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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.

This series contains the records of the committees, meeting minutes and newsletters. Newsclippings on social justice issues, particularly poverty and human trafficking but also including the London Housing crisis, women’s rights, refugee rights, indigenous rights, the 2001 September 11th terrorist attack, the 2003 War in Iraq, The 1997 Kyoto protocol, and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It also includes intercongregational correspondence, photographs, correspondence with government and protest groups, fliers, brochures, and information leaflets on events and campaigns in London, Canada, and abroad.

The sous-fonds contains photographs of Sr. Mary Leo Kirwin’s Congregational and family life, as well as pamphlets and memorabilia from the reunions she attended for her teacher training class, personal prayer books, religious artifacts, a photo directory from the Diocese of London, correspondence, a quilt she made by hand, and a Red Cross pin she earned for her service.

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.

This series contains records related to the Ottawa, Ontario houses and ministries of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Pembroke diocese. The records contain annals, correspondence, photographs, and records related to renovations and property purchase such as invoices and a deed for the Wilbrod Street building. The annals are for Emmaus (Argyle Street) house, the Hull house, Laetare house, the Lebrun Street house, and the Wilbrod Street house. The Wilbrod Street house and the Lebrun Street house files contain a small number of photographs of the Sisters who lived at these houses as they took part in daily life, special events, and trips. Another file for Wilbrod Street contains a large number of photographs that were removed from an album, and depict the building, Sisters ministering in the community, and daily life. The series is interesting in that it shows experiments the Sisters undertook in community living and in vocation work.

This series contains records concerning the involvement of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the London diocese with the field of education in London, Ontario. This includes the Sisters’ time as students, teachers, principals, and administrators. The educational institutes are Catholic elementary schools and high schools, choir schools, the London Roman Catholic Separate School Board, post-secondary schools, and the Divine Word (the International Centre of Religious Education operated by the London diocese). One of the post-secondary institutions, London Teachers College, was originally named London Normal School. The material in this series consists of correspondence, pamphlets, photographs, news clippings, newsletters, board minutes, histories, yearbooks, and manuals. The correspondence is primarily concerned with administrative matters, the employment of Sisters, and arranging events. Notable topics within these records include teaching practices, anniversary events, Canada’s centennial, and G. Campbell Trowsdale’s study “An Alternative Elementary School in the Performing Arts: The St. Mary’s Choir and Orchestra Program.” There are also two vinyl records of choir performances from Catholic Central High School.

This sous-fonds contains material created and collected by Sister Emerita Godal. Sister Emerita was an avid cook and her recipes and cookbooks created by St. Joseph’s Ladies Organization of St. Joseph’s Parish and Blessed Sacrament Church in Chatham, Ontario are present here. There is also footage of a celebration in her honour in Chatham, Ontario, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of London’s Jubilee celebrations on June 12 and at Blessed Sacrament Church in Chatham, Ontario on June 3 in 1993.

This series contains historical summaries by the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario about their western mission in Rutland, British Columbia from 1970 to 1992. In 1973, Rutland merged with Kelowna, and officially became known as Kelowna. The historical summaries document the activities in the Parish of St. Theresa in the Nelson Diocese with topics such as: creating and managing the Parish Food Bank, organizing the annual fall St. Theresa’s Church Bazaar and farmer’s market, training lay people to lead baptismal preparation, the participation of Indigenous families in the church community, the challenges and process of teaching catechistic and development of the Canadian Catechism Series, a teaching aid book for catechists. The Sisters also recount their involvement with administering Development and Peace programs, Social Justice meetings, Marriage Encounter sessions, Suicide Prevention and Bereavement, Single Parent Support Groups, and re-instigating the Youth Group program. Topics also include mundane household activities like painting the convent and church, making drapes for the chapel, and large household purchases such as a Bell-Howell Automatic Film Projector. The Sisters also recount events such as attending workshops, retreats and conferences, celebrations, potluck dinners, watching Edmonton win the Grey Cup in 1981, cross country skiing, traveling in a snowstorm, and visiting Expo ’86 in Vancouver from June 24 to 28. In 1983, the Okanagan Mission and grave site of Father Pandosy, the first settler-pioneer-priest to arrive in the Kelowna area in 1858, was designated a B.C. Heritage Site. A newspaper article, “Father Pandosy’s Body Located in an Abandoned Burial Ground - Coffin found at last minute,” written by Ron Wade, on Wednesday, August 24, 1983, and published in the Kelowna Daily Courier is present. The Sisters kept close track of the archeological dig dubbed the Father Pandosy’s Project and include an account of paying homage to the gravesite in the historical summaries.

There is also correspondence amongst the Sisters and with the Nelson Diocese about the progress being made in the Parish and general news in the community. This series includes a list of Sisters who served in Kelowna from 1974 to 1989; a June 1, 1986, program brochure that celebrates the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Nelson, from; and a photograph of Sisters Claire Marie Alice Pageau, Loretto Healy, Margaret Frances (Ann Clare) Maloney, Caroline (Concessa) O’Connor, and Leona Catherine Givlin on Thanksgiving Day in 1976, in Kelowna. In addition, there is a photo album that documents the Sisters participating in various social, cultural, and religious activities (celebrations, seasonal holidays, and confirmations) within St. Theresa’s Parish (Church, Rectory, and Convent), in Kewlona, and going on day trips to surrounding areas in British Columbia.

This series contains historical summaries of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario during their western mission in the Diocese of Nelson, British Columbia from 1970 to 2010. There is a chronicle of the activities of Sister Mary Lillian Kuntz in her role of administering the Marriage Tribunal in the Nelson Diocese from 1983 to 2010. She documents her academic pursuit to gain a degree and license in Canon Law at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa; tasks such as acting as secretary in meetings; and her travels, both for leisure and to attend retreats and conferences, to British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, Canada as well as in Montana, Utah, and Washington, USA. She also includes accounts of celebrations, the purchase of replacement cars, weekly potluck dinners and card playing referred as the Bridge Club, watching the Grey Cup games and the Winter Games in Nelson, and observing salmon spawning at Kokanee Park in British Columbia.

This series also contains a historical summary from 1994 to 1998 of the activities at the Anawim House of Prayer in Nelson, British Columbia. Sister Lynn Rouleau, Director, and Sister Mary Zimmer, Assistant Director operated a property complex of seven buildings that comprised the Anawim House of Prayer. The topics in the summary include managing the programs and groups of people who used the premise for meetings, workshops and conferences such as Spiritual Direction for personal contemplation, Youth Groups, Children’s Day Camp and Beach Campfires, Catechetical Workshops, Senior’s Health Rights Information Sessions, and retreats. There is also a short summary of the activities at St. Theresa’s Parish in Kelowna (Rutland) from 1970 to 1985, with a focus on the development and implementation of the Canadian Catechism Series, a teaching aid book for catechists.

This series has a list of Sisters who served in British Columbia, Nelson from 1985 to 1998, Kelowna (Rutland) from 1970 to 1992, and in Osoyoos, Oliver, and Trail, from 1975 to 1980. There is material related to the passing of other religious figures in the area. There is a printed program in memory of Nelson Bishop Wilfred Emmett Doyle, who passed in 2003. There is also correspondence, newspaper clippings, and obituaries on Reverend Edward Clement Doyle, who was passed in 1980. Finally, there is a May 14, 1980 program in memory of Reverend Edward Clement Doyle.

In addition, there are panoramic photographs of the Anawim House of Prayer and the Chapel in Nelson in 1994, and a photograph of Bishop Wilfred Emmett Doyle, two Sisters, and children in a church in Trail, British Columbia.