Lorraine Monk worked to establish the Canadian Museum of Photography in Toronto, which spawned multiple satellite museums across the country.
15 Facts About Lorraine Monk
1.
2.
Lorraine Monk led the publication of photography books including Canada: A Year of the Land, Call Them Canadians, Canada with Love, Between Friends, and Photographs that Changed the World.
3.
Lorraine Monk was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, and Order of Ontario.
4.
Lorraine Monk's father was a cod fisherman who had fought in World War I Lorraine Monk's mother was the niece of the then Archbishop of Newfoundland and was raised in his house.
5.
Lorraine Monk was the first in her family to complete a university education when she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and sociology in 1944, with honours in sociology; and a Master of Arts degree in 1946 from McGill University.
6.
Lorraine Monk dropped out of her doctorate program because she fell ill with tuberculosis.
7.
Lorraine Monk started her career in Ottawa, where she worked for the government, writing the history of the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.
8.
In 1960, Lorraine Monk was made the executive producer of the Photo Services at the NFB, whose name she would later go on to change to Still Photography Division.
9.
Lorraine Monk started a program of touring photography exhibitions that toured both Canada and internationally.
10.
Lorraine Monk would leave Ottawa to move to Toronto in 1980, where she would continue to organize photography exhibitions and produce photo books.
11.
Lorraine Monk accompanied then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to hand over the gift to then US President Gerald Ford in a ceremony in Washington, DC The 262-page photo book documented the life, scenes, and people, from both sides of the shared border between the two countries.
12.
Lorraine Monk was a member of the board of the Roloff Beny Foundation starting in 1998.
13.
Lorraine Monk was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.
14.
The couple had two sons and a daughter, author Karyn Lorraine Monk, and were married until John's death in 1979.
15.
Lorraine Monk died on December 17,2020, at a nursing home in Toronto, Ontario.