Series consists of photographs which were collected by J.S. Matthews when he was the City Archivist. Photographs were collected on a variety of subjects, mostly in Vancouver, but also encompasing the Greater Vancouver area, British Columbia and Alberta. The collection contains photographs of civic events, scenery, aerial views, clubs, city government, royalty and their visits, World War 1, hotels, parades, First Nations, neighbourhoods, business and industry, monuments, schools, transportation and railways. The collection contains photographs of a number of well-known Vancouver photographers, including W.J. Moore, C.S. Bailey, Bailey and Neelands, William Stark, Norman Caple, C. Bradbury, C. Smith, and R.H. Trueman. The series also contains photographic copies of documents, correspondence, published items, ephemera, drawings and paintings. Accompanying labels and explanatory notes have been retained with their respective photographs.
Series consists of three subseries: 1) Albums; 2) W.J. Moore Cirkut negatives; 3) Incoming correspondence photographs.