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Lorraine Dubreuil and Cheryl A. Woods. Ottawa: Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives, 2002. Occasional Papers No. 6. xvi, 500 pp.: ill. (some col.); 29 cm. ISBN 0-9695062-7-9, CAD$90.00. Available from: Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives, c/o Cartographic and Architectural Section, National Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0N3 Canada. Web www.acmla.org.
Fire insurance plans were "discovered" by Canadian librarians and academics only at the end of the lifespan of these detailed and colourful documents. Each plan, usually at a scale of 1:600 or 1:1200 (from the early 1950s), typically covers several city blocks and shows individual buildings, material of construction, ownership, and usage. Until the mid-1970s, such plans were used by the property insurance industry for assessing risks and setting premium rates.
Two people were instrumental in bringing these documents to the attention of a larger group of researchers. Robert Hayward at the National Map Collection in the Public Archives of Canada outlined their significance in the Urban History Review (1973) and later prepared a listing of the holdings in the national collection (1977). In the same period, Ed Phelps at the Regional History Collection of the University of Western Ontario Library was acquiring sets of the plans being discarded by the Insurers' Advisory Organization. The Phelps Catalogue, issued in...