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Series contains authorizations from the General Council of the Sisters of Saint Anne in Quebec, which overseas the St. Joseph's Province Sisters of St. Ann.

In the matter of expenditure and other substantive or important issues affecting St. Josephs Province, including personnel, the provincial body was obliged to seek approval from the more senior, General Council (Conseil Majeur) especially if an expenditure exceeded a certain amount.

These decisions or Acts were generally made during the regular meetings of General Council. They were signed by the Superior General and countersigned by the General Secretary. Occasionally a special meeting was convened to address the request from the Provincial Council.

In cases of large land or expensive building purchases, the permission came from the Holy See.
Series consists of hand written acts (1859-1913) and typewritten (1914-1965) decisions of the General Council as well as telegrams approving various transactions when time was of the essence.

Series consists of appointments for Sisters into missions or roles within the congregation. Appointments – also called obediences, nominations, assignments or annuaries – record where each Sister was missioned, living, studying or convalescing in any given year. They document the Sister's name, location, and often role within the mission but no other identifying information.

The bound volumes, starting in 1933, are divided into Provinces and then into houses. The appointments for St. Joseph’s Province by house (MS-3569-05) were created from the originals for ease of reference. Additional lists and statistics were compiled on a variety topics including list of Sisters and Sisters who have left the Community, SSA institutions as well as school and hospital statistics.

This series also contains internal telephone, address and e-mail directories.

Series consists of newsletters, journals, periodicals, and other material produced for wide distributions amongst the Sisters, at local house, provincial, and congregational levels. The newsletters provided information about missions, anniversaries, jubilees, and other news within the broad community. They were also intended to foster bonds between geographically separated Sisters across their many missions.

The series is comprised of three subseries: A. Journals, Annals, and newsletters subseries; B. L'Antenne subseries; C. St. Ann's Journal subseries.

The item is a recorded interview with Mr. Cornelius "Corny" Kelleher. Tape 1: Kelleher recalls his father, Mortimer Kelleher, Mortimer's early days in British Columbia, and his settlement in Mission City in 1868. He speaks about the mills in Mission City; the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Mission [OMI] settlement of the mission in 1862; First Nations people at the mission; construction and location of the mission buildings; the Sisters of St. Ann convent; his father's work for the mission; the Kelleher family farm; Passmore family; other settlers in the Mission area; childhood at Mission school, surveying for the CPR in 1882; clearing and construction for the CPR; first passenger trains in 1886; steamboats.

Tape 2: Mr. Kelleher discusses steamboat service; construction and maintenance of the dikes at Matsqui Prairie; Matsqui Land Company; the Maclure family; early settlers in Matsqui; the Purver family, discusses farming incidents; naming Abbotsford; CPR link to the U.S.; Huntington; Mission City; roads, railways; [period of silence on tape]; remittance men; Bellevue Hotel, Matsqui Hotel; railway bridge; shipping fish; sturgeon fishing; First Nations methods of fishing.

Tape 3: Mr. Kelleher continues with his recollections of fishing on the Fraser River; salmon fishing; Indigenous place names; other place names; Joe DeRoche; childhood adventures; First Nations stories about ;Hatzic Island; First Nations hunting methods and doctors; Sam McDonald and Frank Wade, Maclure, "Supple Jack" from the Matsqui reserve; Mount Baker; Jim Trethewey and family; ;saw and grist mills; description of the O.M.I. Mission; early settlers; subdivision of lots in Mission City; Riverside; C.B. Sword.;

Tape 4: Mr. Kelleher talks about Mr. Barnes, Mr. Sword, the Matsqui dike and other incidents.

This series consists of records related to Sisters of St. Ann who left the congregation. Sisters who left the community were usually provided a loan from the Province in order to establish themselves outside of the congregation, and their personal records such as baptismal or birth certificates returned to them. The majority of records in this series pertain to the former Sister's decision to become a Sister, including requests to the Mother Superior for entrance to the novitiate, and her decision to leave, with documentation of her existing financial debts and record of repaying those debts or having them forgiven.

Not all women who entered the novitiate professed their final vows, and the records of those women are not always retained.

