Comprehensive collection of dried plants with names and info collected from Kitimat and surrounding area. Includes black binder with lists of the collected plants, as well as some additional samples.
The Kitimat Flora Collection was assembled by Gisela Mendel during her tenure as the Museum's first curator (1969-1981). Gisela had a lifelong interest in nature and the outdoors and knew the medicinal properties of many plants from working as a pharmacist in Germany. During her early years in Kitimat, she collected botanical specimens to send to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria and documented a new species of fern. As Curator, she identified natural history as a key area of focus for the new Kitimat Centennial Museum. The Northern Sentinel reported in 1972 that she gathered new floral specimens each weekend to replenish displays at the Museum. One of her largest projects was the creation of an ethno-botanical dictionary with the help of Haisla elders from Kitamaat Village, identifying the Haisla names and traditional uses for various local plants.
Custodial History
Collected by Gisela Mendel.
Scope and Content
Comprehensive collection of dried plants with names and info collected from Kitimat and surrounding area. Includes black binder with lists of the collected plants, as well as some additional samples.
23 maps of northwestern British Columbia, from the Seven Sisters westward to Port Essington.
2018.9.1a-b – Seven Sisters / Dorreen
2018.9.2a-c – Usk / Chist Creek
2018.9.3a-c – Lakelse / Terrace
2018.9.4a-b – Alastair Lake
2018.9.5a-b – Salvus, Coast District Range 5
2018.9.6a-d – Ecstall River / Port Essington
2018.9.7a-g – Kitimat Arm, Kildala River, Mt. Aetna, Mount Elizabeth, Mount Davies, private logging roads
Maps were collected and annotated by Gisela Mendel throughout her time in northwest BC and donated to the Museum in 2018.
Scope and Content
23 maps of northwestern British Columbia, from the Seven Sisters westward to Port Essington.
2018.9.1a-b – Seven Sisters / Dorreen
2018.9.2a-c – Usk / Chist Creek
2018.9.3a-c – Lakelse / Terrace
2018.9.4a-b – Alastair Lake
2018.9.5a-b – Salvus, Coast District Range 5
2018.9.6a-d – Ecstall River / Port Essington
2018.9.7a-g – Kitimat Arm, Kildala River, Mt. Aetna, Mount Elizabeth, Mount Davies, private logging roads
