John William Woolsey (1767-1853) was a leading business man and militia officer in Quebec in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His many business activities included entering into a partnership with William Burns (1757?-1829) to form Burns & Woolsey (1790-1806), auctioneers, commission merchants, and brokers. Woolsey also served as the first president of the board of directors for the Quebec Bank from 1818-1823. A well-known painting of J.W. Woolsey and his family, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, was painted in 1808-1809 by William Berczy (1744-1813).

The collection consists of photographs, paintings and silhouettes, many of family members, that have been with the Woolsey family for generations. More specifically, the collection consists of a miniature on ivory of W. Joseph Haycroft (1743-1802), an oil painting of William Burns, an oil painting of Mrs. Burton (Eléonore LeMoine Woolsey 1805-1828, daughter of J.W. Woolsey), a silhouette of John Bryan Woolsey (1808-1846, son of J.W. Woolsey), and a silhouette of an unidentified young woman. The collection includes a painted photograph of William Darley Woolsey (1840-1898?) and a painted photograph and an ambrotype of John Van Felson Woolsey (1838-1909), both sons of John Bryan Woolsey. An albumin silver print by the Carson Bros. (act. Toronto 1857-1865) and a daguerreotype, both of George Van Felson (1784-1856, judge of the Supreme Court of Lower Canada and father-in-law of John Bryan Woolsey), are also among the photographs in this collection. The collection also contains 7 photographs of unidentified sitters. An album of poems, sketches, watercolours, and prints, compiled by Josephte Van Felson (1807-1870) and her husband John Bryan Woolsey, is also part of this collection and includes James Smillie's (1807-1885) etching of École Élémentaire 1830.

[Title of item], John William Woolsey and family collection, Library and Archives, National Gallery of Canada.

Cyndie Campbell

Head, Archives, Documentation and Visual Resources

Library and Archives

National Gallery of Canada

380 Sussex Drive

P.O. Box 427, Station A

Ottawa, Ontario

K1N 9N4

F 613-990-9818