Series consists of records relating to the congregation's General Commission meetings. The General Commission is a body with consultative power to promote unity and solidarity between general administration and the geographically disparate provinces, and is convened periodically by the General Superior. The General Commission evaluates the community experience lived between Chapters and determines the directives to be given. Taking into account the rapid evolution of the church and of the world, it encourages, throughout the congregation, a renewed impetus and ongoing adaptation of apostolic religious life.

The General Commission is composed of the General Superior, General Councilors, General Secretary, General Treasurer and the Provincial Superiors.

The records consist of directives, correspondence, reports, photographs, and a scrapbook.

Series consists of records created by the Sisters of St. Ann relating to their work at Kuper Island Residential School.

In 1890, Bishop Lemmons requested that The Sisters of St. Ann assist the de Montfort Fathers in administering the Kuper Island Industrial School, located on what is now Penelakut Island. The Sisters operated under the de Montfort Fathers until 1957 when the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) took over administration of the school. The OMI remained until 1973, and the Sisters until 1975.

The Sisters were responsible for educating students, and their work included planning lessons, teaching, planning religious celebrations and organizing extracurricular activities for the girls. Primary classes of boys were taught by Sisters, but all other aspects of the lives of boys at the school was supervised by the male religious order.

This series consists of two subseries: A) Convent subseries and B) School subseries. The convent subseries consists of the records relating to the activities of the Sister’s of St. Ann’s Convent/Local House and includes chronicles, local house minutes, accounts, a monograph, a history of the school and personal photographs. The school subseries consists of records relating to education of students, and includes correspondence, student art, photographs and ephemera.

While the chronicles are intended as records that document the happening at the convent primarily, the chronicler would also document students and school activities, though inconsistently.

This series consists of records related to The Sisters of St. Ann's work at Lower Post Residential School.

Lower Post Indian Residential School was opened in 1951 on Daylu Dena territory to provide Catholic education to Indigenous children from Northern British Columbia and the Yukon. Prior to the opening of Lower Post, many children had been sent to Lejac IRS in Fraser Lake or Grouard IRS in Alberta. Following changes to federal legislation, in 1968 the institution’s name and mandate changed from Lower Post Indian Residential School to Lower Post Residence, with some students living at the residence and attending school elsewhere.

Among the first contingent of Sisters of St. Ann who arrived at Lower Post Indian Residential School was a Registered Nurse. The Sister Nurse, besides taking care of the First Nations at the school and in the Village, was also on call for the residents of Watson Lake and the Air Force Base. This outreach service merited a grant of $100.00 per month from the Department of Health and Welfare for the Sister Nurse’s salary.

For the fall of 1970, the Provincial Superior of the Sisters of St. Ann assigned only four Sisters at Lower Post Student Indian Residence for the following school term. The Provincial Superior then announced in February 1971 that the Sisters would be withdrawing altogether. The Sisters of St. Ann withdrew from the school June 1971. The Residence remained open, operated by the federal government, until 1975.

Records in this series are divided into two subseries: A. Convent records; B. School records. The convent subseries contains records relating to the activities of the local house and convent, which includes chronicles, local house minutes and accounts, and photographs. The school subseries contains a typescript history of the school as well as a timeline of events, a yearbook, a manual for Yukon teachers, a film, and photographs.

Series consists of records related to Mount St. Mary Hospital in Victoria, during the time that the Sisters of St. Ann administered and staffed the institution.

Mount St. Mary Hospital was founded in 1941 as a home for “the aged and infirm and chronic cases” as an adjunct to the nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital. The land on which the hospital was built was purchased in 1939 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria, and that same year the Provincial Government announced a grant of $50,000 to the Sisters for the construction of the facility. The first building was completed in 1941.

In 1965, Mount St. Mary Hospital was asked to initiate an extended care program. A Board of Management was formed in 1967 and the constitution and bylaws were approved in 1968. The board consisted of nine members, six appointed by the Sisters of St. Ann, one appointed by medical staff and one by the City of Victoria. In 2003, the old Mount St. Mary Hospital on Burdette Street was demolished and the new Mount St. Mary on the corner of Fairfield Road and Quadra Street opened. From September 1990, Mount St. Mary Hospital has been owned and operated by the Marie Esther Society.

