The collection consists of a number of tintypes and other photographs collected by Herman Balesic over the years. The hand-tinted tintype portraits were mainly taken by J.D. Wallis, melainotype artist, who had an office on Market Square in Kingston, Ontario. The other portraits are examples of the work of other local photographers such as Spohn, Bell, Abbott and Sheldon and Davis.
Item is a studio portrait of a group of men, some dressed in police pith helmets or carrying batons and an axe, believed to be Concursus Iniquitatis et Virtutis, ca. 1889.
Item is a studio portrait of a group of five men, probably graduates of the Theological College, ca. 1880. Lyrics of "The Old Ontario Strand" are written on the bottom.