Edmonton Memories: Through the Lens of Others

Contained within Edmonton Memories: Through the Lens of Others by David Aaron are the beautiful colour images dating back to the early 60’s from local historian Doug Cowan.

Then there are the images of Jim Tustian who took photos at events like Klondike Days when he worked at Thunderbird Productions.

Then there are the photographs of Orval Allen who produced postcards in the late 40’s and early 50’s and finally, the wonderful train image that graces the front cover from W.C. Whitaker.

There are however many images for which there is no trace of the photographer’s identity. These are images that have been passed down through families and eventually ended up in garage sales, estate sales or just sitting around in some box at an antique shop waiting for just the right person to take notice.

The book is divided into two parts:

• The first section which contains black and white photos while
• The second section which contains color photos

Each image contains a brief description, the location and the approximate year it was taken. These are private photographs and not part of any public archive.

Excerpt from Edmonton Memories: Through the Lens of Others by David Aaron:

“Some years ago, I was gifted a large collection of aviation slides by a friend of mine. My friend recanted a chance meeting with an elderly woman who was selling something unrelated.

As they spoke the conversation turned to photography whereupon she mentioned that her husband was an aviation photographer and that she held a large collection of his slides.

Unfortunately, he had passed away and she had no idea if the photographs had any value so she simply gave them to my friend. The slides sat in boxes for years in his basement until one day he asked me if I might be interested in looking at them.

To my surprise I discovered a treasure trove of local aviation images taken throughout the 70’s some of which are contained within this book.

Now I wanted to insure that the gentleman who took these photos received the credit he deserved so I asked my friend if he had any way of finding out the woman’s identity, but he did not.

In the end run I kept a few images and the rest were donated to the aviation archives in Edmonton.

It is from my strong sense of nostalgia and duty that I acquired these images so that Edmontonians, young and old, may have a chance to see into our city’s past.”