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The series consists of copies of municipal assessment rolls sent to the Dept. of the Provincial Secretary in 1881 and 1884. The 1881 file contains rolls from Chilliwack, Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Richmond and Surrey. The 1884 file contains rolls from Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, Richmond and Surrey.

This series consists of a report of the Minister of Finance regarding the municipal boundaries of Surrey and Langley, and a report of a theft of public funds from the office of the Government Agent at Yale.

This series contains the Provincial Secretary's register of letters inward. The register appears to be a clerk's interim or 'working' copy.

This series consists of a variety of operational records created by various provincial mental health institutions from 1882 to 2005. These records were created by mental health institutions including: New Westminster Provincial Asylum (later Public Hospital for the Insane or Provincial Hospital for the Insane), Essondale (later Riverview), Home for the Aged Coquitlam (later Valleyview), Home for the Aged Terrace (later Skeenaview), Home for the Aged Vernon (later Dellview), Crease Clinic, Colony Farm, Colquitz, Woodlands School and other medical facilities.

Together these records provide details of the hospital's operations from their creation to closure. Internal records document the mandate and goals of the hospitals and how they changed as the government and society's attitudes regarding mental health care shifted over time. External documents such as articles written by Riverview staff demonstrate how the hospital chose to publicize information about its treatment practices and research.

There are many different kinds of records in this series intermingled together. Many of the reports and studies were held by the Riverview Hospital Medical Library. These may be identified by library call numbers or stamps. The records are grouped into subseries. Note that there may be some overlap and repetition between them due to the physical arrangement of the records. The following subseries are included:

1. Publications. Includes copies of published articles in a variety of academic psychology and medical journals written by hospital staff from 1955-1979.

2. Reports, programs, and procedures. This includes many different types of records which address topics such as: treatment methods; patient care; rehabilitation; patient services; the creation, evaluation and implementation of various programs; facility management; patient rights; general policies for medical staff; staff bylaws; staff training and orientation; child guidance (including original papers and speeches by Dr. Crease on multiple subjects); geriatric care; staffing; and the administrative review of the hospital’s organization. The bulk of the records include policies, procedures, manuals, unpublished studies, statistics, strategic plans, training materials, forms, pamphlets, and surveys and questionnaires from staff, patients and patient’s relatives.

3. Conference and Committee Records. Includes records of the Provincial Mental Health Services Headquarters monthly or bimonthly conferences held by branch executives. Records include agendas, meeting minutes, budgets, copies of reports, statistics and other records discussed at the conference. Riverview Hospital medical advisory committee records include minutes and some reports or other records discussed in meetings. There are also some additional records included related to legislation and the Civil Defense Committee.

4. Miscellaneous records. Includes records related to facilities, finances, correspondence and early hospital records. This includes some of the earliest records related to the creation, construction and operations of the hospitals and Colony Farm, such as financial records recording the purchase of supplies, maintenance of facilities or grounds and staff perquisites. There are correspondence or subject files on a variety of topics, including: Mental Health Services headquarters; Provincial Secretary Collection Office; the operation and construction of the Boy’s Industrial School; and Indian Affairs regarding Indigenous patients. Additional records include agreements with the Canadian Pacific Railway for use of hospital land; records marking hospital events and anniversaries; provincial Mental Health Services business management monthly reports; and other miscellaneous records.

5. Riverview replacement records. Includes plans, reports and other records related to the changing makeup of mental health services on the Riverview lands. Beginning in the 1970s, the role of the hospitals began to be assessed and plans were developed to downsize, consolidate, replace or close various facilities. These records document that process. Contains various reports, planning documents and records of consultation with stakeholders.

6. Annual reports. Covers a wide range of years. There are reports for the Asylum for the Insane, New Westminster from 1882-1885; BC Mental Health Hospitals Annual Reports (under several names) from 1901-1972, plus some later years; and federal government Annual Report of Mental Institutions for the Dominion Bureau of Statistics from 1932-1960.

This series consists of a three page report and four pages of evidence taken by the commission appointed to examine into the conduct and management of the Royal Columbian Hospital. Report printed in Sessional Papers, 1883-84, p. 283-284.

This series consists of correspondence, a draft of the British Pacific Railway Act, minutes, notes on proceedings and reports of the Legislative Committee on Private Members' Bills.

