Skip header and navigation
Della Herman fonds
- Date Range
- [1937-1980]
- Collection
- Della Herman fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- Scope and Content
- Fonds is contains records relating to schools in the Bulkley Valley, with a particular focus on Smithers Elementary School / Muheim Memorial Elementary in the 1960s and 70s. It is organized into two series: School District No. 54 and Photographs.
- Collection
- Della Herman fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- Fonds No.
- PF29
- Accession No.
- 1981.38
- 1993.10
- 2012.56
- 2018.61
- 2019.24
- 2020.32
- Physical Description
- 12 cm of textual records
- 250 photographs
- Date Range
- [1937-1980]
- History / Biographical
- Dulcina ‘Della’ Carpenter was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on August 9, 1915. She moved to Smithers in 1923 with her parents, Laura and John (Jack) Calvin Carpenter, her two sisters, Dolly and June, and her brother, John. Her father worked as an engineer for the railroad. As a young woman, Della trained to be a teacher at Normal School in Vancouver. She then returned to the Bulkley Valley, taking a job in a one-room schoolhouse at Decker Lake in 1936. After four months, she pursued an opportunity to teach at the one-room school in Glentanna. She joined the staff of Smithers Elementary School (later known as the Muheim Memorial Elementary) in 1939. Della married Edwin Herman in 1942 and their daughter, Dian, was born in 1944. Della became principal of Muheim Memorial in 1955 and supervising principal in 1978, and served as a school trustee for several years after her retirement in 1981. She wrote a book, Bulkley Valley School Days, about the history of education in the Valley. The Della Herman Theatre at the Smithers Senior Secondary School was named after her. She was also involved in other community endeavors such as the Fall Fair and the United Church. Della Herman died in Smithers on March 31, 2004, at the age of 88.
- Custodial History
- Items with 1981.38 accession numbers were collected by Della Herman during her lifetime and donated to the archives on July 7th 1981. They were recorded as being part of the School District 54 fonds and the BVM Visual Records collection for a period of time, before being moved to the Della Herman collection in June 2020.
Items with 1993.10 accession numbers were found in collections and accessioned on November 1st 1993. It is possible that they were part of accession 1981.38.
Item with 2012.56 accession number (Bulkley Valley School Days) was donated by B. Jones on April 16th 2012 and added to this fonds due to its authorship.
Items with 2018.61 accession numbers were owned by Della Herman during her lifetime and compiled into an album by her daughter Dian. Digital scans of the photos deemed most relevant to the collection were taken in July 2018. No physical records were kept by the museum.
Items with 2019.24 accession numbers were found in collections in September 2019. They may have been part of accession 1993.10 (and consequently originally part of 1981.38?).
Items with 2020.32 accession numbers were found in the vault in June 2020, in a box marked “Della Herman Collection – School Class Photos, Part 3 of 5.” They had no accession numbers, and no accession forms or other info could be found. It is unclear what the other ‘parts’ of this series are. Therefore the items were given an accession number and entered into the Della Herman fonds. It is possible that, like other items in this fonds found in collection, they were originally part of 1981.38.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds is contains records relating to schools in the Bulkley Valley, with a particular focus on Smithers Elementary School / Muheim Memorial Elementary in the 1960s and 70s. It is organized into two series: School District No. 54 and Photographs.
- Arrangement
- Records are artificially arranged.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Less detail