{"id":70321,"date":"2025-05-06T08:15:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=70321"},"modified":"2025-05-05T16:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T20:55:19","slug":"new-issue-collecting-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2025\/05\/06\/new-issue-collecting-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW ISSUE: Collecting stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dylan<\/a><\/p>\n

When Spacing<\/em>\u2019s publisher Matt Blackett suggested an issue about collectors, I was skeptical. Was this really going to capture something essential about Toronto that would engage readers? But as soon as we started to get pitches, I was converted. It was delightful to get to know the interesting characters who are driven to bring together related artifacts, and to see what their collections reveal about distinctive slices of Toronto that we might otherwise overlook.<\/p>\n

Matt was initially inspired by his time researching and photographing the Spacing book Packaged Toronto<\/em><\/a>, and more recently by coming across Cliff Stunden\u2019s staggering local milk bottle collection, which has far more significance than one might imagine. It harks back to when agricultural production took place right in the city, and speaks to commercial history, early product branding, recycling (back in the day when your empty bottles were collected when new ones were delivered), and public health \u2013 pasteurization of milk being one of Toronto\u2019s first big public health initiatives. It\u2019s easy to forget how pervasive dairies were in the city \u2013 I live across from the former site of one in the east end, and my aunt\u2019s father ran one near St. Clair West. Delightfully, we were able to pair the milk bottles with another kind of glass \u2013 a collection of architectural glass through which the history of Toronto architecture is refracted.<\/p>\n

A more recent enterprise \u2013 but one that is also fading as technologies and economies evolve \u2013 is the concert posters that once permeated the parts of town known for their vibrant music scenes. They are the kind of artifact that we rely on collectors to preserve \u2013 essentially ephemeral, something that would not normally survive. And yet they documented a thriving music scene \u2013 itself made up of events that might otherwise be lost to memory. While some posters are still made for concerts, their pervasiveness has faded with new technologies, and with it perhaps their distinctive creativity.<\/p>\n

A more eclectic preserver of the ephemeral that has defined Toronto was Larry Becker, profiled by Wayne Reeves \u2013 himself a longtime guardian of collections in his former role as Toronto\u2019s chief archivist. Becker\u2019s collection ended up in the archives, but the ultimate destination of collections is always a significant issue. If they end up broken up and dispersed, the slice of insight they once provided can dissipate \u2013 it is the very nature of a collection that it gains strength and relevance as it expands, so that the various items speak to and reinforce each other. Sometimes, as with Michael Parke-Taylor\u2019s concert posters, they are donated as a unit by the collector themselves. Sometimes dedicated heirs, like Becker\u2019s, work assiduously to make sure the collection finds a home. Sometimes that work is still in progress, as with George Rust-D\u2019Eye\u2019s collection of Toronto books.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a push and pull for any collector \u2013 the desire to see the collection find a good home, ideally one that enables others to enjoy it as well, and yet the difficulty of parting ways with something into which one has invested much of one\u2019s time, energy, and emotion. Our goal has been to profile not just the collections, but also the collectors, and for the posters we were fortunate to have our collector himself, Michael Parke-Taylor, reflect on the origins and evolution of his collecting drive.<\/p>\n

Most collecting is of physical objects, but one can also collect experiences \u2013 themselves ephemeral. We were glad to be able to profile the serial diners, who collected the experience of meals at Toronto restaurants in alphabetical order. While their collecting has been in abeyance since the pandemic, in our front section, we profile another collector of restaurants: Howard Tam finds the hidden gems of culinary Scarborough and shares them with visitors.<\/p>\n

In the rest of our front section, we can perhaps discern some further collecting themes. Jeremy Hopkin, one of Toronto\u2019s many collectors of historical stories, shares his account of Toronto\u2019s little-known first commercial airport \u2013 in Leaside. Another collector of information is frequent contributor Steve Brearton, and we include an excerpt from his privately published alphabet of Toronto cycling lore. Shiri Yeung, meanwhile, profiles a collection of collectors \u2013 Heritage Toronto\u2019s Emerging Historians program, which brings together and supports young people eager to learn about and share tales of Toronto\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Each issue of the magazine is, in a sense, a collection of stories about Toronto, gathered from our city\u2019s talented writers and photographers and presented to our readers. We hope you enjoy the pieces on display in this issue.<\/p>\n

This issue is available now at the Spacing Store at 401 Richmond St. W., and soon at fine book and magazine stores, as well as arriving soon in subscribers\u2019 mailboxes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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