Hello Everyone,
Information for this post was provided by Chris Packman, OxHS member, from his background notes on C.W. Hayball. The Hayball Project Work Group included Eleanor Gardhouse, who indexed the negatives, arranged for digital processing and fund-raised; Chris Packman who curated the images into a viewable format; Helga Packman who designed the logo graphics. The original logo graphic for this project is featured at the top of the page. All photos are from the CW Hayball Collection.
One of the photographic collections that the Oxford Historical Society has is that of Charles W. Hayball. Charles Hayball, whose studio was located at 461 Dundas St. from 1912-1918, offered services as a piano tuner, pattern maker, photographer and photo supplier. By 1920 he moved his business to 391 Dundas St. In 1922, he moved to 5 Graham St., where he continued to operate a photography studio under the name ‘C W Hayball’ until about 1950. From 1950, until his business closed in 1970, his studio operated under the name of Hayball Studio. He also served on the Woodstock Council between 1936-1946, and was Mayor in 1940 and 1941.
In the 1990s, several hundred of Charles Hayball’s negatives were found in the attic of his former studio at 5 Graham St. and were donated to the Oxford Historical Society. All of the photos were taken with a panoramic camera, on black and white film stock. They were each about 6 inches wide an up to 48 inches long. The negatives were of schools, family, buildings, business groups, military companies and various groups of women and men, and were photographed outside between the 1930’s and 40’s, in or near the Woodstock and London areas. In 2006, with assistance from Heritage Woodstock, a 166 negatives were selected and scanned by a Toronto company.
The Charles W. Hayball collection is just one of the many resources provided by the Oxford Historical Society.