Wayne Reeves’ Toronto History Research Workshops: Links and Resources.

In 2025, Wayne Reeves, Toronto’s former chief curator, presented three presentations on Zoom to help us all become better researchers of this city’s history. He explored finding archival photos, using Toronto city directories, and researching fire insurance maps.

Zoom Presentation #1: Finding Archival Photos Links

If you’ve been participating in any of our Mapping our Memories programs or our earlier video-making workshops, you probably spent some time on line looking for photos. If you’re continuing to do any historical, property or family research, here’s an opportunity to sharpen your photo sleuthing skills.

Wayne Reeves, recently retired as chief curator for the City of Toronto, shared his expertise in navigating photo archives in a Zoom presentation, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The PDF has been updated to accommodate changes in the City of Toronto database.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION: Here is a link to a PDF of Wayne’s PowerPoint presentation. This is an updated version of his presentation, adjusting information about the Toronto Archives, which changed its database after his last presentation.

ZOOM PRESENTATION: Here is a link to his recorded presentation available on YouTube.

While working for the city, Wayne put together many exhibits and displays. Read about some of his projects here.

We thank Wayne for all of his work creating these detailed workshops and resources. They will prove invaluable guides for our Mapping our Memories project, which has been supported by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors’ project.

Zoom Presentation #2: Using the City Directories

If you’ve ever dipped into the City Directories, looking for a place where someone used to live, the name of a store or a workplace, or perhaps you just wanted to clarify the address of a place you remember, then you know how useful these massive books are for historical research. Retired Chief Curator Wayne Reeves presented his second Zoom workshop about City Directories on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.. His aim is to help us become better researchers of Toronto history.

The Toronto City Directories were published from 1833 to 2001. They are among the most valuable tools for exploring Toronto’s past. In his presentation, Wayne introduced their history, outlined what we can find in them at various times and showed us how to enhance our searches by consulting and cross-referencing information available in the different sections. He also discussed abbreviations, which changed over time, and threw in some caveats about dating the information in the directories. He also introduced us to the rich collection of illustrations that began to appear in advertisements in the directories.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION: To review Wayne’s presentation, here is a link to the PowerPoint he used.

RECORDED ZOOM PRESENTATION: Here is a link to a Zoom video on YouTube.

MORE CITY DIRECTORY RESOURCES:

Abbreviations and symbols vary over the years. Here is a link to a compiled list on Google Drive.
Buildings: Some Toronto buildings are illustrated in the directories. Here is a link to a compiled list on Google Drive.

Zoom Presentation #3: Looking at Fire Insurance Maps and Atlases

Fire insurance maps offer a great way of visualizing urban development over time and are useful tools for Toronto research projects. In his June. 10th Zoom workshop for Back Lane Studios, Wayne Reeves, recently retired from his post of Chief Curator for Toronto, showed us how to find and use Toronto insurance plans and atlases from the 1850s to the 1970s.

Maps produced by Charles E. Goad and his company from 1880 to 1924 are perhaps the best known, but others were published before, during, and after the “Goad’s era.”

POWERPOINT: To review Wayne’s presentation, here is a link to the PowerPoint he used for the Fire Insurance Maps presentation.

STREET NAME CHANGES: Here is a link to Wayne’s database of more than 1,450 street name changes in Toronto. He has cited his source confirming the name change, as well as the date of the change. He has also identified the ward in which the street is located.