Post by Steve on Feb 5, 2010 13:20:47 GMT -5
I'm a fanatic about maps, blueprints and plans. Particularly, historic ones. So, when I first learned about fire insurance plans (FIP) at the Lambton Room, I was truly excited.
FIPs are detailed scale plans that were produced in Canada primarily by Charles E. Goad, who was a civil engineer and surveyor. He made these plans for the benefit of insurance underwriters, who used them to determine fire risk and protection measures in built up urban areas. The plans were produced on bristol board sheets, starting in the late 1800s until the early to mid 1900s. They were updated regularly with either new sheets, or with revision slips that were pasted over areas that had changed since the original survey. They are large scale (typically 100 feet to the inch). They typically show street layouts, homes, railway tracks and structural details not seen in any other map or plan still available.
Fire Insurance Plans are now online!
The Lambton Room holds a nice collection of FIPs of Lambton communities on the original bristol board sheets and I've photographed most of them. But, now the Library and Archives Canada site (LAC) (formerly, the National Archives) has scanned and posted a huge collection of FIPs from across Canada.
Here's an example of what the FIPs from the LAC look like. This one is of my hometown, Wyoming in 1906:
Wyoming FIP 1906
Here's a link to the FIP archive at the LAC. It has the Ontario list of maps expanded. Keep an eye open for Lambton communities:
FIPs Online at Library and Archives Canada
See below for a list of Lambton FIPs available online at the LAC site. Also, keep in mind, not all FIPs held at the Lambton Room are available online, or in in the LAC collection, so if you don't find a FIP you're looking for, contact the Lambton Room.
Hope you find these FIPs as fascinating as I do...
Feel free to post links to your favourite FIPs in this thread...
FIPs are detailed scale plans that were produced in Canada primarily by Charles E. Goad, who was a civil engineer and surveyor. He made these plans for the benefit of insurance underwriters, who used them to determine fire risk and protection measures in built up urban areas. The plans were produced on bristol board sheets, starting in the late 1800s until the early to mid 1900s. They were updated regularly with either new sheets, or with revision slips that were pasted over areas that had changed since the original survey. They are large scale (typically 100 feet to the inch). They typically show street layouts, homes, railway tracks and structural details not seen in any other map or plan still available.
Fire Insurance Plans are now online!
The Lambton Room holds a nice collection of FIPs of Lambton communities on the original bristol board sheets and I've photographed most of them. But, now the Library and Archives Canada site (LAC) (formerly, the National Archives) has scanned and posted a huge collection of FIPs from across Canada.
Here's an example of what the FIPs from the LAC look like. This one is of my hometown, Wyoming in 1906:
Wyoming FIP 1906
Here's a link to the FIP archive at the LAC. It has the Ontario list of maps expanded. Keep an eye open for Lambton communities:
FIPs Online at Library and Archives Canada
See below for a list of Lambton FIPs available online at the LAC site. Also, keep in mind, not all FIPs held at the Lambton Room are available online, or in in the LAC collection, so if you don't find a FIP you're looking for, contact the Lambton Room.
Hope you find these FIPs as fascinating as I do...
Feel free to post links to your favourite FIPs in this thread...