynards: A Victoria Photographic Couple.” Times Colonist, October 19, 1980, 3.

———. “Richard Maynard: Photographer of Victoria, B.C.” History of Photography 9 (April–June 1985): 109–29.

———. “Camera Workers: The British Columbia Photographic Directory, 1858–1950.” Accessed January 23, 2025. https://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com
/getperson.php?personID=I434&tree=cw18581950.

Salahub, Jennifer. “Hannah Maynard: Crafting Professional Identity.” In Rethinking Professionalism: Women and Art in Canada, 1850–1970, edited by Kristina Huneault and Janice Anderson, 135–67. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.

———. “Hannah Maynard.” In The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Women Artists, edited by Alicia Boutilier and Tobi Bruce, 145–46. Kingston and Hamilton: Agnes Etherington Art Centre and Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2015.

Skidmore, Colleen. Rare Merit: Women in Photography in Canada, 1840–1940. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022.

Watson, Petra Rigby. “Hannah Maynard’s Multiple Exposures.” History of Photography 20 (Summer 1996): 155–57.

Wilks, Claire Weissman. The Magic Box: The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1980.

Williams, Carol. “Economic Necessity, Political Incentive, and International Entrepreneurialism: The ‘Frontier’ Photography of Hannah Maynard.” In The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada, edited by Carol Payne and Andrea Kunard, 25. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011.

Wollheim, Peter. “Hannah Maynard: Participant and Portent.” Canadian Forum 61 (March 1981): 35–36.

Selected Historical Writings

Chittenden, Newton H. Official Report of the Exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands for the Government of British Columbia. Victoria: Authority of the Government at Victoria, 1884.

“Death Notices: announcing the death of their youngest daughter…” St. Louis Photographer 2, no. 2 (February 1884): 62.

“Editorial.” St. Louis Photographer 3, no. 12 (December 1885): 349.

“Editorial Chit-Chat: Pictures with Natural Backgrounds.” St. Louis Practical Photographer 3, no. 8 (August 1879).

“Editorial Chit-Chat: Again They Come.” St. Louis Practical Photographer 3, no. 9 (September 1879).

“Editorial Chit-Chat: And Still They Come.” St. Louis Practical Photographer 3, no. 10 (October 1879).

“Editorial Chit-Chat: A Long Way Off.” St. Louis Practical Photographer 5, no. 8 (August 1881): 284.

“Editorial Chit-Chat: Bless the Babies.” St. Louis Photographer 1, no. 1 (January 1883): 32.

“Essential Gleanings.” St. Louis Photographer 2, no. 2 (December 1884): 402–3.

“Essential Gleanings… awarded first prize in a photographic contest…” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 8, no. 11 (November 1890): 461.

“Essential Gleanings.” [with full-page image, 300]. St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 13, no. 7 (July 1895): 328.

“The Exhibitions.” The Practical Photographer 6, no. 71 (November 1895): 336–37.

Gosnell, R. Edward. A History of British Columbia. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1906.

Ham, George H. The New West: Extending from the Great Lakes across Plain and Mountain to the Golden Shores of the Pacific. Wealth and Growth. Manufacturing and Commercial Interests. Historical, Statistical, Biographical. Winnipeg: Canadian Historical Publishing, 1888.

“How to Print in Carbon: Extract of a Letter to Mrs. Maynard, Victoria, British Columbia.” St. Louis Practical Photographer 1, no. 3 (March 1877): 74–75.

Kerr, J. B. Biographical Dictionary of Well-known British Columbians; With a Historical Sketch. Vancouver: Kerr & Begg, 1890.

“Mrs. Maynard Is Celebrated.” The Practical Photographer 5, no. 53 (May 1894): 109–10.

“Our Photo Album… views of Vancouver Island and Alaska…” St. Louis Photographer 5, no. 12 (December 1887): 400.

“Our Photo Album… Gems of British Columbia…” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 10, no. 1 (January 1892): 73.

“Our Photo Album… among the collection…” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 12, no. 7 (July 1894): 341.

“Our Photo Album.” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 13, no. 2 (February 1895): 95.

“Our Photo Album.” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 13, no. 3 (March 1895): 145.

“Our Picture.” St. Louis Photographer 3, no. 9 (September 1885): 284–85.

“Our Picture.” St. Louis Photographer 4, no. 8 (September 1886): 297.

“Our Picture.” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 12, no. 2 (February 1894): 92.

“Our Young Demonstrator.” St. Louis and Canadian Photographer 13, no. 11 (November 1895): 540.

“Photographs of the month… a photograph, which we prize highly…” The Practical Photographer 6, no. 64 (April 1895): 127.

Selected Historical News Clippings

“Notice of Removal. Mrs. Maynard’s New Photographic Gallery, corner of Douglas & Johnson Streets, Victoria, B.C.” Daily British Colonist, October 23, 1874, 2.

“A Woman Photographer.” Weekly Pacific Tribune, May 29, 1878, 4.

