Archives — Blog — Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph in Canada

Since 2016, the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Consolidated Archives has participated in the medical artifacts cataloguing project with St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ontario. As part of this project, 17 university students have acquired skills in museum registration, and many artifacts have been cleaned, labelled, photographed, and catalogued.

It’s been a fun project, as we’ve collaborated with the hospital staff, Noelle Tangredi, on two museum exhibits: one at the Provincial Legislature, and the other at Museum London. Noelle does a wonderful job of preparing medical artifact displays in the hospital exhibit space in Zone A, Level 1, off the main corridor closest to Richmond Street. We were so pleased that this space was officially opened by Sister Jane Marie Stock of our Congregation. Sister Jane Marie became the business manager and personnel director at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, serving in this role from 1955-1966. From 1966-1979, she was the Assistant Executive Director of Financial and General Services at St. Joseph’s Hospital, and served as Superior at the hospital from 1975-1976. She also served as a member of many committees and boards including St. Joseph’s Health Centre, London and St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation of London.

Our Congregation donated powder coated steel shelving for artifacts storage, and our Congregational Archivist obtained funding from the Catholic Archives Group for a museum database so that catalogue records of artifacts are easily searchable. She also developed a manual for use in cataloguing the collection. In exchange for our support, the hospital has repatriated archival records from the period during which the Sisters administered the hospital, for safekeeping and long-term preservation in our archives. To us, this project has been a model of collaboration and love for the history of the Sisters.

Because of the pandemic, the medical artifacts cataloguing project has been on hiatus. We look forward to the day we can return to continue this important work.

Please enjoy this article from St. Joseph’s Health Care about this collection of intriguing medical implements and devices, which were used during the period that the Sisters ran the hospital. St. Joseph’s Hospital was founded by the Sisters on October 15, 1888 and administered by them until it became St. Joseph’s Health Centre in 1993.

https://www.sjhc.london.on.ca/news-and-media/our-stories/passion-our-past

Left to right: Nurses in training; St. Joseph’s training school and residence, London, Ontario; Sister, doctors, and nurses in operating room; St. Joseph’s Hospital, London, Ontario 1915

Have you ever found hidden treasure? We have -- and it happened like this.

In early May, our archivist and I attended the annual alumni reunion of the registered nurses who graduated from the Sisters of St. Joseph School of Nursing in Chatham, Ontario which operated from 1901-1970. A feature of the luncheon was a large display of photos and artifacts from the years during which the school operated. This display attracted many of the 200 alumni who crowded around the photos to reminisce in joy and memories recalled. There were pictures of prim 1901 graduates looking serious in stiff white uniforms, proud grads of the 1940s in ankle length skirts, to rose-carrying young women of the 1970s.

These treasures were discovered several years ago following the amalgamation of St. Joseph’s Hospital with the Public General Hospital. During the move, an astute nurse at work spied the treasures in a pile – no doubt headed to the garbage. Sadly, no one thought of the value of these precious photos and the historic meaning they held for the Sisters, the hospital and for Canadian education and culture.

The swift actions of the nurse rescued the memorabilia and she stored it in her garage for several years. Our archivist’s presentation from the previous alumni gathering prompted her to unpack the treasures and share them this year with those who had lived and worked in those hallowed halls of healing.

At the end of the celebration, the findings were packed carefully and repatriated to the Sisters of St. Joseph where they are being accessioned meticulously into our archives. At last our treasures are safely home thanks to the quick thinking of an amazing woman who followed the prompting of her heart.

Jean Moylan, CSJ

Photo: Class of 1918 – St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, Chatham, Ontario
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada is situated on the Traditional Territories of:

the Mississauga Anishinaabeg adjacent to Haudenosaunee Territory and in the territory covered by the Williams Treaty, and Rice Lake Purchase Treaty 20

the Algonquin Anishnaabeg in the area covered by the Rideau Purchase or Treaty 27 and 27 ¼

the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and, the Lenape in the territory covered by Treaty 6 and Treaty 2 and,