Series F01-S110 - The Hope Project series

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Title proper

The Hope Project series

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  • Textual record
  • Graphic material

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on contents of series.

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Series

Reference code

CA ON00279 F01-S110

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1995-1996, 2009-2010 (Creation)
    Creator
    Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)

Physical description area

Physical description

10.5 cm of textual records
18 photographs : col., 18 x 12.5 cm or smaller

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1868-2012)

Administrative history

The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Diocese of London, in Ontario was first incorporated on February 15, 1891 under chapter 92 of the Statutes of Ontario, 1870-1.

On December 11, 1868, at the request of Bishop John Walsh, five Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto arrived in London, Ontario. Mother Teresa Brennan, Sister Ignatia Campbell, Sister Ursula McGuire, Sister Francis O’Malley and Sister Appolonia Nolan were accompanied by Reverend Mother Antoinette McDonald and were welcomed by Bishop Walsh, Rev. J.M. Bruyere, V.G., and Rev. P. Egan, pastor of St. Peter’s Church. Awaiting the Sisters were sleighs that transported them from the train station to a temporary home at 170 Kent Street.

In accordance with their mission in London, three Sisters began teaching at St. Peter’s School in January, 1869. After classes, they visited the sick, the poor and the imprisoned. They were also mandated to open an orphanage in the future. In order to accomplish these tasks, more Sisters and larger facilities were necessary.

On October 2, 1869, the Barker House at the corner of Richmond and College Street in North London was purchased and the Sisters moved there from Kent Street. The building was named Mount Hope, and it became the first Motherhouse of the Sisters, eventually housing the elderly, orphans, Sisters and novices.

On December 18, 1870, the Sisters of St. Joseph became an autonomous congregation in the London diocese, independent of the Toronto congregation. Sister Ignatia Campbell was appointed Superior General, an office she held until 1902. On February 15, 1871, the congregation became legally incorporated.

On October 7, 1877, an addition was made to Mount Hope. This building stood until it was demolished on August 3, 1980, surrounded by the growing healthcare institutions founded by the Sisters, beginning with St. Joseph’s Hospital which opened at 268 Grosvenor Street on October 15, 1888, and followed by the opening of St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1895, and the construction of a new nursing school building in 1927, which saw its last graduation in 1977. On May 1, 1951, St. Mary’s Hospital was opened, followed by Marian Villa on January 12, 1966. In 1985, the hospital complex was renamed St. Joseph’s Health Centre, and ownership was transferred in 1993 to St. Joseph’s Health Care Society.

But it was not only in London that Sisters saw the need for healthcare and nursing education. On October 15, 1890, they opened St. Joseph’s Hospital on Centre Street in Chatham, Ontario, which remained under their control until 1993. In 1895, they opened St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing, which saw its last graduation in 1970. On October 18, 1946, they opened St. Jospeh’s Hospital at 290 North Russell Street in Sarnia which remained under their control until 1993. In Alberta, they administered St. Joseph’s Hospital in Stettler (1926), St. Joseph’s Hospital in Galahad (1927), the General Hospital in Killam (1930), and St. Paul’s Hospital in Rimbey (1932).

On April 10, 1899, the Sisters opened Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse, Novitiate and Orphanage at the former Hellmuth College at 1486 Richmond Street North in London. The orphans were moved to this new location from Mount Hope, which remained a home for the elderly and was renamed House of Providence on June 3, 1899. The orphanage remained at Mount St. Joseph until it was moved to Fontbonne Hall in 1953 (to 1967). The original Hellmuth College building was demolished in 1976.

Later, on September 14, 1914, the Motherhouse and Novitiate moved to Sacred Heart Convent at Colborne and Dundas Streets in London, with the orphans remaining at Mount St. Joseph. The Sisters lived at Sacred Heart Convent until 1953, when they moved back to the newly built Mount St. Joseph, on the original location of the former Hellmuth College. The new Motherhouse and Novitiate was officially opened on June 29, 1954. It was here that they continued a private girls’ school which had begun in 1950 at Sacred Heart Convent, and was now known as Mount St. Joseph Academy (to 1985). It was here too that they continued a music school which had also begun at Sacred Heart Convent and was now called St. Joseph’s School of Music (to 1982). The Médaille Retreat Centre began here in 1992, and the Sisters also administered a Guest Wing for relatives of hospitalized patients (to 2005). The Sisters departed Mount St. Joseph for their new residence, a green building at 485 Windermere Road in London, in 2007.