“Gems of British Columbia.” Daily British Colonist, December 25, 1881, 3.

“Died Laura Lilian Maynard.” Daily British Colonist, December 22, 1883, 3.

“R. Maynard Visited Alaska.” Victoria Daily Times, July 28, 1887, 4.

“New Advertisements.” Victoria Daily Times, May 19, 1906, 16.

“Teenie Read the Girl’s Hand.” Victoria Daily Times, June 7, 1908, 9.

“Worked Here for Fifty Years, Mrs. R. Maynard Retiring at Age of 78, After Half a Century’s Experience—Has Travelled All Over B.C.” Daily Colonist, September 29, 1912, 10.

“Mrs. R. Maynard.” Victoria Daily Times, September 30, 1912, 11.

“Mrs. R. Maynard is Taken by Death.” Victoria Daily Times, May 16, 1918, 7.

“Mrs. Richard Maynard Passes to Her Rest.” Daily Colonist, May 17, 1918, 7.

“Obituary Record.” Victoria Daily Times, May 20, 1918, 7.

Contemporary News Clippings

French, William. “Photo Genius Ahead Of Her Time.” Globe and Mail, November 20, 1980.

Green, Valerie. “Hannah Maynard: Rebel With a Camera.” Focus on Women (March 1992): 28–31.

Hume, Stephen. “Canada 150: Hannah Maynard was early master of new art of photography.” Vancouver Sun, February 3, 2017.

———. “Pushing the Political and Artistic Envelope Series: Frontier Women in BC: Portrait of a Nation’s Soul.” Vancouver Sun, December 19, 2002, A6.

Humphreys, Danda. “Faces and Places from Early B.C.” Times Colonist, September 27, 1998, 3.

Mattison, David. “What About Rappertie?” Times Colonist, January 12, 2003.

———. “The Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery (And the Gallery Next Door).” British Columbia Historical News 14, no. 2 (1980): 1–14.

McLeod, Susanna. “Maynard’s Photographic Life.” Kingston Whig Standard, April 12, 2016.

Murphy, Patrick. “B.C.’s Overlooked Female Pioneers Forged New Roles.” Times Colonist, October 3, 1994, 1.

———. “Women’s Contributions Touted.” Times Colonist, October 8, 1998, B7.

Neering, Rosemary. “An Eccentric Eye.” B.C. Magazine 48, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 50–58.

Rosenberg, Ann. “Art You Can Bank On.” Vancouver Sun, July 25, 1992, D9.

Wilks, Claire Weissman. “The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard.” Toronto Saturday Night 95, no. 9 (November 1980): 35–40.

Further Reference

BC Black History Awareness Society. “Entrepreneurs, Businesses, Shops and Services.” In BC’s Black Pioneers: Their Industry and Character Influenced the Vision of Canada. Digital Museums Canada (website), accessed January 23, 2025. https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/bc-black-pioneers_les-pionniers-noirs-de-la-cb
/story/entrepreneurs-businesses-shops-and-services/.

Blackman, Margaret B. “‘Copying People’: Northwest Coast Native Response to Early Photography.” BC Studies 52 (Winter 1981–82): 86–112.

———. “Studio Indians: Cartes de visite of Native People in British Columbia, 1862–1872.” Archivaria 21 (Winter 1985–86): 68–86.

Cavaliere, Elizabeth Anne. Mediated Landscape/Mediating Photographs: Surveying the Landscape in Nineteenth-century Canadian Topographical Photography. PhD thesis, Concordia University, 2016.

Cobb, Myrna, and Sher Morgan. Eight Women Photographers of British Columbia, 1860–1978. Victoria: Camosun College, 1978.

Converse, Cathy. MainStays: Women Who Shaped BC. Victoria: Horsdal and Schubart, 1998.

Cronin, J. Keri. “Photographic Memory: Image, Identity, and the ‘Imaginary Indian’ in Three Recent Canadian Exhibitions.” Essays on Canadian Writing 80 (Fall 2003): 81–116.

Meyer, Walter J., Zu Erpen, and Joy Lowe. “The Canadian Spiritualist Movement and Sources for its Study.” Archivaria 30 (Summer 1990): 71–84.

Payton, Philip. The Cornish Overseas: The Epic Story of Cornwall’s ‘Great Emigration,’ 2nd ed. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2015.

Savard, Dan. Images from the Likeness House. Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum, 2010.

Schwartz, Joan M. “Canada.” In The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, edited by Robin Lenman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

———. “More than ‘competent description of an intractably empty landscape’: A strategy for critical engagement with historical photographs.” Historical Geography 31 (2003): 105–30.

Siegel, Elizabeth, Patricia Di Bello, and Marta Weiss. Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2009.

Thomas, Alan. “Photography of the Indians: Concept and Practice on the Northwest Coast.” BC Studies 52 (Winter 1981–82): 61–85.

Williams, Carol Jane. Framing the West: Race, Gender and the Photographic “Frontier” on the Northwest Coast, 1858–1912. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, 1999.