Plot thickens in mystery of rare N.L. photographs, as search for unknown photographer continues

A series of rare photographs of rural Newfoundland were discovered in rural Ontario, but their true origins have opened up a bit of a mystery.

The fading prints depict candid scenes of how people lived in outport Newfoundland more than a century ago. They were found in a small antique shop in Elmvale, Ont., thousands of kilometres from where they were captured.

Video producer Mark Cumby and I went on an adventure to connect these images with the people and places in them. We discovered the exact locations where some of the photos were taken, and found the great-granddaughter of one of the couples who were photographed.

But some questions remain. For instance, who took the pictures? Why was the photographer in Newfoundland? How did the images end up in Ontario, far from home?

We found answers, and they are rooted in religion.

I've been digging into these mysterious photographs for a while, and after writing a feature story about them, I received dozens of emails from people enthralled with the classic faces and landscapes in the pictures, as well as their unknown origins.

I was told Memorial University's folklore and language archive also has a set of Newfoundland stereoscope cards. So, I started digging again.

Cumby and I met with head archivist Pauline Cox to compare our collections. As we flipped through the stacks of fragile cards, we discovered we had a handful of duplicates.

We each had an image of an older gentleman smiling candidly at the camera, as he crouches down in front of a pile of capelin. One word, "capelin," is written in pen on the back of the image that was found in the Ontario antique shop.

The caption on the back of Memorial University's version of the photograph includes much more information, including the name of the man photographed: Fred Thistle. 

"There's this whole caption that says 'drying capelin,'" says Cox, reading a typewritten message pasted on the back of the stereoscope card. 

"'This old fisherman is a type of the better class of Newfoundland fishermen. He is too old to do the work of catching fish from the small boats when the danger from storms and exposure is so great. But he's energetic enough for this light task.'"

We found other duplicates, but a lot of the photos in our respective collections are different. So, we kept looking for clues.

I flipped over one of the cards from the antique shop, and discovered it has "Series 29B" and a corresponding number printed in the top left corner. I started turning more photos around, and found a few other cards in our collection that are labelled as being part of the same series.