Fonds consists of the governance, administrative, and personnel records for the community of the Sisters of Service. This includes reports, financial records, meeting minutes, policies, General Chapter records, operational correspondence, publications by and about the SOS, photographic materials, audiovisual materials, personal records of Sisters, and a collection of artifacts and memorabilia related to the SOS.

In addition to records of the SOS members and co-foundress, Sister Catherine Donnelly, the fond also contains records of its priestly co-founders, Archbishop Neil McNeil, Rev. Arthur Coughlan, CSsR, and Rev. George Daly, CSsR.

The Fonds is divided into the following series:

1. Founding
2. Governance and Administration
3. General Chapters
4. Motherhouse
5. Novitiate, Formation, Vocations
6. Missions
7. Personnel
8. Writings
9. Catechetics and Religious Education
10. Photograph and Slide Collection
11. Audio Visual Collection
12. Artifacts and Memorabilia

Women’s Residence (1932-1968)

At the invitation of the Rosary Hall Association, the Sisters of Service assumed the ownership and its social work in October 1931. Founded in 1919, the association raised $25,000 to build an addition to Rosary Hall to accommodate 50 young women. The house at 478 Albert Street in downtown Ottawa was built by Thomas Seaton Scott, the first Dominion Architect. Rosary Hall provided a temporary home for women seeking employment in the city or convalescing after sickness. Under the Sisters of Service, the residence continued to provide a home-like atmosphere for young women from the local area as well as for immigrant women. St. Anthony’s Club, a social club at the residence, provided a meeting place for immigrants working as domestics, where they participated in sports, crafts, social and religious activities. The residence also offered an employment service. At the outbreak of the Second World War, immigration ceased and women from all parts of Canada flocked to Ottawa for employment. Sister Nora Fitzpatrick was a member of the staff of the Ottawa Housing registry, which found accommodation for women war workers in Ottawa. She looked after the interests of English-speaking Catholics. In the years following the war, Rosary Hall continued services to young women 17 to 21 years of age, who have come to Ottawa to work and to study in short courses. In May 1966, Madame Pauline Vanier, wife of the Governor General, visited the residence to attend the annual tea of the Catholic Women’s League in Ottawa for the benefit of Rosary Hall. The residence was closed in August 1968.

Sister Ella Zink (1968-1987)

Sister Zink held a series of positions in Ottawa. A member of the permanent secretariat office of the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC), she served as its general secretary (1965-1968) and as its public relations director (English section, 1967-1973). For the Catholic Hospital Association of Canada (1973-1975), she was assistant executive director for public relations and publications. At the YMCA and YWCA as the public relations officer (1975-1980), she broke new ground as a vowed religious Sister working for a non-religious organization. During her years in Ottawa, she also was a member of the publicity committee of the Social Planning Council of Ottawa-Carleton and a board member of the Catholic Family Services of Ottawa. In 1980-1982, Sr. Zink served as chair of the Canadian Public Relations Society of Canada. As chief examiner of the society (1973-1987), she headed a board, which approved the accreditation of public relations practitioners. She received an award of merit from the society.

Sister Mary Ellen Francoeur (1994-2008)

Sister Mary Ellen Francoeur with a doctorate in clinical psychology and training in spiritual direction, conducted a clinical practice. Deeply involved in the peace movement, she became the national president of Religions for Peace Canada as well as many social justice projects.

Subseries consists of correspondence, reports, newsclippings, scrapbooks, community annals, activity lists, and visitors books from the Ottawa missions.

File contains correspondence and reports from the SOS Rosary Hall residence mission in Ottawa, Ontario. In addition to general administrative correspondence, correspondence is with the SOS motherhouse in Toronto, Fr. George Daly, the lay administration of Rosay Hall, and other community members.

The Missions Series consists of the correspondence files of the 54 missions established by the Sisters of Service in Canada and two international missions since 1922 until 2012 when the Sponsorship Agreement with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto was signed.

The Institute of the Sisters of Service was founded to be a presence from the ports to the homesteads in an attempt to heighten the awareness of the large number of European immigrants of the English-speaking Canadian Roman Catholic Church. Through the apostolates of immigration, rural education, religious education, women’s residences and rural health care, the sisters assisted those in need across Canada. From 1926, and for the next four decades, the Sisters met the immigrant ships at Pier 21 in Halifax, and three other eastern ports welcoming and assisting the newly-arrived at their entry to Canada.

