Fonds - Presentation Congregation (St. John's, Newfoundland) fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Presentation Congregation (St. John's, Newfoundland) fonds

General material designation

  • Multiple media

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  • Source of title proper: Title is based on the Congregational documentation in the fonds

Level of description

Fonds

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Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1833-2002, predominantly 1950-1985 (Creation)
    Creator
    Presentation Congregation Archives

Physical description area

Physical description

30.5 m of textual records
4 architectural drawings
2 technical drawings
200 photographs: b&w
9 paintings
19 drawings
19 film reels
29 video cassettes
36 audio cassettes

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

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Archival description area

Name of creator

Biographical history

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation was founded by Nano Nagle in 1776 in Cork, Ireland. Miss Nagle was educated at home and in France. When she returned to Ireland, where the penal laws prohibiting Catholic schools were still in force, she undertook "to labour for the instruction of the poor." By 1769 she had organized seven schools throughout the city of Cork, all secretly rented and staffed at her own expense. Eventually, she persuaded the Ursuline Order to sponsor a community in Cork to undertake the education of girls as boarders and day pupils. However, the children who could not attend school inside the enclosure of the convent were still not being educated, so in 1775, Nano Nagle and three other women of like mind formed a small religious congregation known as the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Their main purpose was to teach the children of the poor. After their foundress' death in 1784, the name of their religious congregation was changed to the Order of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1833, Bishop Michael Fleming of Newfoundland went to Ireland and requested the Presentation Sisters from the Galway community to establish a mission in Newfoundland. In a deep spirit of generosity, four of the Sisters volunteered. They were: Sister Mary Magdalen O'Shaughnessy, Sister Mary Xaverius Lynch, Sister Mary Bernard Kirwan and Sister Mary Xavier Maloney. They arrived in St. John's on September 21, 1833 on the brig Ariel and the Sisters opened their first school on October 21 of the same year. There were 450 children eager to be admitted.

The formal organization of the materials that had accumulated within the congregation since 1833 was begun by Sister Mary Teresa Francis Tobin in 1972 and has been continued by the Sister Archivists ever since. The first record keeper for the Presentation Congregation was Sister Mary Agnes O'Keefe.

Custodial history

Scope and content

Fonds consists of Nano Nagle journal (1802-1825); an Irish Sister's journal (1911); educational scrapbooks (1850s); election register (1833-1987); an annual renewal registry (1938-1957); acts of reception and profession registry (1846-1869); professions and deaths registry (1871-1952); registers of the Sodality of the Children of Mary (1946-1958); various membership/enrollment journals (1910-1964); correspondence (1833-2002); account books (1881-1961); financial statements/records/reports (1876-1877,1920-89); minutes of various meetings (1875-1999); legal documents (1784-1999); decrees (1855 1958); religious vow documents (1846-1856, 1905, 1907); annual reports/statistics of the Congregation (1942-1984); Annals of Harbour Grace (1833); annual visitation reports (1962-1965,1988); Latin documents (1883-1972); French documents (1845-1867); various certificates and awards (1952-1995); four architectural drawings; two technical drawings; nine paintings; twenty-one sketches; approximately two hundred photographs, the majority of which are black and white; nineteen film reels of various sizes; twenty-nine video cassettes, predominantly VHS; and thirty-six cassette tapes, some of which contain oral histories.

Fonds also consists of reference materials in the form of books, thesis', booklets, research papers, speeches, newspaper articles, obituaries, artifacts and an art collection which relate to the foundress, early pioneer Sisters, the congregational foundations, membership and their apostolic work; The fonds has been divided into the following series:
100 Records relating to Nano Nagle; 200 Records relating to the four pioneer Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland; 300 Records relating to the early foundations prior to amalgamation; 400 Records relating to the amalgamation Process; 500 Records relating to the government of Presentation Congregation; 600 Records relating to the Presentation foundations in Newfoundland and elsewhere; 700 Records relating to the apostolic works of Presentation Congregation; 800 Records relating to programs in formation and spirituality; 900 Records relating to the Presentation interrelationships at Diocesan and Parish levels; 1000 Records relating to the Presentation Congregation Multi Media Collection.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Restrictions on access may apply. Consult the archivist.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Finding aids

    Finding aid is available; file-level access.

    Associated materials

    Related materials

    Accruals

    Further accruals are expected.

    Alternative identifier(s)

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    Standard number

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    Description record identifier

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    Rules or conventions

    Status

    Draft

    Level of detail

    Partial

    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    Created - May 14, 2013

    Language of description

    • English

    Script of description

      Sources

      Accession area