Bulkley Valley District Hospital fonds

GMD: architectural drawing; technical drawing; textual record; graphic material

GMD: architectural drawing; technical drawing; textual record; graphic material

Accession No.: 1986.7; 1992.9; 1997.51; 2004.20; 2007.3; 2017.25; 2017.36; 2017.53; 2020.36

Physical Description: 21 cm of textual records; 6 architectural drawings; 1 technical drawing; 3 photogarphs

History / Biographical: The Bulkley Valley District Hospital was first established in 1920 and occupied a pre-existing building on the corner of Second Avenue and King Street. It housed 13 beds, an operating room, an office, a kitchen and a dining area. The hospital continued to expand throughout the decade until 1933, when its ownership was transferred from the Hospital Board to the Sisters of St. Anne, and a new building was constructed. A 30-bed wing with an emergency operating room was added in 1955. By 1968, this building was ruled obsolete and work began on a new modern facility, to be run by the province after the Sisters relinquished control. The new Bulkley Valley District Hospital was opened in 1969. A major renovation project was launched in 1973 and the original 1934 building was demolished. The formation of the Bulkley Lodge Society through the Smithers Society of Concerned Citizens in 1982 replaced the need for extended care beds in the BV District Hospital. Today, the Hospital acts as an acute care facility with 25 beds, servicing communities from Houston to Hazelton, B.C. For more detailed information on the history and development of the Hospital, see finding aid.

Custodial History: Records that were created both by the original Board of Directors (1920 – 1934) and Sisters of St. Ann (1933-1969) were passed on and kept by management until their donation to the Archives. Records in this collection from the Ladies’ Auxiliary were kept by Jean Maskiewich whose sister-in-law, Jean Kilpatrick, was the former Treasurer of the Auxiliary. Maskiewich then donated these records to the Archives.Three photographs (P7894-P7896) were found in collections in October 2020, having been submitted to the Interior News prior to 2003 and transferred to the museum at an unknown date.

Scope and Content: Fonds is organized into seven series:; 1. Administrative; 2. Board of Trustees; 3. Sisters of St. Ann; 4. Bulkley Valley District Hospital Ladies’ Auxiliary; 5. Bulkley Valley District Hospital Society; 6. Construction and engineering records; 7. Legal records; Other records not organized under these series include a reports and orders ledger, a physicians journal and day book, donations for the Hospital’s first x-ray machine, x-ray reports, event programs, a photograph, and donations for a L.B. Warner memorial.

Notes: Many photographs of the BV District Hospital can also be found in the BVM Visual Records Collection.

Reproduction Restrictions: Some restrictions may be in place for certain records to protect fromer patients.

Bulkley Valley District Hospital fonds