John William Woolsey (1767-1853) was a leading business man and militia officer in Quebec in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His many business activities included entering into a partnership with William Burns (1757?-1829) to form Burns & Woolsey (1790-1806), auctioneers, commission merchants, and brokers. Woolsey also served as the first president of the board of directors for the Quebec Bank from 1818-1823. A well-known painting of J.W. Woolsey and his family, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, was painted in 1808-1809 by William Berczy (1744-1813).

The collection consists of photographs, paintings and silhouettes, many of family members, that have been with the Woolsey family for generations. More specifically, the collection consists of a miniature on ivory of W. Joseph Haycroft (1743-1802), an oil painting of William Burns, an oil painting of Mrs. Burton (Eléonore LeMoine Woolsey 1805-1828, daughter of J.W. Woolsey), a silhouette of John Bryan Woolsey (1808-1846, son of J.W. Woolsey), and a silhouette of an unidentified young woman. The collection includes a painted photograph of William Darley Woolsey (1840-1898?) and a painted photograph and an ambrotype of John Van Felson Woolsey (1838-1909), both sons of John Bryan Woolsey. An albumin silver print by the Carson Bros. (act. Toronto 1857-1865) and a daguerreotype, both of George Van Felson (1784-1856, judge of the Supreme Court of Lower Canada and father-in-law of John Bryan Woolsey), are also among the photographs in this collection. The collection also contains 7 photographs of unidentified sitters. An album of poems, sketches, watercolours, and prints, compiled by Josephte Van Felson (1807-1870) and her husband John Bryan Woolsey, is also part of this collection and includes James Smillie's (1807-1885) etching of École Élémentaire 1830.

[Title of item], John William Woolsey and family collection, Library and Archives, National Gallery of Canada.