W. Stewart (William Stewart) Wallace

Born in Georgetown, Ontario, in 1884, William Stewart Wallace was a Canadian historian, librarian, and editor whose work became a lasting part of Canadian studies. He studied at the University of Toronto and at Oxford, and early in his career taught history before moving further into large-scale scholarly and reference work.

Wallace served in the First World War and later became chief librarian of the University of Toronto, a position he held for many years. Alongside his library work, he wrote and edited important Canadian reference books, including major biographical and encyclopedic projects that helped organize historical knowledge for students, researchers, and general readers.

He died in Toronto in 1970. He is still remembered less for a single famous title than for the breadth of his contribution: building reliable tools for understanding Canada's past and strengthening the institutions that supported scholarship.