In the Western Canadian missions, the Sisters lived in rural communities to teach in remote public schools, and opened two small hospitals in Central Alberta. In the cities, their women's residences offered short-term accommodation for women and educational workshops in a home-like atmosphere.

Keeping the faith among Catholics, the Sisters taught catechetics on weekends and reached the largest number of children through their religious correspondence schools in Edmonton, Regina and Fargo as a means to instruct Catholic children in their religion. In the summers, all available Sisters visited small communities to teach the faith and prepare the children for the reception of First Communion and Confirmation.

The sisters did not reside in large convents, instead lived in modest accommodation similar to the people in the missions. The missions following the Second Vatican Council reflect the call for renewal to provide service as teachers, pastoral, social and health care workers in locations of the most need, in particular in northern Canada.

The series consists of correspondence, reports and annals/chronicles, which are arranged alphabetically and chronologically. The textual material also contains histories, memorabilia, newsclippings, meeting minutes, and documents pertaining to the specific ministries of each mission.

The Motherhouse series consist of records created to document the activities of the Toronto Motherhouse, the administrative headquarters of the Institute of the Sisters of Service. In the city's mid-town, foundress Catherine Donnelly lived briefly in a house at 97 St. Joseph Street before the purchase of 2 Wellesley Place in August 1922. Strategically located within the sight of the Toronto archbishop's residence and around the corner of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, the Motherhouse was also the residence for the Sister General, the permanent administrative staff, and sisters appointed to assist in household duties or sisters employed in Toronto and area. The Motherhouse provided accommodation for visiting SOS, their families, other religious visitors, and friends.

When the Wellesley Place property was expropriated in 1968 by nearby Wellesley Hospital, a new headquarters and residence was constructed and opened in 1970 at 10 Montcrest Boulevard, overlooking Riverdale park in the city's east end. To update the residence for senior sisters, the Motherhouse was renovated between 2000 and 2002. Later, the house was gifted to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto as part of the sponsorship agreement in 2011.

A cottage as a summer respite for the sisters was purchased in 1968 near Keswick, on Lake Simcoe, an hour's drive from Toronto.

The series consists of correspondence, newsletters and inventories of the household contents. The volumes of annals provide the primary records in documenting the daily events, activities and visitors at the Motherhouse.

The series is divided into the following subseries:

1. 97 St. Joseph Street
2. 2 Wellesley Place
3. 10 Montcrest Boulevard

Accession consists of records collected and created by Growth Facilities including select building, facilities, and equipment management files; records of programs including the Department of Botany International Seed Exchange; departmental histories, publications and subject reference materials; associated academic course content and research files; photographs, and early blueprints for the Greenhouse [196-] and extension [1979].

This fonds contains 76 accessions and 3 archived websites. See accession-level descriptions for more details.

This fonds contains 11 accession of records. See accession-level descriptions for more details.

The Administration Series consists of the records of Rev. George Daly, CSsR, spiritual and financial director (1922-1956), the elected leadership of Sisters General, council members and later directors, (1937-2011), the changing governance through the Circle Meetings (1998-2011) and the preparation for the Sponsorship Agreement with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.

Correspondence documents the writing of the rules [of the congregation], approved in 1934 and the process of the rewriting the constitution and statutes between 1978 and its approval in 1983. The spiritual life is documented though community prayers, conferences, and liturgies while correspondence and reports of the original apostolates of the immigration, residences, hospitals, and teaching depict the success and challenges of the missions.

Changes in customs, rules, personnel and missions, as well as deaths and spiritual reflections were relayed through the circular letters of Sisters General and Father Daly. In response to Second Vatican Council’s call for renewal through participation by all members, sisters were kept abreast of the sisters at university and the opening/closing of missions from newsletters, From Headquarters and Council Notes.

Financial correspondence and reports document Fr. Daly’s financial management through bond issues and varied fund-raising options. Records show the early close collaboration and financial support of the Catholic Women’s League, the major contributor for 30 years, and the more than 500 benefactors. Financial statements of the SOS corporation and the Daly Foundation are included, as well as correspondence and documents of real estate purchases and sales.

The correspondence and reports, which are arranged alphabetically and chronologically, consist of the requests to establish missions, and annual reports to archdioceses and dioceses, where the sisters’ missions were located. Correspondence, reports and meeting minutes document the Circle meetings (1998-2011); the developments leading to the sponsorship agreement. At the signing of the agreement on 26 January 2011, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto assumed the administration of the Sisters of Service.

