Collected Works: A Public Legacy
![Collected Works [Exhibit Poster]](/content/programs-and-classes/exhibits/images/collected-works-poster.jpg)
About the Exhibit
In celebration of Toronto Reference Library's 30th year, the Toronto Public Library presents a gallery exhibition featuring highlights from the library's special collections. Beginning in the late nineteenth century with the opening of Toronto's first public library and developed over time, the collections represent a public legacy that reveal a great diversity of focus, form, age and content. They continue to grow through acquisition and donation to ensure that users today and tomorrow have free access to cultural and literary heritage.
Exhibition Items:
Phoebe & Maria Baldwin
Unknown Artist
1833
Oil on canvas
Phoebe Willcocks Baldwin was the mother of Robert Baldwin, remembered as the "Father of Responsible Government" and the first prime minister of the Province of Canada in the 1840s. In this early family portrait from Upper Canada, Phoebe is portrayed with Baldwin's eldest daughter Maria.
Gift of Mrs. Ann Hampson
Dusky Albatross
The Birds of America: from Original Drawings
John James Audubon, 1785-1851, artist
Robert Havell Jr., 1793-1878, engraver
London: John James Audubon, 1826-1838. Plate no. 407
Both John James Audubon's name and his Birds of America are now symbols of the cause of wildlife conservation. Over the course of his career, Audubon recorded 435 birds including some known to inhabit both the Arctic and Antarctic.
The Canadian Illustrated News (Detail)
Hamilton: Vol. 1, no. 24, 25 Apr. 1863
By the late 1860s, the Gooderham & Worts Distillery was the largest distillery in the British Empire. A fine example of Victorian Industrial architecture, the Distillery District has undergone restoration and development in recent years
Resolution of Thanks to the Honourable William Glenholme Falconbridge, Chairman of the Toronto Public Library Board from 1905-08, 30 January 1907
A.H. Howard, designer, illuminator
Signed by James Bain, the first Chief Librarian of the Toronto Public Library, this illuminated address includes a coloured view of the front elevation of the Public Reference Library Building, College Street, which is now the bookstore at the University of Toronto.