Hours:
- Winter: Monday to Friday, 10:00am-5:00pm; Thursday evening, 5:00pm-8:00pm
- Summer: Monday to Friday, 9:00am-4:00pm
- Closed weekends and holidays
Location: Atlantic Technology Centre (ATC) 175 Great George Street, Suite L20, Charlottetown, PE, CA, C1A 7M4
Contact: 902-368-4290; archives@gov.pe.ca
Access: All visitors must register at the reference desk by completing a registration form and presenting photo identification. The researcher will then be issued a research pass. On the initial and all subsequent visits, researchers must sign the daily register which includes a column for recording a research pass number. Researchers may be required to show their pass.
Website: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/topic/libraries-and-archives
The Prince Edward Island Public Archives and Records Office contains more than 1500 linear metres of government records, 680 metres of private sector records, close to 5000 maps, 1300 architectural plans, 40,000 photographs, and approximately 4700 hours of audio-visual materials. Records of the Government of PEI date from the late 18th century to the present day.
A strength of the archives is its extensive collection of the records of the Island’s Women’s Institutes and Hospital Auxiliaries. The records of other organizations and institutions related to health and medicine includes the Prince Edward Island School of Nursing (1966-1995), the Prince County Hospital School of Nursing (1915-1999), the Prince Edward Island Home Economics Association (1942-1997), the Maritime Conference on Social Welfare and Development (1947-1975), and the Doctors United for a Single Hospital (1966-1979). The archives contains the private papers of physicians such as Reverend Doctor John Knox (1817-1892), Dr. George A. C. MacIntosh (1843-1907), Dr. W. L. Whelan, Dr. William Grigg and Dr. David A. E. Shephard. These collections include doctors’ daybooks, account books, case books, and prescription books describing the treatment prescribed for various illnesses. The archives also maintains the records of the Johnson and Johnson Drugstore (1891-1917), the Apothecaries Hall – Hughes Drug Co. Ltd. (1877, 1881-1886, 1889-1899, 1910), and pharmacist Francis P. Hennessey (1884-1924). This includes prescription books, and accounts ledgers.
Digitized copies of some of the archives’ maps are available on the Island Imagined website, which is a joint project with the University of Prince Edward Island’s Robertson Library and the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation. The Public Archives and Records Office has also digitized the architectural plans of a number of heritage buildings which have been recognized under the Province’s Heritage Places Protection Act.
The website for the Public Archives and Records office has a series of online exhibits on various themes including 1860s Health and Medicine; The History of Sport and Recreation on Prince Edward Island, 1850-1950; and British Immigration to Prince Edward Island, 1763-1870.