News and Events
The "Silent Flashes" project coming to Eastern Canada
In March, 2007, author and historian Nelson Gerrard will be coming to Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto to meet with interested individuals and give a visual presentation called “Silent Flashes: What Old Photos Can Tell Us”. The presentation will take place in Montreal March 14, Ottawa March 15 and Toronto March 17. The Icelandic Clubs in the three cities will arrange the events.
Do you have old photographs that have been passed down in the family? The sepia brown kind, mounted on hard cards with the photographer’s name at the bottom? Maybe they are in a thick velvet-covered album or loose in a cardboard box tucked away in your basement or attic. Here is an opportunity to learn more about them.
If you are the family “packrat” and have hung on to these old heirlooms despite the fact that most of the images are unknown to you or anyone else, you may be interested in the “Silent Flashes” project, which explores the “photographic heritage” of the early Icelandic pioneers who settled across Canada and the United States.
For the past 30 years, Nelson Gerrard of Manitoba has been preserving, studying, and identifying early photographs of Icelandic immigrants and their families. This began with an interest in family history, but quickly broadened through research for Icelandic River Saga (1985). In 1990, following several donations of old photos no longer known or wanted by their owners, Nelson started the Eyrarbakki Icelandic Photographic Archives, and in 2004 his work with this collection resulted in the creation of a museum-style exhibit called Silent Flashes: Photography of and by Icelandic Immigrants in North America – 1870-1910, on long-term display at the Icelandic Emigration Centre at Hofsos in Iceland. This exhibit includes some 400 images and celebrates our photographic heritage in a new and unique way. Now – to explore this subject further - Nelson is compiling a beautiful illustrated book, also called Silent Flashes, and long-term plans include a video documentary on the same subject.
During the course of this work with old photographs, something remarkable became apparent. Each old image represents a fragment of the collective history of our Icelandic pioneers, and when these photographic fragments are brought together and reassembled, they form a fascinating historical overview of the Icelandic immigrant experience in North America. This visual history reveals many things that written history does not – a fact readily evident to those who visit the Silent Flashes exhibit in Iceland.
Over the 40 year period from 1870 to 1910, an incredible wealth of images of Icelandic immigrants was created in photographic studios across Canada and the United States – from Halifax to Victoria and from New York to Seattle. As the pioneers and their descendants dispersed, however, these images became scattered across the continent, and the task of locating them and gathering them back together is therefore a difficult challenge. Natural disasters such as floods, fires, and the ravages of time have also taken a heavy toll, as has the tendency to discard old things that no longer seem relevant. There are countless stories of boxes of photographs being relegated to a leaky shed, the burning barrel, or the trash.
Now, the surviving remnants of our photographic heritage face yet another serious threat – the flea market craze. When an album or box of old photographs with an Icelandic connection is sold to a “collector”, a piece of our history is lost forever. The potential for identifying and archiving these old images once they have entered the “world of antiques” is gone, and they become mere “collectibles” – undistinguishable from thousands of other unidentified photos that have little if any actual value now that they have been separated from their roots.
What use are pictures if no-one knows the names of the people? In actual fact, many of these unknown pictures can be identified through various techniques and long-term research within the context of a photographic archives – but even as unidentified images they can be historically valuable as long as their connection with the Icelandic community is preserved.
Locating, dating, identifying, and archiving these photographic remnants of our history – that is the challenge of the “Silent Flashes Project”. Whether you know the faces on your treasured photos and merely wish to share this information, whether you have unidentified pictures you just don’t want to throw away, or whether you are curious about dates and names, please take advantage of this opportunity to share your treasures. Most photos can be dated, many can be identified, and some could find their way into the pages of the upcoming book or documentary entitled Silent Flashes.
Please note that in addition to providing information on your old photographs and answering questions on related topics, Nelson will have computer equipment on hand to scan photos for possible use in the book Silent Flashes. Photographs should be from the pre-1910 era, typically sepia brown images on hard cards, with the studio name at the bottom. Photos from all locations are of interest, and early pictures from Ontario would help broaden the scope of the book.
Please join in this exciting project.