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This series contains records that pertain to the renewal programs held in the summers of 1974, 1980 and 1981. The program included times of reflection, communal study and teaching presentations. This series includes photographs, a newspaper article, event programs, prepared sermons, lists of attendees, teaching guides, personal reflections, speaking notes, planning committee minutes, a facility map, agendas for meetings and renewal sessions, correspondence and bibliographies.

This series contains material related to the receptions and professions of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Diocese of London, Ontario. The records are primarily concerned with Sisters who had their receptions and professions in London, Ontario and at the mission in Edmonton, Alberta. This series includes records related to the vows and vow ceremonies, which are the rituals involved in becoming a member of a religious community. These ceremony records include correspondence, invitations, seating charts, guest lists, and forms of vows. The first receptions occurred at Mount Hope which was the Sisters’ first motherhouse in London, and a historical summary of those early ceremonies is present. There are also scripts for speeches and homilies and written accounts. Photographs, prayers, and ephemera including booklets, programs, and newspaper clippings from these ceremonies are also present. One photograph is of the reception of a class of Sisters who had been recruited from Ireland by Sister Julia Moore. One pamphlet is from the 1987 Profession of the Sisters of St. Michael the Archangel of the Diocese of Ekiti, Nigeria. Various lists of Sisters’ ceremony dates, stages of religious life, deaths and withdrawals are also included. The vows present here are primarily in bound volumes, though some are on individual sheets of paper. Many of the volumes have related correspondence, renewals, or scripts for the vows (referred to as forms) tucked or pasted within. The vows are generally formulaic, though some are unique. Some, mainly first vows, list the Sisters’ hometown, age, and parents.

This series contains records reflecting the policies and procedures of the congregation from the late 1960s to the mid-2000s. Included in the series are community handbooks and Called to Unity booklets (guidance for the Sisters in their union with God and the community), both of which discuss the Sisters’ role within and outside the congregation. Topics include community prayer, education, donations, finances, legal advice and procedures, and travel policies. Also included are position papers detailing how a Sister is to behave and conduct herself as a member of the congregation, which were prepared by various committees including the spiritual life commission, habit commission, commission on education, and homemaking commission. Records relating to congregational staff include the Human Resource Policies Handbook, which details the roles and responsibilities related to the working environment. The other records in this series pertain to the congregation as a whole; these include policies and procedures regarding sexual misconduct, abuse, and how such misconduct is reported and dealt with in the congregation. Also included is policy pertaining to the appropriate use of technology, such as computers and the Internet. There are also correspondence, memos, and reports related to the development of policy by the travel committee, who mediated discussions around the Sisters’ travel.

The series contains oral histories and autobiographies of some of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the London Diocese. Many of the oral histories included were conducted for the Federation Collaborative History Project. The Federation includes the Congregations of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Toronto, Hamilton, London, Peterborough, Pembroke, and Sault Ste. Marie. The oral histories included in the Federation project are those of a select few Sisters. These Sisters are Noella Armstrong, Mary Doyle, Augustine Long, Margaret Ferris, and Cathleen Flynn. The Sisters discussed memories of their childhood and their lives before entering the convent, the call to service, and stories of their years preparing to become a professed Sister. This series includes digital and printed transcripts of oral history interviews with the Sisters, e-mail correspondence regarding the Federation oral history project, and a newspaper clipping.

The series contains correspondence, newsletters, photographs, scrapbooks, postcards, diagrams, clippings, bulletins, brochures, programs, song sheets, posters, publications, dramatic scripts, and reports. This material is related to the history of the third Mother House of the Sisters of St. Joseph in London, which was called Mount St. Joseph. There is information about the construction of the building and detailed information about its special features and decoration, including the Immaculate Conception Chapel, and its grounds, particularly the Grotto. The records also relate to planning the construction of, and move to, the Sisters’ residence in 2007, and the sale of the Mount St. Joseph building and property. There are records which reflect communal life in the convent, including the various organized groups, events, and dramatic and musical entertainment, and menus, meal planning, and recipes. The series contains records related to men religious who served at the Mother House, and other Diocesan correspondence. Information about both Fatima Hall and Ignatia Hall can be found, including the various uses of space in these buildings.

This series contains records related to the celebration of jubilees of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the diocese of London, in Ontario. The records are from Ontario and Alberta, where the Sisters had a mission since 1922. Materials in this series include photographs, videos, speeches, reflections, historical sketches, news clippings, hymns, programs, invitations, and cards.

This series consists of contracts, deeds, plans, and newspaper clippings relating to Hellmuth College from 1866-1952. There is a general history and photographs of Hellmuth College. The series includes photographs of the Chapel and Motherhouse. The series contains a description of the layout of the Orphanage as well as information regarding the day-to-day routines. The series also contains notes on the process of purchasing the Mills property and written summaries of ecclesiastical events such as the Eucharistic Congress at Mount St. Joseph in July, 1923 and the visit of Cardinal Villeneuve in 1934. There are also special issues of the Western Gazette and magazine and newspaper articles, including a biography of Bishop Hellmuth, and the building of the new Motherhouse.