The records in this series are arranged into five subseries: A. Administration; B. Board of Management and Committees; C. Finance; D. Patient records; E. Photographs, artworks, and moving images.

Series consists of necrologies (nécrologie), which are a record of the death of a Sister and are distinct from an obituary, although the terms are often used interchangeably. A necrology is a liturgical book, its entries arranged according to the calendar and designed for liturgical reading. The necrologies and martyrologies were read out at meal times at the various SSA houses. Necrologies are comprehensive, detailing the Sisters’ early life as well as her life as a religious Sister. These necrologies document the lives of all Sisters of the congregation, not just those from St. Joseph's Province.

In Memoriam are similar to a necrology but can be much more substantial, and often consists of a booklet of information about the deceased, letters to and or about them, and other ephemera.

After 2010, necrologies were sent to the Province Leader electronically.

Official visitations for Catholic congregations are untaken by a superior in the congregation who visits each separate mission to ensure the residents there are maintaining faith and discipline in accordance with the mandates of the Church and the congregation.

For the Sisters of St. Ann, official visitations were made yearly by the Provincial Superior of St. Joseph’s Province. She was accompanied on these visits either by the Prefect of Studies or the Provincial Bursar, who also wrote reports. They visited each mission, a trip that generally took several weeks. Some of the more remote missions, particularly in Alaska, were visited less often. The Superior General, usually based out of Lachine, QC, was expected to visit all houses within the various Provinces at least once during her term as Superior General.

This series consists of the reports written by both the Provincial Superior of St. Joseph's Province and the General Superior. These are handwritten descriptions of her observations at each mission including: Adherence to the Rule, discipline, health of the Sisters, state of the building and classrooms, finances, and relationships with local clergy. In 1959 the report became a form with the following fields: Spiritual life, Religious Discipline, Poverty and Common Life, Chastity and Safeguards, Obedience, Fraternal Charity, Works, Lay Teachers, Lay Help, Statistics, Administration and Financial Report as well as recommendations.

The series consists of records created or retained by the office of the Prefect of Studies for the Sisters of St. Ann, a role that was established in 1890 to facilitate the organization and placement of teachers and to supervise all educational aspects of the schools. The role was also responsible for the Sisters' post secondary education and professional development, both religious and academic.

The Prefect of Studies maintained the records of her office alongside inactive school records routinely sent for permanent retention from each of the schools with the exception of Indian Residential Schools, which would usually be considered federal government records.

The series is comprised of five subseries: A. Administrative records; B. Sisters' education and qualifications; C. Student records; D. Prefect reports; E. Photographs.

Series consists primarily of copies of documents created for or by the Province Leader and Provincial Council, but also includes notes from various committees, historical notes on the Province, correspondence, photographs, statistics, and high-level documentation that related to the Province and the Congregation as a whole.

Originally, the Provincial Administrator was referred to as the Province Secretary, and acted as the secretary to the Provincial Superior or Provincial Leader. Until the early 2000s, this position was held by a Sister of St. Ann, now it held by a lay staff member. The position has since changed and has become known as Executive Director, and continues as of 2024. The Executive Director inherited the Province Secretary’s files.

The series has been arranged into two subseries: A. Provincial Administrator records subseries, B. Provincial Administration office files subseries. The second subseries reflects the previously unprocessed records with little provenance that were arranged into this series after transfer to the BC Archives.

The series consists of records generated by the activities of the Provincial Superior, including: correspondence, circular newsletters, reports, Provincial Council and Provincial Chapter records, policy documents, correspondence with the General Council and staff of the congregation, and photograph albums. In particular, these records arise from her responsibility of convening the Provincial Council, reviewing the work of the sisters, maintaining daily correspondence, addressing the needs of individual sisters, convening the Provincial Chapter, visiting the local houses of the province and reporting to the General Superior.

