Island Studies book receives provincial heritage award
A Magnificent Gift Declined, published by the Institute of Island Studies last fall, has won the prestigious Publication of the Year Award for 2009 from the PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation.
The award was shared with the book's author, Leonard Cusack, and presented at the annual Heritage Awards evening held recently in Summerside. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the preservation of the heritage of Prince Edward Island.
A Magnificent Gift Declined is the story of PEI's first hospital for treating tuberculosis, built in 1913 by Charles Dalton with his own money, and on his own land in Emyvale. He donated the state-of-the-art Dalton Sanatorium to the province of PEI to run but it was later expanded by the federal government to accommodate 75 beds for soldiers returning from WWI.
In 1923, only ten years after it was begun, the Dalton Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis was totally demolished without a whimper despite PEI being in the midst of a severe TB epidemic. This book is the story of the provincial and federal political manoeuvrings which caused that to happen.
Described by historian Francis Bolger as "a wonderful read", and including a foreword by folklorist John Cousins, the well-crafted 168-page paperback contains many archival photos and a bibliography.
A Magnificent Gift Declined is available through Island Studies Press, the publishing arm of the Institute of Island Studies, at a cost of $29.95. Contact Joan Sinclair at (902) 566-0386 or e-mail: ispstaff@groupwise.upei.ca.
