John Lyon Fonds F937

G F5

Date of the items: 1998

Physical description: 1 30×27.5×4 cm photograph album

Title: John Lyon Fonds

Creator: John Lyon

Repository: Trent Valley Archives

Reference number: TVA Fonds 937

Scope and contents: Album of Roy Studio photos kept by John Lyon in connection with his 1998 article for the Beaver magazine on the Roma group that came to Peterborough in the summer of 1909, and with a hope of reproducing the prints for profit in a calendar, cards for special events, and direct sale.

Access Conditions: No Restrictions

Finding aid: None, see photograph listing below

Accruals: No further accruals are expected

Custodial history: Donated by Cheryl Lyon, John’s widow, on October 13, 2021. On the inside cover of the album John had indicated what he hoped to do with the photographs.

Biographical sketch: John T. Lyon worked as a photographer in many places, specializing in portrait and wedding photography. He managed the Amora Studio in Peterborough during the 1990s and 2000s, first on George Street and then at 140 Hunter Street where the Roy Studio was. He collaborated with Rob Roy, the third generation owner of the Roy Studio, to manage the sale/donation of the Roy Studio photographs to the City of Peterborough. This collection is now at the Peterborough Museum and Archives where it is described as the Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images. He passed away in July of 2021 in Victoria, British Columbia, where he had retired with his wife Cheryl. He had three sons, Adam, Christopher and Benjamin.

Related fonds at TVA: Many of the photos also appear in F50, Electric City.

The Peterborough Museum and archives has the original glass negatives. John Lyon’s article reprinted here appeared in the Beaver, 1998; Elwood Jones has written an occasional paper for the Peterborough Historical Society entitled “The Gypsies that visited Peterborough in 1909” about the same group of Roma

Access Points:
Peterborough, Ontario
Roma
The Roy Studio

List of Photographs:

  1. Little girl
  2. The Roma at the Court House parking lot
  3. Roma on the road
  4. Woman at the rear of two caravans
  5. Two mothers, three children and a dog
  6. Mother and two boys at back of a caravan
  7. Two children at the back of a caravan
  8. Older boy and two girls by wheel of a caravan
  9. Woman at the back of a caravan
  10. Portrait of a young woman
  11. Woman standing in the Court House parking lot near a caravan
  12. Roma standing at the side of a brick building; profile view of a woman standing
  13. Roma congregated in the road near a caravan
  14. Roma standing near a brick wall
  15. Man and two young boys standing in the Court House parking lot, other Roma people and a caravan in the background
  16. Four children with a woman leaning against a caravan in the background
  17. A woman and two children standing in front of a caravan

The remaining pages in this quality album are empty

The pictures that John Lyon identified for a calendar were 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 1, 3

The pictures that he identified for cards were 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 16