Fonds F1585 - Rosettis Studio fonds

Joseph L. "Joe" Rosettis, 1909-1965, was born in Glasgow, Scotland to a Lithuanian family which emigrated to Toronto while Joe was an infant. As a young man he worked in the Kodak Company office in Toronto as well as carrying out some photographic duties. Throughout the 1930s he travelled around the world as a photographer for the Associated Screen News in Montreal, as well as taking promotional assignments for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). In the summers he was based in Lake Louise, Alberta. In 1940 he married Kathleen "Kay" Celia Milne, 1912-1993 . Kay was born in Mekiwin, Manitoba. In the 1930s she worked as a cook in the tea house at Lake Agnes, Alberta. She soon became manager of the Moraine Lake Lodge. After their marriage in 1940, Joe and Kay moved to Calgary where Joe worked as a Calgary Herald photographer. During the Second World War he was a public relations photographer for the Canadian army. In 1943 the Rosettis opened a studio at 212-7th Avenue SW, and later moved to 332-7th Avenue SW. In 1952 they moved the studio to their home, and Kay often worked in the darkroom. After the war Joe also free-lanced for the Albertan and the Calgary Herald, as well as contractual work for various corporations. In the early 1960s they did some contract work for the Glenbow Museum, and also set up the museum's first photo lab. After Joe's death Kay worked as a photo lab technician at the museum until her retirement in 1977. She and Joe had three children, Patricia, Margaret Jane and Thomas Alwyn.