The fonds contains records created during the course of business of St. Mary’s Hospital and Marian Villa. The records present include meeting minutes and agendas, a donations list, a chronology of St. Mary’s Hospital, written histories, newspaper photographs, newspaper clippings, invitations, correspondence, reports, a pamphlet, publications, memorandums, meeting minutes, reports, a study, a scrapbook, a photo album, photographs, architectural drawings, a certificate of accreditation, and constitutions and by-laws.

This series contains documents relating to tertianship classes run in the 1950s and 1960s. There are programs, transcripts, a crucifix, booklets on religious scholarship, and photographs. Of particular interest is a history of the Congregation with a timeline.

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.

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 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 series contains records from individual towns in Ontario where the Sisters of St. Joseph of the London diocese were teachers and principals. This includes memoirs and a photograph from St. Boniface School in Zurich, Ontario and a yearbook from St. Mary’s High in Woodstock, Ontario.

This series includes material created by Mother Philomena Hussey and material collected about her. Included is biographical information; her obituary; an account by Sister St. Philip and correspondence, including some post cards, from Mother Philomena Hussey’s pilgrimage to Rome in 1925. There are also photographs of Mother Philomena Hussey, Sister Euphemia Hussey, James Cardinal McGuigan, and Mother Philomena Hussey with Sister St. Philip and their traveling companions to Rome. Also found are golden jubilee memorial cards; correspondence and a 1933 Report of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Diocese of London, Ontario; as well as correspondence concerning the governance of the Edmonton mission.