Canadian Readers - Your Help is Needed

I received an e-mail the other day from a gentleman who is currently putting together a book focusing on the history of beer and beer drinking in Canada; and he is looking for some help.  

Ian Coutts, a Toronto based writer and editor, has received the green light from a publisher in Vancouver to get this Draft of History project started.  "This book is going to be an illustrated history, which is why I am writing to you. I have found many old historical black and white pictures and lots of old advertisements, and  I have been busy with a photographer shooting one of the largest collections of breweriana in Canada. But what I don't have is many photos taken over the last few decades of bars and, more importantly, people drinking beer in bars.  I take it your readers are dedicated beer drinkers, so they might well have a visual record of their beer-related exploits over the years."

So this is where you, the dedicated reader and beer lover come into play.  Coutts is reaching out to individuals interested in submitting some of their beery photographs over the years.  Photographs of individuals having a couple of pints in a pub, playing a game in a pub, smoking in a pub and so on.  You get it, any picture that bares significant pub-drinking culture.

What do you get if you submit a photograph that Coutts chooses to use in the book?  Well, there is no money involved, but you will get a free copy of the finished book and you will also receive full photo credits.  

To submit a photograph, send me an e-mail (greatcanadianpubs@gmail.com) with your information: Name, phone number, address and a good description of the photograph.  Name the individuals in the photograph (if known), state the year the picture was taken and name the pub that the picture was taken in.  Throw in any other information that might be helpful.  

You can also send you photographs to Coutts directly by e-mailing him at ircoutts@yahoo.ca. Should Coutts want to use your photograph, he would send you a permission letter which would need to be signed, thus allowing him to use it.

Judging from the many e-mails I receive weekly from individuals from coast to coast, I think the readers of this blog will pull through, which will help a local author create something we can all be proud off.

FYI - The book is due for publication in 2010.

**Photo above - Tomas Morana pouring a pint at Volo's 4th annual Cask Festival.