The Missions Series consists of the correspondence files of the 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.

Series divided into subseries by mission location.

At the invitation of Archbishop James McGuigan of Regina, the Sisters arrived to establish a catechetical house, purchasing a house at 2220 Cameron Street from the Sisters of St. Louis in August 1934. A month later, a religious correspondence school, similar to their school in Edmonton, opened officially and the Sisters began to send correspondence lessons to rural Catholic children in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario. At its peak, enrolment rose to 7,000. Four sisters and many volunteers undertook the mammoth task of conducting this distance learning school. In the summers, the Sisters followed up the lessons with the religious vacation schools, preparing children for the sacraments and meeting many of the correspondence students.

Although the correspondence school was the mission’s priority, the Sisters gave weekly classes in methodology of religion to education students; edited the “Children’s Page” and “Mailbox” in Salve Regina Quarterly; prepared the annual junior and senior diocesan examinations and accepted the responsibility for assembling 6,000 “Project Books” for the religious vacation schools. For more than 20 years, they mailed Catholic magazines and papers to thousands of Catholic families living on the prairies. The Sisters organized the Marian Crusaders Club to promote devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to provide a bond of union among correspondence school students. On weekends for more than three decades, the Sisters taught religion to Regina children attending public school and at the city’s mission churches of Lumsden, Qu’Appelle, Indian Head, Pilot Butte and McLean. The Sisters assisted St. Martha’s Guild, an organization for young working women. In the 1930s, the Sisters also distributed winter clothing to rural families.

In 1962, changes began. On the same site, a new building was opened to house the correspondence school and the Sisters’ residence. The correspondence school adopted and adapted an updated series of the United States texts of the On Our Way Series. After the Second Vatican Council, the Home Religion Program was established. To assist parish schools in 1967, Sister Carmelita Camozzi conducted 41 workshops in parishes and missions. The success of these parish schools resulted in a decreased enrolment of correspondence students. As a response to the Home Religion Program, the correspondence school became a depot for the lessons of a new series, Come to the Father, approved by the Canadian bishops. In 1971, the correspondence school was renamed the Daly Centre in honour of Father George Daly, who guided the establishment of the schools. From 1971 until 1980 under the auspices of the National Office of Religious Education in Ottawa, a team of religious educators met annually at the Daly Centre to continue the preparation of the Come to the Father series and its successor Born in the Spirit series. After 1984, the correspondence lessons were printed and distributed from Ottawa. In June 1991, the Home Religion Program was transferred to the Archdiocese of Regina.

The mission at 2220 Cameron Street was closed in 2001.

Subseries consists of reports, correspondence, newsclippings, bequests, research notes, community annals, and materials from the religious correspondence school/Daly Centre. Also includes community annals from the nearby cottage owned by the SOS in Paqua Lake, SK.

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

Sisters Patricia Burke and Anna McNally provided social services support and teaching in this First Nations (Chipewyan) community of northwest Saskatchewan. The region is the home of the Clearwater River Dene Nation (Tı̨tëlase tué). Sister Burke served as the director of social services for the La Loche region of the provincial Department of Northern Saskatchewan. During this period, she travelled to the offices in Uranium City and Buffalo Narrows. Sister McNally taught at Ducharme School, where she was vice-principal for three years and was instrumental in the Dene High School adapting the school curriculum to the student needs. The mission was opened in 1975 and closed in 1979.

Subseries consists of community annals, correspondence, mission histories and reference materials, newsclippings, and newsletters from the SOS mission in LaLoche.

In 1941, the Sisters moved from Morris Street to a larger residence at 5206 Tobin Street, which was located at Barrington and Tobin Street just across the park from Pier 21 where the Sisters assisted newly-arrived immigrants for four decades. Accommodating up to 34 young women between the ages of 17 and 25, the women’s residence/hostel offered a home-like setting, balancing religious atmosphere with recreational activities sewing, dances, showers and wedding breakfasts. For five decades, the Sisters from the residences held catechetical classes local parishes, summer camps at White’s Lake and Meaford Beach (1949-1955) and visited the city’s hospitals. The Tobin Street residence closed in 1991.

Subseries consists of correspondence, financial reports, imigration reports, advisory board meeting minutes, anniversary celebrations, community annals, newsclippings, background historical materials, and documents from the closing of the Tobin Street mission.

The Sisters of Service came to this railway junction on October 19, 1926 to reopen a vacant two-storey frame hospital and to provide health care in west central Alberta. Archbishop O’Leary of Edmonton blessed and officially opened the newly-named St. John’s Hospital on December 8, 1926. Although inadequate, the hospital served Edson and the surrounding area until the Sisters replaced it five years later with a 37-bed two-storey brick structure. Up to 12 Sisters staffed the hospital as nurses, dieticians, x-ray technicians and office staff with the assistance of lay doctors, nurses and support workers. The Sisters converted the first hospital as their residence.