The series is divided into the following subseries:

1. Finances
2. Constitution, Rules, Customs
3. Spiritual Life - Prayers, Conferences, Liturgies
4. Apostolates - Immigration
5. Apostolates - Residences
6. Apostolates - Hospitals
7. Apostolates - Teaching
8. Sister General - Circular Letters
9. Sister General - Correspondence, Reports
10. General Council
11. Circle Meetings
12. Directors' Meetings
13. Sisters of Service of Canada Corporation
14. Real Estate
15. Correspondence, Reports - Archdiocese of Toronto
16. Correspondence, Reports - Archdioceses, Dioceses
17. Correspondence - Clergy
18. Correspondence [General]
19. Reports
20. Benefactors, Annuities, Bequests
21. Canadian Religious Conference
22. The Daly Foundation
23. Sponsorship Agreement with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto
24. Archives

This fonds contains 87 accessions of records. See accession-level descriptions for more details.

Accessions include the personal records of Larry Wayne Richards, architect and educator, documenting his personal life with his partner, Frederic Urban, their education and Richards’ professional life, especially his teaching and administrative work at the Nova Scotia Technical College and as Dean of Architecture at the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto. Also documented is his involvement in multiple design projects, both as a working architect and as an advisor. Included is his work as a member of the Physical Planning and Design Committee at the University of Toronto (especially for Graduate House), the restoration of 230 College Street, his extended collaboration with Kin Yeung (Blanc de Chine, WORKshop), and his participation in municipal architectural and design projects. There are extensive files on his work for the Canadian Centre for Architecture, including the Venice Biennales of 1991 and 1996 and as an advisor to the Royal Ontario Museum’s ‘Renaissance ROM’ project (architect, Daniel Libeskind). There are also files of correspondence and related material on many architects, in particular, Frank Gehry.

Subseries consists of administrative and legal correspondence, lease agreements, deeds, titles, and other materials relating to the acquisition and sale of various properties by the SOS.

Subseries consists of administrative materials from the 10 Montcrest motherhouse including community annals, item inventories, correspondence, and extension proposals. Subseries also includes materials relating to the spiritual and social life of the motherhouse including information on chaplains, liturgies and songs from various events at the motherhouse, and guest book. Accompanied by collected newsclippings and articles about the property.

File contains correspondence and proposals for a zoning change and renovations to the 10 Montcrest motherhouse. Accompanied by photocopies of various architectural sketches and plans.

File contains correspondence, architectural plans, and copies of newsclippings from the move of the SOS archives from the CSJ Motherhouse at Morrow Park to the CSJ administrative building at 101 Thorncliffe Park Dr.

File contains correspondence, license agreement, insurance and transfer documents, mortgage, tax certificate, surveyor's plans, agreement of purchase, and other materials relating to the acquisition of the 10 Moncrest Blvd. property and it's later transfer to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.

Subseries consists of administrative materials from the SOS archives prior to their transfer to USMC. This includes archival reports, correspondence, information from archival moves, research requests, and reference materials.

Plan is drawn by J.B. Watson. Address of dwelling is unspecified but is likely to be 95 Chestnut Street.

Subseries contains records relating to the general finances of the Sisters of Service, particularly in their early year. These include: bonds, financial correspondence, financial reports, ledgers, and other fundraising endeavours.

File contains correspondence, deed, transfer documents, surveyor's plans, agreement of purchase, and other materials relating to the acquisition of the 12 Moncrest Blvd. property and it's later transfer to the Catherine Donnelly Foundation.

File contains correspondence, adjustment report, agreement of purchase, surveyor's report and map, tax certificate and report of assessment for the Glen Road property. Accompanied by documents from the Ontario Municipal Board relating to an appeal made regarding building and renovations.

File contains correspondence and surveyor's maps relating to the sale of the Boradview Avenue property. Accompanied by excerpts from a Toronto Public Library Historical Walking Tour of the Danforth which include the property [1992].

File contains correspondence, statement of investment, mortgage documents, surveyor's plans, agreement of purchase, and rezoning appeasl regarding the Bayview Avenue property.

File contains correspondence, zoning appeals and surveyor's plans relating to the sale of the Bayview Avenue property.

File contains maps, survey sketches, and other architectural documents from the Dorchester Street property.

File contains correspondence, title, discussion of finances, and plans for a new hospital in Edson, Alberta.

File contains notes, correspondence, and a miniature blueprint sketch for possible properties to be acquired by the SOS.