This series contains records created and accumulated by the office of the General Treasurer for the Sisters of St. Joseph in London, Ontario. The records are primarily related to managing the donations given by and to the Sisters and the funding for their ministries, missions, Motherhouses, residences, and outreach projects. In London, St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre provided food security programs, Medaille Retreat House was a spiritual retreat centre for the Sisters, the Queens Avenue building was a home for women in need, and the Boulee Street house was a ministry to the poor. The Adult Spirituality Centre, St. Joseph’s Manor, the Foster Home on St. Rose Avenue, and Holy Rosary Convent were all in Windsor. St. Joseph’s Manor and the Foster Home were ministries to children in need and Holy Rosary Convent was the main convent for the Windsor Sisters. The Adult Spirituality Centre in Windsor provided spiritual direction and retreats. Another spiritual retreat, Marygrove, was in Aylmer. Outside of Ontario, there are records concerning the Photo History Project at Ataguttaaluk School in Igloolik, Nunavut in which Sister Mary Diesbourg participated, the Sisters at St. Joseph Regional House in Edmonton, Alberta, and the mission in Peru including the collaboration with Heart-Links, a London based charity focused on Peru.

The series includes reports, meeting agendas and minutes, mission statements, budgets, floorplans, funding proposals and requests, grant applications, forms, lists of Sisters involved with specific projects and sites, and correspondence concerning funding, donations, location changes, operations, and testimonials from the public supporting the Sisters’ projects. There are also resolution agreements from the Sisters’ projects. One agreement is with the sole shareholder of a company connected to a property owned by the London congregation, Marygrove, concerning the finances and leadership positions within the company. The other agreement is between the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and the Sisters of St. Joseph to decide the future of the Adult Spirituality Center.

One of the ways that Sisters could request funding for their ministries from the congregation was through the Apostolic Services Fund. Arrangements for the creation of this fund, outlines of requirements to qualify for funding and funding applications are included.

Not all the material is concerned with finances. Some records pertain to other projects the General Treasurer was involved with, particularly when Sister Loretta Manzara held the office. In 2007, the Sisters moved from Mount St. Joseph to a new LEED certified residence at 485 Windermere Road. in the series includes records related to this transition such as the Sisters’ Statement of Values, reports, pamphlets, news clippings, an issue of London Citylife, and newsletters (one of which was titled Crossing Over). There is also material concerned with the sale of Mount St. Joseph, the former Motherhouse.

At the 2012 Foundation Day, the Annals Project was presented. It focused on a shift from keeping annals to looking at the life of the entire congregation as expressed through Chapter reports. Pamphlets, agendas, meeting minutes, and a report on this project are present. Accompanying this material are annotated photocopies of various reports covering the Sisters’ activities from 1959 to 2011 which were referenced for the project.

Records related to the London Sisters’ involvement in Goderich, Ontario are also present, such as correspondence and pamphlets about their commitment to the area and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first convent outside London.

The series also includes descriptions of icons painted by Sister Mary Anthony Hartleib, as well as prints of some of her artwork (including on the back of her funeral card), and photographs of artwork by Philip Aziz. Other photographs in the series are from the mission in Peru and of students and elders in the report for the Photo History Project at Ataguttaaluk School.

The series consists of records kept by the General Superior office for use in the administration of the community in London, Ontario. Material is primarily from the period during which Sister Margo Ritchie held the office, but it also contains material from when Sister Mary Diesboug and Sister Valerie Van Cauwenburghe held the position. This series contains twelve subseries relating to the operations, missions, and activities of the congregation. This includes the Medaille Retreat House, Josephs’ House, the Detox Centre, My Sister’s Place, St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre, Elizabeth Place, St. Stephen’s House, the Southdown Project, Holy Rosary House in Windsor, the Goderich convent, and the Sisters of St. Joseph in Alberta. There is also material related to the hospitals in London, Sarnia, and Chatham administered by the Sisters and the transfer of operation of said hospitals to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance and St. Joseph’s Health Care Society. There is material related to the construction of a new residence, especially concerning the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards of the new building, and relocation of the Sisters from Mount St. Joseph to this new residence.

There is also material related to the various meetings of the congregation, from the more informal Community Days to the more formal Assemblies and Chapters. Chapters are formal congregational meetings where major decisions, such as amalgamation and leadership positions were voted on. There are voting records from the 2011 Special Chapter and the 2009 Oneness Project in this series. There are also reports from the Leadership Circle, Chapters, and committees within the congregation. There is also material from the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada, an organization made up of all the Congregations of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada. There is material from the Federation and the London congregation’s systemic justice efforts and the Sisters’ efforts towards concerning the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There are various newsletters from the Federation and the London congregation. The series also includes administrative correspondence and speeches presented by the General Superior to the congregation.

In summary, the series contains letters, reports, speeches, minutes, voting records, newsletters, pamphlets, prayer books, agendas, meeting minutes, memorandums, postcards, photographs, correspondence, timelines and schedules, inventory lists, legal documents, meeting minutes, executive summaries, budget reports, reports, newspaper and magazine clippings, bursary reports, histories, bulletins, designs for stained glass windows, and property appraisals.