The only large facility between Kamloops, BC and Edmonton, St. John’s Hospital served the miners from Coal Branch, lumbermen from surrounding camps, farm families and local residents. From 1928 until 1970, the hospital treated 47,300 patients. Sister Mary Halder joined the staff of the Alberta Rural Development Program (ARDP), established in the Edson area, as coordinator (1967-1972) of the Home Visitor’s Program, providing total health assistance from nutrition to counseling.

Through the years, the Sisters also took an active part in Sacred Heart parish and other local parish communities. Weekly religion classes were conducted during the school year. Each summer, the Sisters taught catechetics and provided sacramental preparation to the children in the surrounding areas.

A third St. John’s Hospital with 50 beds opened officially in December 1969 and was funded by the Province of Alberta as the federal national health program assumed responsibility of facilities. The two former hospitals were demolished. An extended care facility was attached to the hospital and was completed on September 19, 1980. This brought the total bed capacity of the St. John’s health care complex to 106. The Sisters withdrew from administration in favour of the Edson municipality in April 1991 and transferred the ownership of St. John’s Hospital to the Alberta government.

Two Sisters remained, serving as Eucharistic and music ministers at Sacred Heart Church, in the hospital and nursing homes as well as providing religious instruction. A legacy from Sister Evelyn Tunney, who worked in the hospital's office (1956-1975), partially covered the cost of stained-glass windows donated in 2004 to the church. In recognition of Sister Hermine LaMothe’s 43-year contribution to the community, the town of Edson named a subdivison and a street in her honour. Sister Kathleen Allen was honoured as the town’s senior citizen of the year in 1995. The mission closed in the summer of 1997.

Subseries consists of administrative and community records from the SOS mission in Edson, Alberta. File types include: correspondence, reports, newsclippings, histories, annals, leases, hospital board meeting minutes, ephemera from anniversary celebrations, hospital by-laws, appraisal reports, and materials relating to the transfer of hospital ownership to the Alberta government.

The teaching mission was founded in July 1938 at the request of Regina Archbishop Monahan and Father Beechy, the local parish priest. The small Diamond Coulee School and a smaller house were located in Bergfield, a village in southern Saskatchewan. In August 1940, the Sisters moved to Diamond Crossing, where they lived in the former RCMP barracks and taught at the Jutland school. Throughout the years, the Sisters taught catechism, sacramental preparation organized a choir in nearby Minton as well as at the missions of Lake Alma, Ratcliffe and Gladmar, often on weekends. The mission closed in 1948 when the two rural schools were closed and the students were transported by bus to Minton.

Subseries consists of the history, annals, correspondence, and reports produced by the SOS mission in Bergfield, Saskatchewan.

File contains histories of the Brazil mission written by the SOS Sisters stationed there. This includes some handwritten notes accompanied by scans of photos, as well as copies of the letters from the Brazil Sisters to the Canadian community which were published in the SOS magazine, The Field at Home. Accompanied by a circular letter from the Edmonton province of the Redemptorists pertaining to the SOS mission in Brazil. File also includes two maps of Brazil, one by Catholic Relief Services.

This mission in central eastern Brazil was opened in conjunction with the Redemptorists of the Edmonton Province as part of an initiative of religious communities serving in developing counties.

After extensive language training in Portuguese and preparation at the Coady Institute in Antigonish, NS, Sisters Lydia Tyszko and Leona Trautman left Canada in June 1969. For spiritual development, the Sisters taught religion classes for children and catechists. Sister Trautman worked among the women, teaching literacy and art to children as well as sewing for a small crafts business. Sister Tyzsko served as a social worker and taught a typing class.

In October 1970, Sadie MacKinnon, a lay nurse, joined the Sisters to assist for a few months. The Missionary Sisters of Jesus Crucified assumed responsibility of the mission in December 1971.

Subseries consists of the correspondence, circular letters and reports produced by the SOS mission in Casa Nova, Brazil, as well as newsclippings about the SOS's activities and community there. Accomapnied by correspondence with the Redemptorists relating to the establishment of the mission and fundraising events for the mission.

File contains a history of the SOS activities in Bergfield and the surrounding communities (Diamond Coulee, Minton) written in 1961-62 by the SOS at the request of Fr. Lambertus, pastor of St. Eugene's Catholic Church, Minton, Saskatchewan. Accompanied by some internal SOS correspondence, correspondence with Fr. Lambertus, scans from an unknown source on the region's history, sketches of a monument erected in 1962 in Diamond Crossing in honour of the SOS, sketches of the area, and a rough-drawn annotated map of the municipality and surrounding area (undated).

