I contacted the reference librarian at the TPL responsible for his collection, to clarify the copyright status of images from his collection. I learned from him that the TPL paid his widow to acquire his (valuable) collection. A side effect of this is that due to peculiarities in US copyright law, even though the images Mr Salmon took himself are now in the public domain, in Canada, they are still (theoretically) protected by copyright in the USA.
(I had been hoping that the images were donated, and had been placed in the public domain at the time of the donation, which would have meant the images were public domain in the USA as well.)
I also exchanged a couple of emails with the elderly co-author of a book that featured photos from his collection. That book is still in print
Etobicoke in Pictures Etobicoke in Pictures.
Robert Givens, the co-author, had collaborated with Salmon on a column on the history of Etobicoke, published in the weekly newspaper
The Etobicoke Guardian. I learned that, in the last year or so of his life, when he was suffering from cancer, Givens' wife used to drive to Salmon's house to deliver Salmon his share of the payment they received. Their fee? $2 per column. Givens and his wife also remembered that Salmon had a daughter. They couldn't remember what kind of cancer Salmon had.
Sparse details.
If the columns Salmon and Givens wrote together only earned them $2 each I wonder how much Mrs Salmon was paid for his collection?