On September 4, 1873, St. Joseph’s Convent opened at 131 North Street in Goderich, Ontario, followed by other convents in Ontario, including Ingersoll (1879), St. Thomas (1879), Belle River (1889), Windsor (1894), Sarnia (1906), Kingsbridge (1911), Seaforth (1913), St. Mary’s (1913), Woodstock (1913), Kinkora (1916), Paincourt (1923), Maidstone (1930), Leamington (1932), Delhi (1938), Tillsonburg (1938), Simcoe (1938), Langton (1939), West Lorne (1957), and Zurich (1963)

The Sisters also opened missions in other parts of Canada, including in Alberta: Edmonton (1922), Wetaskiwin (1929), St. Bride’s (1934); and in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Yellowknife (1953), and in British Columbia in Haney, now Maple Ridge (1956), and Rutland (1970). Branching even further afield, Convento San Jose was opened in Chiclayo, Peru in 1962.

Over the years, as well as their service as teachers in the separate school system, as music teachers, as healthcare workers, as nursing educators, in providing care to orphans, and in providing parish ministry, pastoral care, and administering spiritual retreats, the Sisters were also involved in social service ministry. In Windsor, they opened the Roy J. Bondy Centre on September 13, 1970 which was a receiving home for the Children’s Aid Society, withdrawing in 1982 but continuing to provide residential care for disabled children afterward. In London, they opened Internos, a residence for teenage girls attending school and later for troubled teens (to 1979). This was followed by the opening of St. Joseph’s Detoxification Centre on September 13, 1973 (to 2005) and St. Stephen’s House, an alcoholic recovery centre on February 1, 1982 (to 2000). Loughlin House in London opened as a residence for ex-psychiatric female patients in 1986 (to 1989), followed by the Home for Women in Need at 534 Queens Avenue in 1979 (to 2004). Later, St. Josephs’ House for Refugees was opened in 1987 (to 2005), followed by St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre, a food security program, on February 2, 1983.

On November 22, 2012, the congregation amalgamated with those in Hamilton, Peterborough, and Pembroke into one charitable corporation under the name Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Act, a Private Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario which received Royal Assent on June 13, 2013.

Custodial history

Scope and content

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.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Transferred from Sr. Catherine Stafford, General Treasurer, to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives - London site.

Arrangement

Language of material

  • englanti

Script of material

    Location of originals

    The records are located at The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives.

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Access to records containing personal information of applicants is restricted to public access. These are:
    F01-S110-01-01
    F01-S110-02

    The Archives reserves the right to restrict access to the collection depending on the condition of the archival material, the amount of material requested, and the purpose of the research. The use of certain materials may also be restricted for reasons of privacy or sensitivity, or under a donor agreement. Access restrictions will be applied equally to all researchers and reviewed periodically. No researcher will be given access to any materials that contain a personal information bank such as donor agreements or personnel records, or to other proprietary information such as appraisals, insurance valuations, or condition reports.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Permission to study archival records does not extend to publication or display rights. The researcher must request this permission in writing from the Archives.

    Finding aids

    There is a series and file list.

    Generated finding aid

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    Accruals

    No further accruals are expected.

    General note

    The Hope Project ran from 2009-2010 in London, with the first meeting about the project in March, 2009. It was funded by a donation from the Congregation, and provided grants of between $20 and $200 to people with ideas to bring hope to their communities. The project was run by Sr. Catherine Stafford and Helene Diesbourg and was based on a similar project run by Sr. Catherine in Edmonton in 1995-1996. The project in Edmonton was sponsored by the Hope Foundation and involved the administration of small grants ($20-$100) to be used to spread hope. A project was also run by Sr. Yvonne Parent in Windsor. The Windsor project started in 2009 with a grant of $10,000 from the Congregation, which was disbursed in 2010. Funds were requested for 2011and $2,000 was received from the Congregation, with instructions to seek funding from four business partners. It was not possible to find partners, and so the Windsor project came to an end.

    In London, Sister Catherine and Helene visited with contact people at local agencies who recommended applicants who then took part in the application process. The local agencies received the applications. Some of these agencies had strong connections to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The agencies included Cross Cultural Learner Centre, My Sister’s Place, and St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre. My Sister’s Place, originally Home for Women in Need, was run by the Sisters. The Cross Cultural Learner Centre is connected to the Congregation through the Sisters’ donation of the Refugee House behind the St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre. The Hospitality Centre is a soup kitchen run by the Sisters. Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre, Crouch Community Resource Centre, and the London Intercommunity Health Centre were other agencies which accepted applications for the Hope Project.

    Over the course of The Hope Project in London there were 50 funding requests, with total project expenditures of $7,455. The types of projects that were funded included supporting the purchase of YMCA memberships, musical instruments, pet care, health or dental care, and household supplies.

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    Rules or conventions

    Status

    Revised

    Level of detail

    Partial

    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    November 2, 2016
    July 2, 2020
    May 22, 2023

    Language of description

      Script of description

        Sources

        Helene Diesbourg, personal communication; Sr. Yvonne Parent, personal communication; Sr. Catherine Stafford, personal communication.

        Accession area