This series contains records relating to the administration for The Hope Project in London, Windsor, and Edmonton, and 61 applications for grants from the London Hope Project. The records include correspondence, brochures, notes, photographs, newspaper clippings, budget records, a booklet, applications, receipts, and business cards.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)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.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)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.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)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.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)This series includes a variety of textual records and photographs related to the vocational activity of the Sisters of St. Joseph. There are correspondence, newspaper clippings, bookmarks, advertisements, pamphlets, brochures, program outlines, catalogues, registers, photographs, communication records, newsletters, bulletins, memos, minutes, advertisements, bookmarks, and booklets. The materials were created predominantly in London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta. The main function of the materials in this series relates to providing information as well as the administration of the formation process.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)The records in this series concern the involvement of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London in the field of education in Edmonton, Alberta. The records are primarily concerned with O’Leary High School, St. Nicholas High School, and the history of the Sisters’ involvement with education in Edmonton, Alberta. The material includes O’Leary High School yearbooks, photographs of O’Leary High School, news clippings, pamphlets, histories, and correspondence. The correspondence is about the establishment of the Edmonton Catholic School District Archives and the history of the Sisters who worked in education in Edmonton, Alberta.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)This series primarily contains the financial and legal documents of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario, for the Sylvan Lake property in the Summer Village of Birchcliff, Alberta. Documents include official appraisal reports, property surveys, purchase and sale of land records, a subdivision land map, drawing of a diagram for the construction of a garage and extension for storage. There are also invoices and receipts for the building, repair, and maintenance of the Sylvan Lake cottage, as well as correspondence with construction contractors. There is a report authored by Cuthbertson Sandall Chartered Accountants titled, Summer Village of Birchcliff Financial Statements, Year Ended December 31, 2001. There is also a folded and certified land survey plan indicating the subdivision plots by the City of Red Deer Land Surveyor, Mr. J. C. Horn, dated July 2, 1974. In addition, there are photographs of the landscape and the interior of the house. There are also two photograph albums, one created by Colin George Arthur and Lorna Mae Arthur and the other by the Sisters.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)This series contains a history of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario’s activities in St. Brides, Alberta. History of St. Bride’s Settlement, Alberta, is a written history authored by Sister M. Winnifrid Downs covering 1927 to 1956. It was an assignment submitted on July 31, 1956, for a history summer school course at the University of Alberta. The essay topics include immigration policies, the original and later settlers, and the development and progress of St. Brides, with 47 photographs, maps, land plot diagrams, a pamphlet, a list of pioneer families who arrived in St. Brides in 1927, and a letter with an envelope to Sister Mary Winnifrid in Edmonton from Father MacDonell in Inverness-shire, in Ireland, on vows taken on April 14, 1956. There are also lists of of Sisters who taught or were missioned to St. Brides from 1934 to 1964, as well as correspondence about collecting information to create a history of St. Brides, and newsclippings on the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of St. Brides Parish. There are printed pictures and photographs of the Sisters poised in from of St. Brides Convent in the mid-1950s, and photographs of the condominium residence of Sister St. Bride and Sister Rose Ellen in Edmonton. In addition, there is a photograph of a wooden and metal engraved plaque that was awarded to the Sisters for their fifty years of service in St. Brides from 1927 to 1977.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)This series contains records of the Sisters’ involvement in Grouard, Slave Lake, and Calling Lake, Alberta. This includes the December 1984 issue of Kinsemanito Centre, a newsletter published by the Aboriginal Catholic Ministries School located in Grouard. The Kinsemanito Centre was a training centre for Catholic Indigenous people interested in pursuing a religious career in ministry. The newsletter topics include the October 7, 1984, ceremony of a new priest who is also a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, Reverend Father Stanley Albert Fontaine, as well as an announcement of a workshop for men interested in priesthood, students providing commentaries on their studies, and a course outline for 1985. In addition, there are also lists of the two Sisters of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario, Sister Patricia McKeon and Sister Renee Stevens, who delivered classes in Grouard from 1983 to 1987.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)This series is a general history of the events and activities of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario’s ministry in the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alberta from 1922 to 2019. This series covers the founding history of the Sisters in France and the spread and growth of their sisterhood to eastern then western Canada. The series contains historical summaries, chronicles, and lists of the Sisters activities in Alberta. A number of the records are related to the properties, such as real estate insurances, invoices, property estimations, floor plans, and records concerning the leasing, sale and purchase of houses in Edmonton with a focus on two houses, one on 143rd Street and the other on 148th Street. There are business letters, donation lists, newspaper clippings, and a 1958 city map of Edmonton that documents the contribution of the Sisters’ service in education and social work in the parishes of central Edmonton. Highlighted is the Sisters’ volunteer work that supported the homeless people. There is correspondence, newsletters, and letters of recognition of volunteer work that document the Sisters and their partnerships with social welfare organizations such as the Boyle Street Co-op Youth Unit, the Elizabeth Fry Society, and the Edmonton People In Need Shelter Society (P.I.N.S.). There are also reports, pamphlets, and summaries of the Sisters’ activities at some of these organizations. There are also two noteworthy booklets, a Silver Jubilee souvenir booklet covering 1913 to 1938 and the Chronicles of Sisters of St. Joseph, Edmonton, ALTA covering 1922 to1962. In addition, there are photographs of the Sisters at the closing ceremonies of the St. Joseph’s Convent Regional House in 2001, in Edmonton, a news article about Sister Ethel Steinkey going to assist in New York after 9/11 and lists of the burial plots of deceased Sisters in three cemeteries in Edmonton. There are also photo albums that primarily contain photographs, as well as a list of Sisters, printed pictures and a news clipping related to the Sisters of St. Joseph’s western mission at St. Joseph’s Convent (Regional House), in Edmonton, Alberta.
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)