A History of Photography in Canada, Volume 1
by Martha Langford

May 5, 2026. A History of Photography in Canada, Volume 1, an exhaustive, essential reference work for Canadian art and photography, was presented with the 35th annual Melva J. Dwyer Award by the Canada Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). Written by Martha Langford, the book was published in 2025 by McGill-Queen’s University Press. The Dwyer jurors selected A History of Photography in Canada, Volume 1 out of 22 publications on art, architecture, and museum studies from across Canada.

Emphasizing technological readiness and cultural eagerness for the medium, Martha Langford shows how photography served ideals of progress and improvement as Canada’s settler society looked to master the world by seizing its visible traces. The imposition of these programs on Indigenous Peoples and indentured labourers is confronted throughout this volume, which offers both narratives and counternarratives of subjectification. Reproducing images of people, places, events, and objects from the unceded territories of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, from British North America, and from the Dominion of Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland, Langford asks where and when photographs were taken, why, and by whom. How did the making and preservation of a photograph alter the circumstances in which it was produced, and how did this affect individual and collective consciousness? Alongside accomplished portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and their vernacular counterparts, the book draws glimmers of photographic experience from treatises and doggerel, official reports and personal diaries, newspapers, magazines, letters, and travelogues.
– A History of Photography in Canada, Volume 1, McGill-Queen’s University Press website

“This history deals with the photographs we have, seeking to convey the broader contexts and particular arrangements that allowed them to be made, circulated, and preserved. These three photographic acts – making, circulating, and preserving – can never be separated. They constitute a chain of decisions involving different actors at every stage, including a historian who writes about this period – 1839 to 1918 – from a great historical distance that is not shortened by photography alone, but depends on contemporaneous responses, contemporary research, and overarching theory that support cultural investigation.” writes Langford (p. 10).

Drawing extensively on primary sources and a wide range of images, it establishes a new standard reference for Canadian photographic and art history while remaining accessible to a broad readership. The book situates photography within both national and transnational frameworks, revealing how images construct, complicate, and preserve narratives of identity, including difficult and often overlooked histories. Praised by the jury as an exhaustive and essential work for Canadian libraries, the volume stands out for its interdisciplinary reach, its engagement with issues of representation and colonial context, and its significance as the first in a landmark multi-volume series that will shape the field for years to come.

Martha Langford is a Distinguished Professor Emeriti in the Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University. From 2012 to 2025, she served as Research Chair and Director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art. She was also editor-in-chief of Journal of Canadian Art History/Annales d’histoire de l’art canadien. She currently serves as co-editor, with Dr. Erin Silver, of the Beaverbrook Foundation Series on Canadian Art History of McGill-Queen’s University Press. She is also a member of the editorial board of History of Photography. In 2018, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. A long-time member of the Universities Art Association of Canada, she received the UAAC-AAUC Recognition Award in 2020.

Honorable mention

Many of the 22 books nominated for this year’s Melva J. Dwyer Award fill a gap in our knowledge of underrepresented cultures and art practices and, for their exemplary research, the jury awarded honorable mentions to: 

Cathryn Copper, ARLIS/NA Canadian Liaison, was the 2026 ARLIS/NA Melva J. Dwyer Award Sub-Committee Chair. Jury members were David Greene, Rebecca Young, and Sara Ellis.

The Melva J. Dwyer Award was established in recognition of the contribution made to the field of art librarianship by Melva Dwyer, former head of the Fine Arts Library, University of British Columbia. It is given to the creators of exceptional reference or research tools relating to Canadian art and architecture. Dwyer was a champion of the arts and of art librarianship who mentored a generation of ARLIS/NA colleagues.

2026 Melva J. Dwyer Award Nominees

Anastakis, D., Kirkland, E., & Nerbas, D. (2024). Montreal’s Square Mile: The making and transformation of a colonial metropole. University of Toronto Press.

Bergeron-Johnson, L., & Smart, T. (2025). Richard Johnson: Resilience—Ice huts and root cellars (2007–2021). Figure 1 Publishing.

Bernier-Lavigne, S., & Ouellet-Pelletier, A. (2025). Le dispositif Teyssot: Un relevé intellectuel. Presses de l’Université Laval.

Carruthers, M. (2025). The pornographic delicatessen: Midcentury Montréal’s erotic art, media, and spaces. Concordia University Press.

Cooper, C. (Ed.). (2024). Costume balls: Dressing up history, 1870–1927. McCord Stewart Museum & 5 Continents Editions.

Gagnon, M. K. (Ed.). (2025). Charles Gagnon: The colour of time, the sound of space. Figure 1 Publishing.

Grace, A., & Uhlyarik, G. (2025). Joyce Wieland: Heart on. Goose Lane Editions in association with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Henderson, E. L. (2025). Worlds on paper: Drawings from Kinngait. McMichael Canadian Art Collection & Figure 1 Publishing.

Kalman, H. (2025). Eric Arthur: Architect, educator, gentleman of taste. University of Toronto Press.

Landry, P. B. (2024). Jean Paul Riopelle en mouvement (1923–2002): Chronique des œuvres, des textes et des amitiés. Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec & 5 Continents Editions.

Langford, M. (2025). A history of photography in Canada (Vol. 1). McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Lerner, L., Anderson, J., Stride, S., & Antaki, K. (Eds.). (2025). Craft & craftivism: A biographical dictionary of contemporary ceramic, fibre and glass artists in Canada (3 vols.). Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University.

Maclaren, I. (Ed.). (2024). Paul Kane’s travels in Indigenous North America (4 vols.). McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Mayer, C. E. (2025). Sea of islands: Exploring objects, stories, and memories from Oceania. Figure 1 Publishing.

Miller, T., & Ottenbrite, P. (Eds.). (2025). Louis de Niverville: Pentimenti. Figure 1 Publishing.

Parke-Taylor, M. (2024). Bertram Brooker: When we awake!. McMichael Canadian Art Collection & Figure 1 Publishing.

Parsons, R. (2025). 7IDANsuu James Hart: A monumental practice. Audain Art Museum & Figure 1 Publishing.

Rebick, S., & Prokopow, M. J. (Eds.). (2025). The place of objects: The John David Lawrence collection. Vancouver Art Gallery & Figure 1 Publishing.

Robert, J. (2025). L’Encyclopédie du S singulier. Presses de l’Université Laval.

Seesequasis, P. (2024). People of the watershed: Photographs by John Macfie. McMichael Canadian Art Collection & Figure 1 Publishing.

Smith, S. E. K. (2025). Trading on art: Cultural diplomacy and free trade in North America. UBC Press.