Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Frank Webber fonds
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Fonds
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Physical description area
Physical description
ca, 19,500 photographs. -- 2 cm textual records.
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Award-winning photojournalist, Frank George Webber, was born in 1941 in Medicine Hat, the son of Frank Webber, Sr. and Hazel Jones of Dunmore. His grandfather, George Webber came to the Feldman Lake district, south of Pashley, Alberta, from Waterton, N.Y. in 1902 to establish a mixed horse/cattle ranch. Frank's maternal great-grandfather, Walter Stanley Jones, enlisted in the Northwest Mounted Police in 1879 and served at Fort Walsh. Upon his discharge, he was granted land in the Maple Creek area, where he established a ranch. Frank, Jr. attended Irvine High School and was the photographer for its first yearbook. After graduation, Frank worked as a heavy machine operator for his father, an owner of Webber & Shannon Construction, but he continued to snap pictures with his Brownie camera. He got a job as a photographer with the Medicine Hat News in 1961 and there he learnt how to process and print his own images. In 1963, he married Eleanor and quit the News for more lucrative employment; he drove taxi, became a ditch digger; and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a spare brakeman, always carrying his camera with him. In 1967 he returned to Webber & Shannon as a heavy machinery operator. Whilst he became more financially secure, he really missed taking pictures so he returned to the News in 1968. Because of the advances and changes in technology, Frank decided to enrol in the Photographic Technology Program at the Northern Alberta Technology Institute (NAIT) in Edmonton to upgrade his knowledge. Upon graduation, Frank returned to Medicine Hat and the News for good. In 1975, he became a charter member of the Alberta News Photographers Association, which became the Western Canada News Photographers Association in 1980 and was affiliated with the U.S. based National Press Photographers Association. Frank and Eleanor have two children, Jason and Judy and three grandchildren. Officially retired in 1996, it is estimated that Frank shot over three-quarters of a million frames in his 35 years as a photojournalist documenting people and events in this corner of the Province.
Custodial history
31 photographs were purchased from Mr. Frank Webber, November 6, 1973, June 1985 and 1988.
Approximately 19,500 photographs were donated by Frank Webber 2018.
Scope and content
Consists of 723 sessions of photographic images (primarily negatives) taken by Frank Webber as a freelance photographer, as well as 2 notebooks listing photo sessions in chronological order, as well as cross-referenced by subject. Images include community and family events, industry and other commercial photography, as well as local scenery. These images are primarily of Medicine Hat and area.
Notes area
Physical condition
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Frank Webber
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
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There are no restrictions on access.
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Finding aids
Associated materials
"Mirror on Medicine Hat" by Brock V. Silversides, 2003, ISBN 0962912093. Biography file
Accruals
General note
Record No. P 0245.0001-0028;P 0806.0001-0002; P 1033.0001-1033.0672
Alternative identifier(s)
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Name access points
- Webber, Frank (Subject)
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Language of description
- English