Records document the implementation Effluent-Free Mill (EFM) and Salt Recovery Process (SRP) by ERCO Envirotech Ltd. at the Great Lakes Paper Company in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Records were compiled by Prof. Douglas W. Reeve, the lead process engineer for the Effluent-Free Mill (EFM) and Salt Recovery Process (SRP) technology during the process pilot plant development, mill design, mill construction and the extended start up. Records include ERCO Envirotech Ltd. technical communications, published articles, photographs, drawings, etc. Material includes bound copied correspondence, proposals, technical reports, manuals, engineering drawings and original photographs. It covers the construction of the facility, research and development, and the ongoing communications around the process.

Fonds consists of the records from the Upper Canada Academy and the period when Victoria was situated in Cobourg. It includes records of the Academy Treasurer, John Beatty, and of the Bursars/Treasurers, John Potts and George Cox.

Subsequent records are from the Bursars of Victoria University:

• W.J. Little (1932-1951)
• W.C. James (1951-1963)
• F.C. Stokes (1963-1985)
• Larry Kurtz (1985-2003)
• David Keeling (2004-2009)
• Ray deSouza (2009-2023)
• Kenneth Chan (2023-2024)
• Anthony Yeung (Interim Bursar); Vikas Mehta (Interim Chief Operations Officer) (2024-2025)
• Jennifer Ankrett (2025-

File consists of an annotated score with notes from a 1965 performance by the Canadian Opera Company, directed by Herman Geiger-Torel with Wolfgang Martin, conductor; Brian Jackson, set designer; and Suzanne Mess, costume designer.

Performers: Garnet Brooks, Darlene Hirst, Donald Young, Maurice Brown, David Geary, Margaret Tynes, Roxolana Roslak, Joanna Myhal, Royce Reaves, Phil Stark, Arlene Meadows, Thomas Park, Danny Tait, Ian Garratt, Wallace Williamson, Tito Dean, Oskar Raulfs, Ermanno Mauro, Abbot Anderson.

This fonds contains 74 accessions of records. See accession-level descriptions for more details.

File consists of an annotated score with lighting cue notes and a stage plan for a production of Ariadne auf Naxos. English translation handwritten into the score. Herman Geiger-Torel directed the Royal Conservatory of Music Opera School's English-language production in March 1969 with Ernesto Barbini, conductor and Murray Laufer, designer.

Performers: Steven Henrikson, James Bradford, Avo Kittask, George Reinke, Lorna Hearst, Elizabeth Douglas, Wilmer Neufeld, Peter Barcza, Stephanie Gerson, Mary Lou Fallis, Nancy Gottschalk, Margaret Zeidman, Paul Trepanier, Gerard Boyd, Steven Henrikson, Frederick Donaldson, Ralph Oostwoud, Igor Saika-Voivod, Ricki Turofsky, Helen Grant, Sonia Rohozynsky, Silvia Buchanan, Clare Bewley, Michele Dowsett.

See accession level description(s) for details.

Includes applications for admission (rejected), 1957-1968; applications for admission (pre-medicine,year 1) (1957-1968, 1960). Also include documentation on the planning and construction of the Medical Sciences Building including progress reports, files on facility requirements and specific spaces as well as architectural drawings and photographs.

This series consists of records related to the Society properties and residences owned by the Society, including China Mission College (1918-1921) in Almonte, Ontario; the purchase of the Bickford Estate (later known as the Guild Inn) for the St. Francis Xavier China Mission Seminary (1921-1924) in Scarborough, Ontario; and the purchase of land at 2685 Kingston Road in Scarborough, Ontario to house St. Francis Xavier Seminary and the Society’s headquarters.

Also included are records related to the site of Nazareth House, the Society’s novitiate, in St. Mary’s, Ontario, other properties in Canada and overseas, and properties bequeathed to the Society.

The series is divided into the following subseries:

1.

This fonds contains comprehensive documentation on all aspects of Richard Lee’s work as a well-known anthropologist. Correspondence, found within Series 1 but also throughout the fonds, is multifaceted and includes both incoming and outgoing letters with colleagues, students, university administrators and publishers. His teaching lectures and numerous papers, talks and drafts of publications represent a full body of work that synthesis his research from his early work with the the Ju/'hoansi-!Kung San of Botswana and Namibia to his evolving interest in indigenous human rights and the impact of Aids/HIV in southern Africa. This fonds is rich in original research including original collated data, field notebooks, grants requests and general notes. Much of this is supplemented with photographs and sound recordings related to his research and publications. Finally, files relating to professional meetings and groups document the overall field of anthropology, Lee’s role within it and the changing nature of the discipline and the role of anthropologists in society.