According to the Constitution and Rules of the Sisters of Saint Anne, the Provincial Superior is invested with personal authority and has the responsibility of administering the province so as to help the local communities and local Superior in their office. She is appointed to the position by the General Superior in consultation with the sisters for a term of three years, renewable to six years. The Provincial Superior is accountable to the General Superior for the fidelity of the province to the Constitutions and Rules, to the capitular decrees, and the directives of the General Superior. The provincial administration has always been based out of Victoria, and relations with the Diocese of Victoria and other capital region entities are usually well represented.

In 2004 and in 2017, Co-leadership roles were established: Sisters Ann Thomson and Patricia Donovan served as co-leaders from 2004-2007 and in 2017 a triumvirate was elected: Sisters Marie Zarowny, Judi Morin and Joyce Harris. In June 2019, St. Joseph’s Province was suspended and a new Local Community was founded.

Series consists of records related to the Sisters' teaching mission at Queen of Angels School in Duncan.

Queen of Angels School opened in September 1964 as a partial replacement to the aging St. Ann’s Academy in Duncan. The school was built on land purchased by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was intended to be part of a ‘complete parochial plant’ which would contain a school, auditorium, church and rectory. Education of Indigenous children was integrated into the founding of the school, as the federal Indian Affairs Branch paid a percentage of the original construction cost. St. Ann’s Duncan was closed in June of 1964, and several of the Sisters transferred to Queen of Angels as teachers in the fall of that year.

The Sisters of St. Ann worked alongside priests and lay staff at Queen of Angels until their withdrawal in 1976. Sister Frieda Raab returned to the school as Principal in 1979 and resigned from the position in 1982.

The Sisters did not administer this school, and as such there is not as much documentation retained as with other Cowichan area schools. Records in this series include Prefect of Studies reports, staff evaluations, brochures, a letter to parents, sheet music and photographs.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Memories of Indian residential schools in B.C. RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-07-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Sister Norma Jeffs' recollections of her experiences as a teacher: background -- born in Vancouver, serious illnesses as a youth, decision to enter convent; why she chose the Sisters of St. Ann; first missionary experience on Kuper [Island] -- getting to know the Natives, teaching school, staff at Kuper, isolation from the mainland, dreary winters, runaway children; question of whether it was wrong to force own culture and religion on to Natives; experiences in Mission and Kamloops; positive and negative responses from Natives who went to residential schools; teaching the Native children English; some very bright students -- many success stories; differences between Kuper and Mission -- she set up a home-economics class in Mission, Oblates in Mission (missionary men from France); initially many Native parents did not want to send their children to school; canning fruit at St. Mary's Mission; beginning the mixing of boys and girls at school social events. TRACK 2: Sister Norma Jeffs remembers her time in residential schools: complaints Natives have about the schools -- they lost their culture through the church; boys mean to some of the girls; mistreatment of some Native children once they left the residential schools and were integrated into the main system; residential schools sheltered Natives from discriminatory world; language -- Nanaimo Natives now trying to teach their language to youth; many children from residential schools married each other; T.B. was very prevalent among Natives at Mission; difficulties getting money from the government; Indian Agents -- some very helpful; parents did not have much to do with the residential schools; supervising the dormitory at Kamloops residential school -- few problems, the girls listened to her; integration of different Native groups. (End of interview)

The collection consists of records related to the creation and function of the Sisters of St. Ann in St. Joseph's Province, which covers the geographic area of British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska, Oregon and Washington State. The SSA Archives acquired records created by the Sisters and the Corporation, as well as associated bodies such as parent-teacher organizations or alumnae societies for the schools they were involved in. The collection is currently arranged into 53 fonds, with the records created by The Sisters in one main fonds (PR-2415) which is comprised of approximately 140 series. The additional fonds are records created by external related bodies, such as the St. Joseph's Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae, Providence Farm in Duncan, and the Friends of St. Ann's Academy.

The Sisters of St. Ann were involved in education and healthcare throughout British Columbia as well as in the Yukon and Alaska, and the records in this collection represent those activities, as well as the place of the congregation in the broader Catholic landscape of Western Canada. Records reflect the Sisters' presence in parochial and residential schools as well as hospitals, but also their relationship to their motherhouse in Lachine, Quebec, and the reporting structures of a congregation of women religious. There are many series that are related to a specific institution where the Sisters worked, but additional information about that institution will be held in administrative series such as the Provincial Bursar records or the Provincial Superior records.

