Archives of Manitoba

Northern Stores Department general personnel dossiers

1958-1970

26.25 m of textual records

Series consists of personnel dossiers for Northern Stores Department employees. The dossier system was adopted by the Fur Trade Department Personnel Division in the 1930s in order to keep comprehensive information on departmental employees in a simple and efficient manner. Files for Fur Trade Department employees still working for HBC in 1959 were transferred to the Northern Stores Department Personnel Division.

An employee's personnel file was created when the individual was hired and was added to with every change in the status of the employee throughout his or her employment. As a result, the amount of documentation in each dossier may be quite extensive: applications, letters of reference, assessment interviews, contracts, medical and dental records, MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) tests, ratings, termination interviews, correspondence with district managers, and other information. Most dossiers also include a record of service sheet which provides personal information such as the employee's name, address, next of kin, date of birth, citizenship, place of birth, marital status, names of spouse and children, date of entry into service, education, job history, record of service, and details of separation from the company.

Dossiers of employees who have retired, been dismissed, or died are organized according to year of termination and then alphabetically. In the case of casual, part-time, or holiday relief employees, a complete dossier does not exist. These employees' record of service forms are kept in files called Western, Central, or Eastern Division "Outs," and are arranged alphabetically within the files.

Records in this series are restricted under the Personal Heath Information Act (PHIA). Contact the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives to request access to these records.

Researchers are responsible for observing copyright legislation. Permission may be required for any form of publication or exhibition where records are not in the public domain.

Records of the Northern Stores Department were kept at Hudson's Bay House in Winnipeg, where the NSD office was located until its dissolution in 1987. After this date records formerly maintained by the department, and no longer of use to the Winnipeg head office, were transferred regularly to the Hudson's Bay Company Archives where they were held on deposit. In 1994, the HBC donated its records to the Province of Manitoba to be maintained permanently by the Archives of Manitoba.

RG7/5