It was founded in 1943 as the Salt River Valley Blood Bank in Phoenix, Arizona.

[2] The organization comprises a network of about 120 donation centers across the U.S. and are the sole blood provider to about 900 hospitals across the United States.

Not long after its creation, parent company Blood Systems, Inc., was formed.

[8] The youngest predecessor to Vitalant, LifeSource, was created in 1987 by the merger of the Blood Center of Northern Illinois with operations of the American Red Cross in the Chicago area.

On September 24, 2018, Blood Systems merged all of its existing brands under the Vitalant name.