The records in this collection are on numerous formats, including textual, photographic, audio and visual recordings, artworks, published library materials, objects, and digital records.

This fonds consists of records created by The Sisters of St. Ann over the approximately 160 years that they have operated in the West.

St. Joseph’s Province, as an organizational structure, was formed in 1891 and incorporated by the Province of British Columbia in 1892. Prior to that, the governing body of the Sisters of St. Ann in the west was primarily the Vicariate, and the Vicariate’s records and functions were absorbed by the Provincial Administration within St. Joseph’s Province. The Province encompassed all the western provinces and the two territories of Canada as well as Alaska and Washington State. The Administration was composed of the Provincial Superior or Leader, her secretary and Councilors, the Provincial Bursar or Treasurer, the Provincial Archivist, and at one time, the Prefect of Studies, Prefect of Music, Mistress of Novices, and Directress of Juniorate. In 2004 co-leadership roles were established, with two Sisters as co-leaders in 2004 and a triumvirate created in 2017. In 2019, St. Joseph’s Province was suspended and a new Local Community was founded.

As it was an intermediate form of government, the Provincial Administration raised issues with the General Administration on behalf of the local houses, but was free to act on its own within the constraints of the Constitution and Rules of the Sisters of Saint Anne, particularly with regard to dispensations, permissions, finances, and establishment or closing of ministries. The Provincial Administration of St. Joseph's Province has always been maintained in Victoria, B.C., as a separate juridical entity and until 1974, was housed at St. Ann's Academy in Victoria. After the closure of the school and the sale of the buildings, the administration was moved to Begbie House at 1550 Begbie Street, Victoria, B.C.

Recording activities, transactions, and persons has always been a policy with the Sisters of St. Ann and these are found in ledgers, registers, and forms throughout the fonds, particularly in the context of schools. There are files of correspondence relating to certain subjects or activities, reports and copies of reports made to counterparts in the General Administration and vice versa, minutes of meetings, chronicles (house journals), journals of official visitations, school records, records of Sisters' studies, and a great deal of miscellaneous reference, "orphaned", or ephemeral material.

Series consists of records created by the Sisters of St. Ann who staffed the Skagway Sanatorium between 1945 and 1947.

During the Second World War, barracks were built in Skagway to house American military forces sent to Alaska to defend the coast. Towards the end of the war, and in response to the prevalence of tuberculosis, the Governor of Alaska sought to repurpose the buildings as a TB sanatorium. The Sisters of St. Ann agreed to provide nursing Sisters to staff the hospital beginning February 1945. The buildings were not hospitable, and in 1947 staff and patients were moved to Sitka, Alaska. The Sisters ended their involvement with the sanitarium in July 1947.

Records in this series include chronicles, local council minutes, financial records, a history of the institution, and photographs.

Series consists of records related to the Sisters of St. Ann’s work at the Tzouhalem Road property in Duncan, BC.

The Sisters purchased, by Crown grant, 400 acres in Cowichan between 1864 and 1870. The first convent and school was built on that land in 1864 under the direction of Father Pierre Rondeau, who had established a mission in Quamichan in 1861. Two Sisters arrived in October of 1864 with the mission of establishing a school for Indigenous girls.

When the school opened, 21 girls aged 4-18 were registered, from six local Fist Nations: Quamichan (Kwa’mutsun), Qw’umiyiqun (Comiaken), Xwulqw’selu (Koksilah), S’amuna’ (Somena), Lhumlhumuluts’ (Clemclemluts), Xinupsum (Khenipsen) and Tl'lulpalus (Cowichan Bay). In 1876 a decision was made that Indigenous girls in Cowichan would be taught as day students only, which allowed for the Duncan school lodgings to be renovated and enlarged to accommodate orphans sent from the overcrowded St Ann’s school in Victoria, as well as from other regions where the Sisters taught, including Alaska. After the E&N Railway was completed, more children from middle-class settler families began to attend the Duncan St. Ann’s school.

The Sisters began teaching boys at the Duncan school in 1904, after the closure of St. Aloysius Protectorate in Victoria. Increase in student boarders led to a need for a bigger school building, and one was constructed in 1921. This building was designed by Sister Mary Osithe as architect.

