Collection search - Dominion Land Survey of Canada [graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
Dominion Land Survey of Canada [graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Sub-sub-series

Date:

c.1888-1958.

Reference:

R214-350-0-E

Type of material:

Photographs

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

3806253

Context of this record:

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Natural Resources Canada fonds

Surveys and Mapping Branch sous-fonds

Surveys and Mapping Branch

Geodetic Survey of Canada

Dominion Land Survey of Canada
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Record information – Details

Sub-sub-series includes:

3871 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

c.1888-1958.

Place:

Canada:

Place of creation:

Canada

Extent:

ca. 57,000 to 60,000 photographs : b&w negatives with a small number of b&w contact prints ; various, but largely 41/2 x 51/2 in.
Negatives - glass

Language of material:

no language

Accession:

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Geodetic Survey of Canada sous-fonds [graphic material]

Scope and content:

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The sub-sub-series consists of approximately 57,000 to 60,000 b&w glass plate or nitrate negatives as well as some contact or proof prints.

The photographs were created as part of the effort to create topographical maps of the Rocky Mountains and other hilly terrain in Canada between the years of 1888 and 1958. The process, called photopography, used multiple photographs taken at an oblique angle from high elevations, to produce images from which topographic maps could be constructed back in the office. The method, promoted by Surveyor General of Canada Edouard Deville, saved enormous amounts of time and resources. Surveyors from the Dominion Land Survey were trained to use a camera to take the scientific images. The collection, which consists mostly of images taken in Alberta and British Columbia, but also scattered elsewhere across Canada (where elevation gains could be found), presents a very comprehensive photographic survey of the mountain landscape in these two provinces, including photographs taken along both international boundaries and the interprovincial boundary of Alberta and British Columbia.

In the 1930s the federal government began to experiment with aerial survey photography taken from airplanes, and this method completely replaced the ground phototopography after 1958.

Provenance:

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Natural Resources Canada

Additional information:

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Custodial history:

The records were transferred from Geodetic Survey of Canada to the Federal Records Centre in Ottawa in 1963. The decision to transfer them to the permanent custody of LAC was made in 2003.

Restrictions on access note:

Glass plate negatives must be viewed under the supervision of a photographic archivist at the Gatineau Preservation Centre.

Related material:

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RG88M Acc. 88986 includes a set of albums of photographic prints taken from the glass plate negatives. This set of prints is incomplete, but does cover a range of the phototopographic surveys from c. 1901 to 1930. The albums also generally contain an index to views for the images.

Photographic accession 1976-283 consists of approximately 800 glass plate negatives taken as part of the larger phototopographic project, but more specifically for the International Boundary Survey. These negatives were segregated from the larger collection in 1976 and transferred to the National Archives of Canada.

Photographic accession 1989-172 consists of a separate set of albums of 'scenic views' taken by the surveyors during their fieldwork. These views tend to be views of the surveyors, their camps, and occasionally the surrounding areas of those camps.

Some more related glass plate negatives from the survey can also be found in the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources photographic collection 1969-095, as well as some photographic prints in the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys photographic collection 1960-125. The former relate mostly to the International Boundary Commission work in Alberta and British Columbia.

There are numerous related cartographic records also in RG88M Acc. 88986 related to the phototopographic survey, as well as textual records in the Surveys and Mapping Branch sous-fonds of Natural Resources Canada and other related fonds.

Container note(s):

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1043 : 51-150 Miller

Source:

Government

Related control no.:

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2003-01255-9
R214
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]
Glass plate negatives must be viewed under the supervision of a photographic archivist at the Gatineau Preservation Centre.

Volume [R214]

[Consultation 90 Open]

3--901;

[Consultation 90 Open]

1043;

[Consultation 90 Open]

4463;

[Consultation 90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Copyright either expired or Government of Canada.

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