Fragile Things Digitizing the Ernest Crocker Fonds By Alina Ruiz, Archivist
T
he BC Archives is full of hidden treasures. Many of them sit quietly on our shelves, just waiting to be rediscovered and enjoyed by the patrons of the archives and the people of British Columbia. Sometimes they’re waiting for the right person: the intrepid researcher who will fully appreciate and share them. Sometimes they’re just waiting on technology. One such treasure is the Ernest Crocker fonds, an impressive collection of nearly 11,000 glass-plate negatives and countless photographic films, prints and albums. This fonds has been in the custody of the archives since the 1940s, but access has been severely limited—until now. Ernest William Albert Crocker (1877–1968) emigrated from England in 1902. Though his background was in manufacturing and accounting, his true passion was photography. In 1908 he moved to Victoria and established the Trio Photograph and Supply Company on the corner of Yates and Government streets. The name stuck, and soon he was known by locals as Mr. Trio.
When British Columbia mobilized for World War I, Crocker began working as an independent photographer for the local military camps. He was initially hired to take portraits of groups and individual soldiers, but he hung around the camps long after the formal pictures were taken. His semi-exclusive access to life in the camps resulted in a series of candid shots that are immensely valuable for understanding what life was like in wartime British Columbia. In the early days of photography, photographs were captured on glass. The glass was coated in a light-sensitive emulsion made of silver halides. When these particles are exposed to light through a camera lens, a chemical reaction on the surface of the glass darkens the emulsion to create an image. Crocker used gelatin dry plates (as opposed to the wetcollodion process) for his photographs. These could be bought pre-coated and pre-cut in different sizes. A dry plate had to be transported in a lightblocking plate holder. Once it was slotted into the camera, the photographer slid the covers
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