The school closed in 1964, with Sisters transferring to the nearby Queen of Angels School to teach. The building was briefly used as a novitiate in 1968, and the land was leased out in 1969. In 1979, Providence Farm was established on the site, an organization which is under the direction of The Vancouver Island Providence Community Association. This is an active organization as of 2023.

During the years the Sisters oversaw the school, it was known by a number of different names internally and externally, including: St. Ann’s Boy’s School, Duncan; St. Ann’s, Quamichan; St. Ann’s, Cowichan; The Farm; St. Ann’s Indian School for Girls; and St. Ann’s Orphanage for Girls.

This series consists of three subseries: A) Convent subseries; B) St. Ann’s School, Duncan subseries; C) Farm subseries.

Records in subseries A include chronicles of the school and convent, financial records, Local House minutes, Official Visitation reports, a monograph and history of the school, as well as a scrapbook of Sisters’ art and photographs.

Subseries B consists of records related to the administration of the school, and includes school registers, student accounts, application forms, grades, tests, monthly attendance reports, and photographs. Only a small amount of ephemera relating to the school has survived, and includes two year books (1940 and 1957), a school newsletter (1964), a visitor’s book, and programs and invitations.

Subseries C consists of records relating to the farm on the Duncan property that sustained the school, and includes accounts, receipts and expenses.

Series consists of records related to St. Ann's Academy in Kamloops, where the Sisters worked for almost 100 years.

On August 14, 1880 three Sisters of St. Ann arrived in Kamloops at the request of Bishop D’Herbomez, OMI. St. Louis Mission, the first SSA establishment at Kamloops, was located on the “Flats” to the west of the present city on Nicola Street on the traditional territory of the Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc. It later became known as St. Ann’s Academy, a boarding school for girls and a day school for both boys and girls.

In 1910, the Sisters purchased a 10-acre plot of land on the side of a hill overlooking the city and a new school was built on Nicola Street. With the larger building, a new art studio was added and commercial classes were offered. The new school was known at the time as “St. Ann’s on the hill.” In May 1945 the Academy was severely damaged by a fire which started in the attic. The school was not able to fully reopen for a year and a half but most classes continued at a variety of locations. In 1965 the Sisters sold the school to the Diocese of Kamloops but stayed on to staff the school. St. Ann's Academy remained a high school until 1970 when it reverted to an elementary school. The Sisters continued to administer the school until 1978.

In September 1965, the school accepted the students who were living at Kamloops Indian Residential School. The students were bussed over daily.

The series is comprised of two subseries: A. Convent subseries; B. Academy subseries. Records consist of chronicles, local house minutes, accounts, official visitation reports, inventories, pupil registers, pupil accounts, student lists, attendance registers, grades, exams, essays, yearbooks, newsletters, policies, and photographs. There is also considerable content related to the school's 100th anniversary in 1980.

Series consists of records of the Sisters’ work at St. Catherine’s Indian Day School.

While the school was built, funded and overseen by the federal government, the Sisters of St. Ann staffed the school and educated the students. When the school opened in 1939, it was expected that students would be transferred from Comiaken and Koksilah Schools as well as Kuper Island Residential School. Children from local Indigenous communities attended, including Quamichan (Kwa’mutsun), Qw’umiyiqun (Comiaken), Xwulqw’selu (Koksilah), S’amuna’(Somena), Lhumlhumuluts’ (Clemclemluts), Xinupsum (Khenipsen) and Tl'lulpalus (Cowichan Bay).

The goal of the school, as communicated by the Indian Affairs Branch, was to provide practical education, which included the promotion of gardening and creation of Cowichan sweaters. The school itself was located on Tzouhalem Road on the Cowichan Reserve, about 3 miles from the Duncan city centre. The Sisters left the school in 1969, with some teachers moving to Queen of Angels School.

The records consist of reports, chronicles, correspondence, a student newsletter and photographs. The chronicles within this series are different from others as they are predominantly about life at the school. The Sisters did not live at the school but at the nearby St. Ann’s Convent, Duncan.