This series consists of proclamations, 1883-1905.

This series consists of correspondence relating to the Royal Columbian Hospital. Contains copy of printed "Report of an investigation held at the Royal Columbian Hospital on the 13th day of February, 1883."

This series consists of a four page report and evidence taken by the commission to inquire into the management of the Provincial Asylum for Insane, New Westminster. Report printed in Sessional Papers, 1883-84, p. 281-282.

This series consists of jurors' Rolls and Lists, from the Cariboo District, 1884-1885.

This series consists of 10 volumes of Jurors' Rolls and Lists entitled "Lists of all persons selected as competent, qualified, and liable to serve as Grand Jurors for Victoria (B.C.) District". Vol. 1: 1884; vol. 2: 1885; vol. 3: 1886; vol. 4: 1887; vols. 5 & 6: 1888; vol. 7: 1890; vol. 8: 1899-1902; vol. 9: "Grand & Petit Jurors Rolls Lists," Victoria District, 1903-1906; vol. 10: 1913-1914.

Lists of persons claiming to vote in the electoral districts of Cariboo, Cowichan and Yale, 1886.

Consists of correspondence inward to Superintendents John Jessop (1872-1878), C.C. McKenzie (1878-1884), and S.D. Pope (1884-1899). Types of records include petitions for school buildings, applications for teaching posts, minutes of local school boards, school trustees' reports, etc. This series may be used in conjunction with GR-0449 (Superintendent of Education, Indexes to Correspondence Inward, 1881-1915) and GR-0450 (Superintendent of Education, Correspondence Outward, 1872-1919).

Researchers should also be aware of the Correspondence Inward files of the Provincial Secretary, 1871-1892 (GR-0526). Since the Provincial Secretary was responsible for the Education Department, these files contain many records pertaining to teachers, schools, and education matters in general. Access to documents in GR-0526 is through GR-0524 (Provincial Secretary. Registers and indexes of letters inward, 1872-1924). Documents pertaining to education, etc. are indexed under the headings "SCHOOLS", and "EDUCATION, SUPERINTENDENT".

This series contains miscellaneous correspondence and reports. These records were originally a part of the Provincial Secretary's central registry but, for reasons unknown, became separated from the department's main files. A wide variety of subjects are addressed in these records.

Many of the records in this unit concern investigations carried out under the authority of the Departmental Inquiries Act and the Public Inquiries Act. Many relate to conditions in public institutions and activities of government employees. Many inquiries relate to hospitals and schools in the province, including Vernon Mental Hospital, Tranquille Sanatorium, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Provincial Mental Hospital at Essondale. Other inquiries and Commissions include bribery of the Liquor Control Board, the Beban Mine disaster, Royal Commission on Dominion Provincial Relations, Inquiry into the death of John Meredith Sweeney and the state and management of the Quartermaster Stores of the Provincial Police Force.

The records also relate to child welfare programs, including the general management of the Provincial Industrial School for Boys and to the Girls' Industrial School, ca. 1930-1945. Additional documents in this collection relate to subjects such as squatters' claims at the Granville Townsite [Vancouver (1887)], to the Fraser River Flood Relief programme (1894), applications for seed, the Victoria Consolidated Hydraulic Mining Co., government perquisites, legislation, estates, and to proposed sites for the University of British Columbia (1910). "Anti-Oriental" petitions and voting returns of the 1924 beer-by-the-glass plebiscite also included.

This series consists of correspondence relating to the issuance of commissions to members of the Executive Council, to the oath of allegiance taken by cabinet ministers, and to royal toasts; index and registers of oaths of office and oaths of allegiance of members of the Executive Council.

The series consists of miscellaneous correspondence inward to the Provincial Secretary (John Robson) in 1891. While the letters are stamped with the date received and often have notes regarding replies sent, they are not indexed or numbered.

This series contains letters inward to the Department of the Provincial Secretary, 1892-1917. During the period covered by GR-1330 (1892-1917) the Provincial Secretary was variously responsible for the departments of Mines, Education and Immigration. Within these departments he was responsible for the Legislative Library and Archives, the Queen's Printer, the Bureau of Statistics, the Civil Service Commission, and various agencies concerned with health and social welfare. The multiplicity of his duties accounts for the range and diversity of the records in GR-1330.