This accession contains Art Committee meeting minutes, reports and memorandas. The accesion also contains correspondence from the office of the Director Ken Bartlett and Art Curators Dr. Elizabeth and Liz Wylie, Directors Joan Randall and Sheila Campbell, and from the office of Peter Richardson, Principal of University College. Also contains architectural drawings of the Art Gallery, the Art Centre, and the Malcove Gallery.

Contains textual records that document the developmental phases and operation of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the administrative activities of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company and the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company Joint Board of Directors.

The archives contain a range of documentation relating to the foundation, history, and activities of the University of Toronto Scarborough. The materials have been arranged largely by originating department or by medium in the case of publications, photographs, clippings, architectural plans, and artifacts. There are ten series, several of which have subseries:

A. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO GOVERNING COUNCIL

B. EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE BODIES
B.1. Principal
B.2. Vice-Principal, Research
B.3. Dean and Vice-Principal, Academic
B.4. Assistant/Associate Dean
B.5. Registrar
B.6. Superintendent
B.7. Director of Physical Education
B.8. Director of Educational Communication Systems
B.9. Scarborough College Council
B.10. Office of Advancement / Development Office
B.11. Office of Admissions and Student Recruitment
B.12. Communications & Public Affairs
B.13. Committees with Unknown Office of Origin

C. ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS
C.1. General Programs in Arts and Science
C.2. Extension Program
C.3. Department of Anthropology
C.4. Department of Arts, Culture & Media
C.5. Department of Biological Sciences
C.6. Department of Computer & Mathematical Sciences

C.7. Department of Critical Development Studies
C.8. Department of English
C.9. Department of French and Linguistics
C.10. Department of Historical and Cultural Studies
C.11. Department of Human Geography
C.12. Department of Management
C.13. Department of Philosophy
C.14. Department of Physical and Environmental Science
C.15. Department of Political Science
C.16. Department of Psychology
C.17. Department of Sociology
C.18. Department of Physical Education

D. SERVICES
D.1. Library
D.2. Scarborough-Erindale Technical Service
D.3. Gallery
D.4. Athletics and Recreation Services
D.5. Physical Plant Services
D.6. Student Services
D.7. Student Organizations
D.8. Alumni Services
D.9. Alumni Organizations
D.10. Faculty and Staff Services
D.11. Faculty and Staff Organizations

E. EXTERNAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
E.1. History of Scarborough College (various sources)
E.2. University of Toronto – St George and Mississauga campuses
E.3. Centennial College
E.4. Durham College
E.5. Scarborough Regional School of Nursing
E.6. University of the West Indies
E.7. Trent University
E.8. City of Scarborough
E.9. Clippings and Scrapbooks

F. PHOTOGRAPHS AND MICROFILM
F.1. Photographs
F.2. Microforms

This series consists of architectural and technical drawings for existing, proposed, and demolished Victoria University buildings. Both academic and non-academic use buildings are included.

Except for photographs, this series contains little documentation on Davidson Black’s employment before 1917 when he enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps and went overseas. The bulk of this series relates to his work in China at the Peking Union Medical College, his anthropological research including his discovery of "Peking man", and his travels within China and to Mongolia, India, Siam, and elsewhere.

The files contain correspondence, photographs, addresses, and publications (including some drafts), and memorabilia. Most of the photographs were taken by Dr. Black himself, though some were taken by Adena and others (especially presentation copies) by friends and colleagues. Dr. Black carefully annotated many of the photos he took, often in considerable detail even to the time of day and the shutter speed used. Included are a few glass-plate negatives and about 50 lantern slides. The negatives are usually dated and were kept except if they were in good condition. On his travels, Dr. Black collected autographed photographs of many of the scientists and academics he met; these are included in this series.

This series begins with files that Professor Lang’s broad activities within OISE/UT as recorded in his performance assessments, activity reports and course evaluations. There are followed by files on the Provost’s OISE Committee of the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, which include material on the first pass at the thorny issue of the possible integration of OISE into the University of Toronto. Most of the files relating to the Higher Education Group, with which Professor Lang was primarily associated at OISE, contain material spanning almost 20 years on examination questions.

The bulk of this series, however, relates to the merger of OISE with the U of T to create, in 1995, OISE/UT. Professor Lang’s personal work binders on the merger are present, as are legal and other documents on the merger, followed by implementation files, including those of the Academic Implementation Task Force and on the issues relating to OISE’s property. The series concludes with files on the OISE/UT Joint MPHEd program with the Faculty of Medicine (2003-2004).