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Early Jewish Toronto part of city’s photo display

June 25, 2012 | Joanne Hill - CorrespondentcloseAuthor: Joanne Hill - Correspondent Name: Joanne Hill
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City Councillor Josh Matlow peruses photos of members of Toronto’s Jewish community which were taken in the early 1900s. (Photo: Joanne Hill)

TORONTO – The Jewish character of early 20th century Toronto is well-represented in a new photo exhibit at the City of Toronto Archives.

The exhibit – Picturing Immigrants in the Ward – How photography shaped ideas about Central and Eastern European immigrants in early 20th century Toronto – features historical photographs, maps and documentation of the area now known as Ward 22, as well as new large-scale panoramas by contemporary artist Susan Dobson.

Historically, St. Paul’s Ward is recognized as the downtown neighbourhood that included the area around Old City Hall and was bounded by University Avenue, and College, Queen and Yonge streets.

Josh Matlow, city councillor for Ward 22 (St. Paul’s), attended the launch party for the exhibit last week and expressed his appreciation for the Jewish history evident in many of the photos.

“Between the late 19th century and the 1920s, the ward was Toronto’s Jewish community,” said Matlow. “It would take many years to migrate up to Forest Hill and then Thornhill. In many ways, Jews moved from European shtetls to a Canadian one. The ward holds a lot of this country’s Jewish history.”

The exhibit will be open to the public at no charge until May 2013. For more information visit www.toronto.ca/archives.

Tags: archives City Hall community current history Jewish ward Josh Matlow photo exhibit St. Paul's Toronto Ward 22