The modern era which we enjoy today began on that day.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Montreal's greatest day - 15 photos of the number one day in city history
The modern era which we enjoy today began on that day.
The modern era which we enjoy today began on that day.
Great pictures! Realize also that there was no television station in Montreal until 1952 which means that people would have been glued to their radios to hear the latest reports.
ReplyDeleteThe restaurants may have been closed that day, but I believe the bars would have still been working under restricted war-time hours until some later date when they would be relaxed. That would make for an interesting story all by itself.
Too bad that due to some inexplicable and ridiculous blunder, the Google newspaper archives of the Montreal Gazette for the following day of May 8, 1945 only show page 1 and 11. The subsequent pages then continue on from page 12 of May 11, 1977!
Was the original microfilm damaged or stolen so that it could not be transferred online? in its totality? If not, such glaring gaps are unacceptable. Was there no senior person on the Google staff to verify the transfer project by their employees? You would think that such errors would be reported and corrected for a future web page update.
One might even be forgiven for believing that such gaps were deliberate, possibly in order to hide certain stories or facts which, seen at a later date, might prove awkward or embarrassing to someone still alive and with the potential risk of an investigation.
Imagine, for example, stumbling over an article concerning of one of your ancestors who had been involved a scandal or had committed a crime: a fact that you had never been told about.
Remember that infant's skeleton discovered over a year ago in the ceiling of a Westmount home? What have the police learned about it so far, if anything? Which one of the residents listed in Lovell's Directory at that address was involved? Is anyone from that family still alive today and willing to come forward to reveal exactly what happened or will this forever be an unsolved mystery?
I suppose that during the long, understandably tedious procedure to physically transcribe newspaper microfilms to a web page, it would be inevitable to find a FEW mistakes here and there, but it is truly frustrating to hit such dead ends when doing research. One routinely discovers many gaps--months and even years of missing newspaper issues. It is not always convenient to have to run down to the nearest library which stores such archives and then--often within a time limit as per the rules of the library--go rummaging through their files in the hope that you will find what you are looking for.
Another recent problem with Google's newspaper archives is that annoying pop-up nag to prove you're "not a robot", which then forces the user to "choose all of the photos showing traffic lights" or a storefront, whatever, etc., but even once you get through this hoop, many parts of the newspaper page you want to research are deliberately blanked out, thereby forcing you to refresh the website and go through the "I'm not a robot" routine again and again! Internet user-unfriendliness has seemed to reach its peak--or HAS it, yet?!
Apparently, the only alternative to Google so far is newspapers.com where a six-month subscription costs $74.60 U.S. which at the current rate (today, March 28, 2019) comes to $100.22 CDN! What a rip-off and the perfect way to discourage student researchers who often live from hand to mouth.
Will online archives ever going to be professionally prepared and organized without gaps for all to see and--if not free of charge--at least at a reasonable cost?
I use newspapers.com. It has everything, including that edition of the Gazette. Not free, but amazing for research. The BANQ site is also hugely valuable and that's free.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are satisfied with newspapers.com, Kristian. I might have no choice but to do the same eventually. Perhaps they will lower their prices in future.
ReplyDeleteSo why didn't Google Newspaper Archives access the same source of presumably complete, gap-free Gazette files and why doesn't the Gazette allow access to the Montreal Star editions (which they own) as well?
Would it be permissible for, say, 20 or more research students to contribute to the $100.22 subscription charge and would it even be technically possible for more than one student to log on simultaneously, or would that alert the web page to block out anyone other than one student at a time? I haven't researched the rules and regs regarding multiple logons with every subscription service which may have different security features.
MTTCo??
ReplyDeleteI have been wrong before and will be wrong again.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HIM60mT0DFo/XJz4PloMrWI/AAAAAAABZPg/MtsnJvI2uSUrvPz9yCXezwLTeLlFZz50ACLcBGAs/s640/1945%2Bagain.jpg
In the first image with the Canadian National Telegraphs sign to the left, I would suggest the streetcar to the right is in Toronto, unless it is a loaner of some sort, remembering that the TTC Track Gauge is WIDER than Montreal's which is the Standard Gauge as used by CPR and CNR and most others = 56 1/2 Inches.
Could be wrong, and the be-all and end-all of Forumtopia will soon let moi know?
Thank You, Sir, for posting these photos, and so many others,
Appears to be a vintage tram photo of the TTC's Lansdowne route. Note the "B" in the top right of the picture: B for "Bay". Compare with the one below from Google Images:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.ca/search?biw=1600&bih=757&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=-J-nXO-YIOWL_QbitYvoDw&q=TTC+vintage+lansdowne+tram+route&oq=TTC+vintage+lansdowne+tram+route&gs_l=img.3...14036.15283..15946...0.0..0.148.751.6j2......1....1..gws-wiz-img.5L90lpKSt_U#imgrc=_nsQf9PtPsACKM:
The first picture is definitely not in Montreal. I suspect the streetcar is a Toronto Peter Witt car. And since the "B" of the destination sign is close to the left of the centre window it's not the three-letter word "Bay", rather a Bloor car heading as far as Lansdowne.
ReplyDeleteAlways hazardous to guess, therefore further research reveals that the Canadian National Telegraphs office shown in the 1945 photo was located at 347 Bay Street (the photographer facing south on Bay) on the southeast corner with Temperance, which confirms that "B" as the north-bound "Bay" streetcar route designation on the central sign board, heading to its loop at Lansdowne Avenue.
ReplyDeleteThe "Lansdowne" on the sign board seem confusing at first glance to non-Torontonians since Bay Street itself runs north-south, as does Lansdowne itself which is a distance west of Bay Street. However, "Bay" refers to the ENTIRE ROUTE which included a stretch along St. Clair to eventually terminate and loop around at Lansdowne.
See the Canadian National Telegraphs office location and details here: http://www.mapleleafup.ca/ve3.html
Scroll down to the 5th photo.
See this clearer photo taken at the same location:
https://www.google.ca/search?biw=1600&bih=757&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=4_6tXNGUNumJggekmLugCA&q=anadian+national+telegraph+office+Toronto&oq=anadian+national+telegraph+office+Toronto&gs_l=img.3...11890.21350..21931...0.0..0.96.2198.29......0....1..gws-wiz-img.BY1MpRdXjAU#imgrc=eWF0uXlBUS4ktM:
See the vintage TTC map here: https://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/maps/ttc-system-map-1943.jpg
and the TTC website describing the Bay streetcar line along with a sample of a Bay transfer 28559 indicating Lansdowne here: https://transit.toronto.on.ca/streetcar/4117.shtml