Among the records are correspondence to, and from, the Lieutenant-Governor and the Executive Council, correspondence from Dominion officials concerning colonization and settlement, applications from organizations wishing to register under the Benevolent Societies Act, memoranda of association from businesses seeking to be incorporated under the provincial Companies Act, petitions from community groups requesting schools and improved municipal services, plus letters from private persons applying for appointments in the civil service. Also included are records arising from the administration of the provincial elections, hospitals, and asylums.

This series consists of applications for admission to the Provincial Home for the Aged and Infirm (Kamloops), comprised of forms pursuant to the Provincial Home Act, 1893, and related correspondence, 1895-1917.

This series consists of correspondence from the Provincial Secretary concerning the Guarantee Insurance Company of North America, 1895-1916.

This series consists of an index to Provincial Secretary letters outward, 1895-1897.

The series consists of photographs (negatives and a small number of prints) created by the offices of the Bureau of Mines and the Mineral Survey between 1895 and 1937, and by the Mineralogical Branch between 1937 and 1945.

The series includes a 1938 memo which indicates that selected photographs were to be used or had been used in the department's published bulletins and in its Annual Report of the Minister of Mines. Photographers include the following government mineralogists, geologists, and mining engineers (followed with dates of photographs): William Fleet Robertson, Provincial Mineralogist, (photos 1898-1908); Herbert Carmichael, Assistant Mineralogist (1901-1904); F.W. Valleau, Gold Commissioner and Mining Recorder in the Omineca Mining District (photo 1901); Harold T. Nation (photos 1903-1926); Newton W. Emmens (1914); Joseph T. Mandy, provincial government resident mining engineer for the Atlin district (photos 1926-1945); Douglas Lay, Resident Mining Engineer (photos 1906-1940); Matthew S. Hedley (photos 1936-1939); Stuart S. Holland (photos 1939-1941); J.S. Stevenson (photos 1938-1942); H.S. Sargent (photos 1936-1941); R. Maconachie (1938-1940) and John D. Galloway, Provincial Mineralogist.

A small number of photographs were collected from private sources, including professional photographers. Some are attributed to the British Columbia Provincial Police. Approximately 50 per cent of the photographs are not attributed to a photographer.

Subjects include: mines, collieries, quarries, mineral veins and specimens; mining crews, equipment and operations; prospectors and placer mining activities; coke ovens, mills, smelters, concentrators and cement works; towns, modes of transportation; topographic features such as mountains, lakes, rivers, creeks. The photographers also captured a very wide range of subjects concerning British Columbia cultural and social history. Examples of this are First Nations activities and culture, including graveyards and bridges built by First Nations. The numbering system runs from 1 to 993. A single number may represent a series of photos on the same subject (for example: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d).

This series consists of a variety of records related to hospitals, including voucher books; records of salaries; and an index to hospitals, with correspondence relating to the disbursement of grants to hospitals under the terms of the Hospital Act, 1902.

This series consists of one volume of a roll of coroners, 1899-1917.

This series consists of Juror's Rolls and Lists for Nanaimo, B.C., 1899-1902.

This series consists of six volumes of Jurors' Rolls and Lists from New Westminster. Vol. 1: 1899; vol. 2: 1900-1902; vol. 3: 1903-1906; vol. 4: Petit Jurors, 1907-1910; vol. 5: Grand Jurors, 1907-1910; vol. 6: 1903-1911.

The series consists of certified lists of grand and petit jurors for the judicial district of Vancouver, created in 1900 and sent to the office of the Provincial Secretary. The lists contain the names, addressed and occupations of the jurors as well as their number on the jurors roll.

This series contains certified copies of the Grand and Petit Jury Lists for Nanaimo district, 1900.

This series consists of photographs, negatives, slides and architectural drawings created by various provincial mental health institutions from 1901 to 2002. These records regard the following institutions: New Westminster Provincial Asylum (later Public Hospital for the Insane or Provincial Hospital for the Insane), Essondale (later Riverview), Home for the Aged Coquitlam (later Valleyview), Home for the Aged Terrace (later Skeenaview), Home for the Aged Vernon (later Dellview), Crease Clinic, Colony Farm, Colquitz, Woodlands School, Tranquille and other medical facilities. Most records were created by the Essondale or Riverview Hospital Audio Visual Department.

