This series concerns the Sisters of St. Joseph’s involvement in education in Ontario. The records are focused on school boards, associations, educational policies and regulations, and the changes to Catholic education. The types of records included in this series are minutes, bulletins, newsletters, magazines, booklets, clippings, photographs, correspondence, annual reports, and event programs. The major educational organizations these records deal with include the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, the Ontario Separate School Trustees Association, the Waterloo Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board, the Huron Perth Separate School Board, the Separate School Board of London, and the Association of Catholic High School Boards of Ontario. Much of the material concerns changes to education and Catholic education in Canada, and many publications on the topic are included. Some of the publications were created by the Sisters, such as The Changing face of Catholic Education in London 1858-1963, a study for the Separate School Board of London, Ontario. Sister Patricia Hogan was the Religious Co-Ordinator for the magazine Spiritual Development and several issues of this magazine and clippings of articles written by her are present. Sister Alice Marie McDonald and Sister M. Stanislaus McKinnon were involved with the Provincial Committee on Aims and Objectives of Education in the Schools of Ontario which created the Hall-Dennis Report. Photographs of Sister Alice Marie McDonald and members of the committee working on said report are present along with a summary of the report from the view of Catholic schools.

There are also minutes from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph Advisory Board, a committee within the community that oversaw the involvement of Sisters in education. This included institutes operated by the Sisters and those where the Sisters were employed. The minutes include discussions of contracts, school policies, reports from teachers’ meetings, and Christian education. Amongst the minutes are agendas, correspondence with the advisory board, bulletins, and statistics of Sisters working in schools.

Additionally, there is material focused on the history of the Sisters’ involvement in education and Catholic education in Canada. There is correspondence concerning the establishment of Huron Perth Separate School Board Archives and histories of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Goderich, Kingsbridge, St. Mary’s Town, Seaforth, Zurich, and Kinkora, Ontario. Dr. Elizabeth Smyth studied women religious who taught in Canada and there is correspondence about her research with the Sisters. There are various publications by Dr. Elizabeth Smyth, including her thesis, The Lessons of Religion and Science: The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph and St. Joseph’s Academy, Toronto 1854-1911.

This series contains records related to the ministry in Mount St. Patrick Ontario, conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Pembroke diocese. There are histories, newsclippings, financial accounts from 1957-1962, correspondence related to education and the withdrawal of the Sisters from Mount St. Patrick in July 1963, lists of Sisters who served in Mount St. Patrick, and ephemera related to a reunion in August 1987 and a 150-year celebration in 1993 of St. Patrick’s parishioners.

This fonds contains the annals of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Pembroke, Ontario. There are annals recording the Sisters activities in Pembroke and at each mission. The annals cover the Sisters activities in Penticton, British Columbia; Barrhead, Alberta; Radville and Regina, Saskatchewan; Bancroft, Barry’s Bay, Calabogie, Deep River, Des Joachims, Douglas, Madawaska, Mount St. Patrick, Ottawa, Pembroke, Petawawa, Renfrew, and Whitney, Ontario; Campbell's Bay, Chapeau, and Quyon, Quebec; and abroad in Peru. Some annals also contain information about contemporary events and the history of the mission locations. In addition to the annals there is relevant correspondence, meeting minutes, news clippings, histories, and photographs about the Sisters and the locations of the missions. There are also the written vows of Sister Mary Patricia, a report on poverty in Peru in 1997, a list of Bishops of the Pembroke Diocese from 1898 to 1993, and publications of The Parish Bulletin from 1976-1980.