Hours: Open Monday-Friday. Hours vary. Consult “Hours” before visiting.
Location: 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada C1A 4P3.
Contact: (902) 894-2802; reference@upei.ca.
Access: Open to the public. There is no finding aid or search engine available online for the archive. Researchers must look through the general library catalogue for archival materials.
Website: https://library.upei.ca/peicollection/archives#archives
The University of Prince Edward Island Archives has government reports, hospital reports, and university records with strengths in veterinary studies as well as provincial reports on hospitals, social services, and senior care. This archive is relatively small and the materials from the archive are mostly located in the larger library collection. Their holdings include government reports, hospital reports, and university records. Their digitized collection offers access to university and PEI newspapers, local stories, legislative records, and magazines.
The university has records related to health and medicine, such as annual reports by the Department of Health and Wellness (2010-), Prince Edward Island Department of Health (1946-), the Health Services Commission of Prince Edward Island (1982-87), Hospital and Health Services Commission (1988-), and Queens Region Health and Community Services (1998-2005). It has annual reports for health centres in the island, such as East Prince Health Centre (1994-2005) and Southern Kings Health (1994-2002). The island also has the service directory and employee listing, prepared by the Health and Community Services Agency, for all health centres across the island from 1998. This archive has a recording of the well-known Dr. Augustine Adolphus MacDonald (1876-1970) who is associated with many births across the island and with introducing sulfa drugs to Prince Edward Island. There are records related to mental health such as the annual reports of the Addiction Services of Prince Edward Island (1981-1993) and the Canadian community health survey on mental health and well-being conducted by the Minister of Industry (2002-). This archive is noted for holdings related to veterinary medicine, including the records of the Atlantic Veterinary College at the university.
Alongside medical records, the university has the annual reports for local government organizations such as Prince Edward Island Housing Corporation (1976-), the Department of Welfare (1969-1972), the Department of Social Services (1973-1980), the Department of Social Services and Seniors (2006-2010), Seniors Advisory Council (1999-), and Department of Justice (1988-).
The university has a digital repository that can be accessed here. This site offers newspapers, stories, images, maps, and government documents related to PEI’s history. The “Island Imagined” page provides historic maps of Prince Edward Island that can be viewed through overlays and interactive timelines. “Island Newspapers” provides digital copies of some newspapers from PEI, including The Charlottetown Guardian for the day after every provincial election, pieces from The Cadre, newspapers of University of Prince Edward Island, and a helpful list of all newspapers published on the island. There are legislature records of Prince Edward Island (1894-) in the online exhibit, “Prince Edward Island Legislative Documents Online,” which includes the Journals of the Legislative Assembly, Biographies of Members of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Audio, and digital images of provincial buildings. The “Island Stories” page cover topics like outmigration and transportation in PEI. The “Island Magazine” is an important digitization project of all publications of The Island magazines from 1976 onwards; within its collection are magazines about public health, nurses, health inspections, and local physicians.