Photos, negatives and slides cover a broad range of subjects which may overlap with or relate to other series of mental health photos at the archives. There are three broad categories of subjects: photos of institutions, pathological photos, and staff and patient photos. Images from these categories may all be intermingled together and specific subjects may be duplicated over multiple media types.

Photos of institutions include interior and exterior images of the buildings, facilities and grounds. This includes the construction and renovation of facilities. Most publicly operated mental health facilities in the Province are represented, as well as some additional medical facilities.

Pathological photos include images of adults and children with various mental and physical conditions or injuries, including full body shots and close ups. This includes close ups of human anatomy, dissections and brain samples. There are also images demonstrating various medical treatments patients underwent.

Staff and patient photos cover many aspects of daily patient and employee life. Many of the images document public events at the hospitals such as sports days, parties, dances, parades, graduations, opening ceremonies and other events. Additional subjects include patient leisure activities; recreational therapy; occupational therapy such as woodworking and sewing; patient care; hospital services such as laundry, food series, pharmacy and dentist; a variety of patient and volunteer programs; patients working at colony farm; staff demonstrating their work; passport style headshots of patients and staff; and group photos of staff from as early as the opening of the hospital.

Each media type is organized separately. They are represented by the following subseries:

1. Photographs. Most photos date from the 1940s to 1970s, though altogether they range from the early 1900s to early 2000s. Almost all photographs are black and white, but some later ones are in colour. There are duplicates and copies of some images throughout the collection.

Each photograph will include varying amounts of information on its back. Some photos are unlabeled and include no information. Photos may be labelled with numbers, descriptions and/or dates. Many are stamped with Audio Visual Department, Mental Health Services, Essondale or Riverview. Some photos indicate the folder they were originally stored in and are labelled with an item number. These numbers likely relate to the organizational structure used by the Audio Visual Department and may correspond with the organization of other Mental Health Services photographs in the Archive’s holdings. It appears that when, or before, these photos were collected by the Riverview Historical Society they were removed from this organizational system and filed alphabetically by subject. The files are currently arranged alphabetically in two groups (one for each accession number).

2. Large format photographs and albums. There are some large format prints and framed photos which were on display in the hospitals or Historical Society building. These photos are of patients and staff, including an early group photo of staff. These may be prints of older photos. There are also large scale prints of furniture sketches for the for the "Provincial Mental Hospital Mount Coquitlam", likely the Male Chronic Building.

Of the photo albums, three of them include similar photos of the interior and exterior of the Male Chronic Building, the first hospital built at Essondale, around its opening in 1913. The fourth album includes early portraits of patients labeled as having been diagnosed with Dementia Praecox, the original name given to Schizophrenia Kraepelin.

3. Negatives. Most negatives are stored in their original envelopes, unless they required rehousing. Envelopes contain images related to a specific topic and may be labelled with a title, date and four digit number. Negative envelopes are arranged chronologically by this number up to number 3160. Many envelope numbers are missing. Negatives in container 972114-0009 were transferred separately but appear to have numbers which fit into this numbering system. Some envelopes are unlabeled or are missing some information. Envelopes may also include some associated photographic prints.

4. Slides. Slides date from 1949 to the 1980s. They have been arranged into several groups based on the numbers written on individual slides. Slides are arranged chronologically by this number, or their date if they were not numbered. Note that there may be gaps in numbering. Slides in file boxes 3 and 4 have a variety of numbering systems, no numbers or only contain a date. They contain similar subject matter to A, B and P slides in the other file boxes. Numbers with A and B prefixes include images of institutions, staff and patients. Numbers with P prefixes document pathological images.

5. Architectural plans. Plans date from 1920 to the 1980s. They cover Crease Clinic, Valleyview and other buildings on the Riverview/Essondale site at various points in time. There is also a master list of the Provincial Mental Hospital cemetery.

This series consists of a register of persons living in British Columbia who served with the Canadian Special Service Forces in South Africa and entitled to privileges given by the "Canadian Contingent Exemption Act, 1900."