Talk:Samuel Herbert Maw

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La Cité de Montréal (1942) by Samuel Herbert Maw

• ... that the architect Samuel Herbert Maw is also well-known for his pictorial maps of Canada (example pictured)?

• Source: "Maw was also the author of a masterpiece of Canadian cartography, a bird’s-eye view of Quebec City, begun in 1926 and completed in 1932, in which he accurately rendered every single building in the Old Town and surrounding area, complete with a hand-drawn cartouche and historical notes on the significance of the buildings shown. Published by the Alexander Litho Co. Ltd. of Toronto, this map, measuring 27” x 35”, was reproduced in thousands of printed copies sold to tourists and visitors to Quebec for nearly three decades. A copy of the map can be found in National Map Collection, NAC, Ottawa. The popularity of this map led to another commission in 1939 for the Royal Tour of Canada. Entitled "This is Canada", it consisted of a full colour folio of maps of all nine provinces, printed in a spiral coil edition by The Macmillan Pub. Co. of Canada, and drawn by hand by S.H. Maw. The original folio was presented to King George VI & Queen Elizabeth by the Prime Minister of Canada. Just three years later, in 1942, he prepared an equally impressive Map of Montreal for the Tercentenary Celebrations of that city. It was placed on public display in the concourse of Windsor Station for several months. Yet another commission for a map was given to Maw in 1944 by the City of Ottawa, and he prepared a historical pictorial map of the Capital, unveiled at the National Gallery in Ottawa in 1944. This original map was later mounted on the north wall in the foyer of the Convention Hall in the Chateau Laurier Hotel."

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Created by WikiFouf (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has less than 5 past nominations.

WikiFouf (talk) 16:33, 13 June 2024 (UTC).

• Very interesting. The article is long enough, it's new enough. It seems to be well-sourced, neutral, BLP-compliant, and copyvio-free. The other criteria seem to be met, except as follows: First, how is the image PD in the United States? And second, basically, I just have a quibble. The source certainly indicates his works were well known, but was he? The proposed hook does not make that clear.--Wehwalt (talk) 01:29, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
  • Thanks @Wehwalt! Frankly, I know very little about licensing and have no idea how to figure out what the map's American licensing is. Is there a database to search through or something? Your other quibble is also fair, "well known" might be a stretch for the current context, if we're talking about him specifically. I do believe he was locally well known (or, at least, known) during his career, judging from the historical media coverage I've read. I found this obituary from the Ottawa Journal which I think shows he was notable in his field(s). So, maybe change "is" to "was", "well known" to "known", or both?--WikiFouf (talk) 16:19, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Notable has a meaning in wiki-talk, see WP:GNG for example. Maybe we could focus on the fact that his works had thousands of reproductions?

As for the image, it was, under Canadian law at the time, protected for fifty years after death. Per this, however the copyright may have been extended per WP:URAA. This is not a field in which I am expert. Do you know if the maps were also published in the US at the same time?

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