Description of the fonds: The Robert Ragsdale fonds consists of more than 535,000 photographic items, including b&w and colour negatives, transparencies and slides, as well as b&w and colour proofs, contacts sheets, and large exhibition prints. These represent virtually the entire production of Robert Ragsdale's photographic studio from 1955 to ca. 1996. Most of the photographs document theatrical and television productions in Canada, especially for the CBC, the Stratford Festival, the Canadian Opera Company, and Livent Productions. Ragsdale also created many photographic portraits of Canadian cultural figures, including A.Y. Jackson, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, Wayne and Shuster, Jessica Tandy, Martha Henry and Glenn Gould. He also worked as a 'company photographer' for such businesses as Shell Oil and Crown Life Assurance. The fonds also includes the numerous photojournalism assignments he carried out for publications such as Time, the Star Weekly, the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, etc. There is an original studio index to the negatives, organized alphabetically by subject. There may be small future accruals to the fonds. Of particular interest are the numerous photographs of theatre and opera stage productions, and the portraiture of well- known Canadian performers. Mr. Ragsdale has photographed a substantial number of important Canadian cultural and political figures throughout his career, who are represented either in the negatives and proofs of this acquisition, or in the exhibition prints. These include, Barbara Amiel, Jack Chambers, Mavor Moore, Brent Carver, Maureen Forrester, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Peter Gzowski, Harry Rasky, Lloyd Robertson, Tommy Hunter, Adrienne Clarkson, Bill Davis, Juliette, Martha Henry, Judy LaMarsh, Christopher Plummer, William Hutt, Pierre Berton, Harvey Kirk, Nancy Hermiston, Ginette Reno, Richard Monette, Sheila McCarthy, Jean Roberts, Janet Stubbs, Louis Applebaum, Margaret Laurence, Jack McClelland, Morley Callaghan, Pierre Trudeau, Margaret Atwood, Mike Harris and many more. Exhibition prints include quality reproductions of many of these figures, plus Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould, Mario Bernardi, Bruno Gerussi, Peter Ustinov, Wayne and Shuster, and many more orginally taken before 1970. Theatre stage production photographs document many important productions throughout the years, and the collection includes a thorough documentation of Canadian Opera Company productions from 1970 through the early 1990s. Ragsdale’s work for the CBC included in this accrual covers the period from 1970 to 1985, and includes many of their top shows and specials. The collection also includes work for such important companies as Shell Canada, Canada Packers and others, documenting important functions and facilities as well as executives, products and promotions. Another significant part of the collection of the photojournalism assignments for Time (Canada), Fortune Magazine and the Star Weekly, which include coverage of important Canadian figures and cultural and political events. The various assignments in the collection provide a strong visual record of the theatre world in many parts of Canada, as well as an excellent portraiture collection, and view of corporate Canada in the last quarter of the twentieth century. In 2002, Mr. Ragsdale reached an agreement with the Toronto Public Library to have over 700 of his images included in their digital online database, ACanadian Theatre Record. Organization of the Finding Aid: The Robert Ragsdale Fonds consists of two major donations: Accession 1997-123 and 2002-01132 . There is also a smaller accession, 1979-142, consisting of sixteen portraits of theatre personalities (see included list). The finding aid is currently organized into three main parts. The first part is an Excel Spreadsheet linking container numbers and subjects, for the first donation – accession 1997-123, as well as the negatives from the both major donations. There is no complete finding aid for the print material from the second donation at this time. This document includes a printout of that Excel spreadsheet. Part Two of the finding aid consists of the index of the Ragsdale studio, from 1955 to 1970 (matching acc. 1997-123). Part Three is the studio index from 1970 to 1995 (acc. 2002-01132). This index, which is only available in paper form, is an alphabetical index of shoots, based largely on the commissioning client. Therefore, if one is trying to locate the image of an actor in a particular production, one needs to look under the name of the theatre, as well as the name of the particular production. The actors themselves may not be listed in the index, unless they were a client of Mr. Ragsdale. However, the spreadsheets in Part One do contain a listing of headshots for some actors who were clients of the studio. Also note that Mr. Ragsdale had many clients for whom his work spans both time periods, and thus both accession and studio indices. In order to consult a particular negative or shoot, you will need to find the original shoot number in the studio index and then correlate that to the container number in Part One (List of Negatives). ** Material can be ordered at FONDS level (Obtain material)** Robert Ragsdale 1997-123: Finding Aid: Subject List for Prints/Contact Sheets/Colour Material Acc. No. Container No. Material Content Description: File Content Description: Subject Series 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets Acker, Sharon Acker, Sharon Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Belafonte, Harry Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Bernardi, Mario Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Berton, Pierre Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Boggs, Jean Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Burroughs, Jackie Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Bullock, John Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Behan, Brendan Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Boyle, Harry Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Beckwith, John Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Barringer, Dr. Anthony Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Boyd, Liona Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “B” Portraits Bujold, Geneviève Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Confed.Conference, To. Nov. 27, 1967. Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Ciceri, Leo Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Clarkson, Adrienne Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Chilcott, Barbara Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Common, Tommy Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Christie, Robert Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Carmon, Milton Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Cumming, A.A., President, Union Carbide Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Charron, Dr. K.C. Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Cornell, Ward Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Collins, Mary Lou Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Carew, Jan Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits C & C Yachts Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Churalo, George Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets “C” Portraits Creley, Jack Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Deakin, Paul Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Daimond, Neil Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Danby, Ken Series 3 2000868912 Acc. No. Container No. Material Content Description: File Content Description: Subject Series 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Davis, Donald Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Dennison, William Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Diller, Phyllis Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Doherty, Brian Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Downing, Robert Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Drainie, John Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "D" Portraits Duchamps, Marcel Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "E" Portraits Eaton, Fred, Nicki, Fred jr., Cathy Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "E" Portraits Evans, John Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "E" Portraits Ellington, Duke Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "F" Portraits Fairfax, Joan Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "F" Portraits Fairly, Barker (with Abe Rotstein) Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w prints, contact sheets "F" Portraits Fenwick, Moya Series 3 2000868912 1997-123 7564 b/w