Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

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Mathers, Charles Wesley[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]

Male 1868 - 1950  (82 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Mathers, Charles Wesley 
    Birth 9 Jan 1868  Lucknow, ON Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1890s-1904  Edmonton, AB Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Business Address/Year 1906  Vancouver, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    565 Granville Street
    Vancouver, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1907  Vancouver, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    750 Robson Street
    Vancouver, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1918-1919  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    657 Columbia Street
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1920-1921?  Taft, CA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 12 Apr 1950  San Gabriel, CA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Association Boorne, William Hanson (Relationship: Employee) 
    Association Mathers Studio (Relationship: Proprietor) 
    Person ID I116  Camera Workers | M, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 9 Jan 2021 

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: C.W. Mathers began his photographic career with the Edmonton branch studio of the Calgary photographic partnership of Boorne and May. According to photohistorian Brock Silversides, Mathers was Edmonton's only photographer for several years, including the first two years of the Klondike Gold Rush. Mathers never ventured beyond Athabasca Landing, about 100 miles north of Edmonton, during those two crucial years. He photographed many Klondikers, including the first woman to leave Edmonton for the Yukon, Mrs. G.E. (Nellie) Garner of Fresno, California (the J.S. Mack or Fresno Party). It was her portrait taken in the Mathers studio that helped James Michener shape his novel of the gold rush Journey (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1988).

      In 1901, three years after photographing stampeders departing by boat from Athabasca Landing, Mathers made his own epic journey of discovery along the same rivers followed by some of the Edmonton goldseekers. In the company of a Hudson's Bay Company trader he reached Fort MacPherson on the Peel River, not far as the crow flies from Dawson, and was able to take the first professional photographs of Inuit in the region.

      Mathers sold his business in 1904 to Ernest Brown and moved to Vancouver, BC, where he practiced photography sporadically while attempting to collect from Brown on the payment for his business. He was listed in New Westminster as photographer in 1918-1919 and worked under the name Mathers Studio. In 1920 Mathers moved to Taft, California, where he worked briefly as a photographer and then retired to Gardena.
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: Print surface usually captioned and signed "Photo by Mathers Edmonton" or "Mathers" or "Photo by C.W. Mathers, Edmonton Alta" or "Mathers Vancouver B.C." Ernest Brown retitled and claimed credit for many of Mathers' photographs after Mathers left Edmonton for Vancouver. Sometimes, however, Brown left Mathers' name on the negative.

  • Sources 
    1. [S339] Voters List, (Victoria, B.C.: Province of British Columbia, 1874-), 1909, 1911, Ref. NW 324.1 B862.
      Vancouver

    2. [S786] HENVAN05, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1905).
      Vancouver: not listed

    3. [S785] HEN05, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1905).
      Vancouver: not listed

    4. [S787] HENVAN06, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1906), 484.
      Vancouver: Mathers C W photographer 565 Granville rms 628 Hornby

    5. [S788] HENVAN07, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1907), 630.
      Vancouver: Mathers C W photographer 750 Robson Phone 843 (See page 12.)
      The reference to page 12 is an error as Mathers did not advertise in this directory and the ad on page 12 refers to J.B. Mathers, president and general manager, Dominion Trust Company Limited.

    6. [S790] HENVAN08, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1908).
      Vancouver: not listed

    7. [S791] HENVAN09, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1909).
      Vancouver: not listed

    8. [S698] HENVAN10, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1910).
      Vancouver: not listed

    9. [S732] HEN10, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1910).
      Vancouver: not listed

    10. [S795] HENVAN11, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1911), 927.
      Vancouver: Mathers C W lvs 19 1070 Haro

    11. [S797] HENVAN12, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1912).
      Vancouver: not listed

    12. [S750] HENVAN17, (Vancouver: Henderson Directory Co., 1917).
      Vancouver: not listed

    13. [S740] WRI18, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1918), 324.
      New Westminster: Mathers Studio Charles W Mathers prop photographer 657 Columbia street

    14. [S738] WRI19, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1919), 444.
      New Westminster: Mathers Studio Chas W Mathers prop photographer 657 Columbia

    15. [S739] WRI20, (Vancouver, BC: Wrigley Directories, c1920).
      New Westminster: not listed

    16. [S404] Essay by Brock V. Silversides, Provincial Archives of Alberta (1989), ([Edmonton: Provincial Archives of Alberta], 1989).

    17. [S452] Brock V. Silversides, Silversides (1990), (History of Photography 14, no. 4 (October-December 1990):327-348).