“All that is interesting in the Canadas”: William Notman’s Maple Box Portfolio Of Stereographic Views, 1860

Abstract

In 1860, the Prince of Wales received a souvenir portfolio of over 300 stereographic views following his tour of the Canadas. This paper examines the origins and effect of the Maple Box Portfolio, manufactured by photographer William Notman of Montreal, by focussing on one page in the collection, “The Saguenay and Rivière du Loup,” a region with a rich history of visual and literary representations. The stereograph is found to have been an ideal means of representing the Canadas in 1860s, signalling industrial incursion and recasting sublime wilderness as a commodity, captured in technology.