From the Wilson Collier Committee:

John Collier, Jr. (1913-1992) was one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century. He captured on film images of people and places as far apart as the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories of Canada to the high Andes of Peru, of young and old people in hard times and in good.

Collier's hearing was impaired following an accident when he was young, an event that may have helped him develop skill in making vivid what the eye can see. He was aided in this by his wife Mary, herself a photographer, and by his son Malcolm, who followed in his footsteps.

John Collier came to Nova Scotia at the invitation of Alexander Leighton whose long-standing love of this area led him to develop a proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for funds to create a photographic record of everyday work and activities. The attendant grant made it possible for Collier to pursue this goal during 1950 and 1951. Himself a lover of the sea and of boats, Collier was particularly attuned to the fishing industry, images of which constitute "Fishing Fundy Waters". The exhibit is a vivid historical overview containing photographs of men with lobster traps, men whose boats drag for scallops, of men who dig for clams with hacks and buckets, men entering weirs, men in dories, men taking the measure of lines, as well as many other images of men doing the varied tasks that made up the fishing industry at the mid-point of the 20^th century.

Titled 'Fishing Fundy Waters', this Exhibit gives the story of an evolving industry, an industry often as well known to the women who stayed at home as to the men who ventured out in all kinds of weather to reap the resources that have been a backbone and major source of livelihood to this area.