Hi Yaives
In Canada, these are called "fire insurance plans" and most were created
by the Charles Goad company. They are very detailed maps of urban areas,
showing each individual property and its material of construction. They
were originally done (late 1800s) for the purpose of assessing fire risk.
So insurance underwriters would look at these maps and assess the risk of
urban fire, not just in their customers building but in all the
surrounding buildings as well. Nowadays, they are used for historical
research and they are a wonderful source of detailed urban history.
Here are two sources where you can find out more about fire insurance
plans:
Marcel Fortin, Lorraine Dubreuil and Cheryl Woods, "Canadian Fire
Insurance Plans in Ontario Collections, 1876-1973" (Association of
Canadian Map Libraries and Archives, Occasional Papers #5, 1995)
Cathy Moulder, Fire Insurance Plans as a Data Source in Urban Research: An
Annotated Bibliography of Examples", Art Reference Service Quarterly vol.
1 #3, 1993
---------------------------
Cathy Moulder, Curator Phone: (905) 525-9140 ext. 24745
Lloyd Reeds Map Collection FAX: (905) 546-0625
McMaster University [log in to unmask]
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L6
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:35:05 -0400
From: Johnnie Sutherland <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: What exactly is a Sanborn map? <fwd>
--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
>Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 06:10:51 -0400
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: What exactly is a Sanborn map?
Hello,
I suscribed to this list about one month ago and I read some e-messages
with mention of 'sanborn map'; even one refered to 'fire map'. Nothing in
current English dictionaries, neither in map library (cartotheque) here, a
canadian french-speaking university. Is it a kind of map (about fires?) or
a trade mark of map-maker? I seems so obvious for some US colleagues of the
list, that maybe there is available documentation, books or websites about
sanborn maps.
Thank You for instructive details.
Yaives Ferland
Land Law Lab
Centre for Research in Geomatics
Universite Laval, Quebec
--- End Forwarded Message ---
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