Public access to historical psychiatric artifacts enhanced with new searchable platform.
A new searchable online database is providing user-friendly public access to Coquitlam’s extensive Riverview Hospital Artifact Collection.
This initiative is part of the City’s ongoing efforts to protect, enhance and share thousands of artifacts from the former psychiatric hospital that operated in Coquitlam from 1913 to 2012. The searchable database, along with a new artifact loan program, follow previous projects that introduced an online catalogue and a photo book.
Coquitlam became the steward of more than 2,500 artifacts collected by the Riverview Hospital Historical Society when the hospital closed in 2012. In addition to hundreds of photos and documents in the City Archives, these items, which represent a century of mental health services in Coquitlam, included medical equipment, furnishings, clothing and personal items. Considered one of western Canada’s best collections of historical medical equipment, this valuable resource documents the evolution of mental health care in B.C., with many artifacts dating back to the early 20th century.
Riverview Hospital operated on 1,000 acres of land within the ancestral territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) people, and was renamed in 2021 to səmiq̓wəʔelə, pronounced Suh-mEE-kwuh EL-uh, which translates to “Place of the Great Blue Heron” in the Coast Salish hən̓q̓əmin̓əm language.
Previously available only in PDF format, the Riverview collection is now accessible online through a searchable database. This digital platform features photographs, detailed descriptions of artifacts, and related documents from the City Archives. The new database follows best practices in collection management and enhances public access to this valuable set of historical artifacts.
The City is also offering a loan program for select artifacts to institutions for educational and research purposes. Organizations, individual researchers or members of the public interested in seeing artifacts in person or organizing a loan can submit a request online.
Coquitlam’s efforts to manage the collection in recent years have included a detailed assessment, inventory and cataloguing of all items, as well as measures to enhance storage conditions. The City has also taken steps to improve access to researchers and the public, including two documents made available in 2022: ‘Collecting Riverview: A visual history of photographs and objects booklet’ and ‘Riverview Hospital Artifacts Collection: Catalogue of Artifacts’.
The City Archives also provides public access to its collection of Riverview photos and documents and has produced two online exhibits about psychiatric nursing that provide further insight.