Outstanding care, always.

SELECTED COLLECTION STRENGTHS:

Hospital Architectural History:

Kingston General Hospital has historic and architectural significance as “the oldest public Hospital in Canada still in operation with most of its buildings intact.” The KGH Archive contains records documenting the design and construction of the Watkins Wing (1862), Nickle Wing (1891), Doran Building (1894), Fenwick Operating Theatre (1895), Nurses’ Home (1903) and the Empire Wing (1904).

KGH was designated a national historical site in 1997.

Origins of Public Hospitals/ Hospitals as Charitable Institutions:

Hospital subscription lists and commissioners’ correspondence document the founding of the Kingston Hospital as a charitable institution. The KGH Archive contains records documenting early community fundraising efforts and the creation of the Women’s Aid in 1905. Complementary records documenting the House of Industry and Orphan’s Home reside in the Queen’s University Archives.

The Women’s Aid raised money for the Hospital in 1912.

Training of Nurses:

The Kingston General Hospital Training School for Nurses was established in 1886. The KGH Archive contains records documenting the curriculum and student life as well as photographic illustration of nurses at work.

Graduating class of nurses from KGH School of Nursing, 1972.

Control of Infectious Diseases:

Researchers interested in Spanish influenza, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, typhoid fever, and other infectious diseases of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will find records documenting their impact and control.

The Isolation Hospital for infectious diseases was completed in 1925.

Community Physicians – late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:

Researchers interested in the daily life and practice of local general practitioners associated with KGH will find the daybooks of Drs. R.K. Kilborn, Horace Mabee, and Gordon Bogart.

Invoice and sales book belonging to Dr. G.I. Bogart who practised medicine in Kingston from 1903 to 1928.

Hospital for Children:

The accommodation of children in public hospitals is well documented in the KGH Archive beginning in the 1920s and culminating in fundraising for and the opening of the Angada building in 1953.

A sunroom for paediatric patients in the Doran Building, 1925.

Patient Registers:

The KGH Archive holds patient registers (admission records, birth records, death records, delivery ledgers, and operating room registers) for those researchers interested in statistical analyses of trends in Canadian health and healthcare. Contact a Hospital Archivist for holdings.

A page from the Hospital’s first Admission Register, 1856.

Collection of Photographs:

The KGH Archive holds an extensive collection of photographs documenting hospital buildings, health care professionals, patients, equipment, and hospital events of the twentieth century. Contact KGH Archive for photographic requests.

A KGH ambulance in the 1950s.
Hospital staff greet Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Kingston in 1951.

Clinical Practice:

Physician involvement in the administration of health care at KGH has been documented since 1894 in the Medical Staff fonds. Discussion and decisions concerning the practice of medicine is reflected in the records of the Medical Advisory Committees. In addition, the Archive has extensive holdings of a number of clinical departments.

Doctors performing surgery in an operating room, 1997.

Hospital Partnerships:

The KGH Archive holds the records of the Hospital Auxiliary (formerly the Women’s Aid) and the Kingston General Hospital Foundation.

KGH Nurses’ Alumnae Association annual dinner – the class of 1937.