File contains summaries, personnel lists, correspondence, articles from the SOS magazine, the Field at Home, and other materials documenting the history of the SOS mission in Regina. Accompanied by some tourist and historical pamphlets on Regina, including a 1930 road map of Saskatchewan produced by the Provincial Highways Department.

This fonds contains 12 accession of records. See accession-level descriptions for more details.

Subseries consists of reports, correspondence, maps, postcards, and research materials created and accumulated by the General Council in their investigation of regions to establish new missions.

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

File contains reference materials including maps, essays, and excerpts from academic texts on the history of LaLoche.

File contains the lease, title, and related correspondence regarding property to be purchased by the SOS for the establishment of a nursing home in association with St. John's Hospital. Accompanied by a surveyor's map of the area.

File contains materials regarding the closing and sale of the Tobin Street residence. File types include: correspondence, mission evaluation/reflection, newsclippings, financial documents, sketches, photos and a map of the house and neighborhood, and agreement of sale.

This series consists of records documenting the work of the General Council of the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society. It is divided into the following subseries:

1. Minutes
2. Reports and Briefs
3. Circular Letters
4. Newsletters
5. Intra-Council Correspondence
6. Correspondence with Society Departments
7. Correspondence with Missions and Society Houses
8. Correspondence with Holy See
9. Correspondence with Mission Ordinaries
10. Correspondence with Ordinaries
11. Correspondence: Subject
12. Correspondence: General
13. New Mission Searches
14. Diaries
15. Surverys
16. Financial Grants

This accession consists of textual and cartographic materials documenting the lives of several members of the Simcoe family in the United Kingdom and Canada. It covers the activities of four members of the Simcoe family, John Graves Simcoe, Elizabeth Posthuma (Gwillim) Simcoe, their son Francis Gwillim Simcoe, and their eldest daughter, Eliza Simcoe. The fonds also contains material documenting the activities of various other members of their extended family and descendants.
Materials documenting the activities of John Grave Simcoe include correspondence, reports and cartographic material documenting his service in the British army in North America and England, his five years as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and his unofficial activities as a landowner managing Wolford Lodge throughout his professional career.
Elizabeth Simcoe’s activities are documented through several diaries that predominantly cover her time accompanying her husband in Upper Canada. Her life after this, spent in England, is also represented through a significantly smaller extent of diaries and correspondence with relatives and friends. Her diaries are accompanied by a large number of watercolour sketches and maps that illustrate scenes in Upper and Lower Canada represented in the diaries.
The military activities of Francis Gwillim Simcoe in the early 19th century are represented by a single series of correspondence and a personal journal. Similarly, the activities of Eliza Simcoe are captured in a single series containing correspondence with friends and relatives.
Materials related to other members of the Simcoe family, including Captain John Simcoe, and John K. Simcoe, the father and grandson of John Graves Simcoe, respectively, are included in a single series. This series also includes genealogical information related to the Creed, Cole, and Hubert families, descended from Simcoe.
The fonds also includes three series of oversized materials that document the same activities as other series in the fonds, but for reasons of size, have been kept separate from the series to which they correspond.

Fonds consists of records documenting the life, ministry, scholarship, and professional service of Rev. William Henry Irwin, C.S.B. (1932–2024), as a Basilian priest, professor of biblical studies, researcher, and participant in theological and ecclesiastical governance. Dates range from the 1960s to the 2000s, with some earlier genealogical material.

Records reflect Fr. Irwin’s academic appointments and teaching at the University of St. Michael’s College (USMC), the Toronto School of Theology (TST), Wycliffe College, and other affiliated institutions; research and publication in Old Testament theology, Hebrew poetry, prophetic literature (especially Isaiah), psalmody, wisdom literature, and biblical interpretation; participation in professional bodies such as the Society of Biblical Literature; and service on committees responsible for theological education policy, accreditation, and institutional mission within the Congregation of St. Basil and partner colleges in Canada and the United States.

Materials include handwritten research notebooks; annotated typescripts and drafts of lectures, homilies, retreat talks, and scholarly articles; working bibliographies; course syllabi, lecture notes, handouts, and student evaluation forms; correspondence with colleagues, scholars, clergy, and institutional representatives; conference programs, papers, and planning files; editorial and peer review reports; minutes, memoranda, and reports of the Basilian Standing Committee on Theological Education and related bodies; accreditation self-studies, site-visit files, and related correspondence with the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC); published offprints, clippings, and collected excerpts—many with marginalia; maps, graphic materials, and photographs; genealogical research files on the Irwin, Hunsaker, and related families; and a bound personal journal documenting travel, parish work, and academic activities.