Providence Flashbacks

A Lenten Letter

A Lenten Letter

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Mother Mary Clement was General Superior from July 1927 to July 1930. She wrote a letter to all the Sisters for Lent in 1930 that was sent to all the convents and missions. Here are a few extracts: Dear Sister Superior and Sisters:- I...

Dating Architectural Photographs

Dating Architectural Photographs

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Many photographs in the Archives do not have dates, but we can try to use clues in the photographs themselves to establish a date range. I can often narrow down the dates of photographs of Sisters based on what type of habit the...

The Novice in the Sewing Room

The Novice in the Sewing Room

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVISTMuriel Black entered the Sisters of Providence as a postulant in August 1950 and received the Habit in March 1951. Sister Black made first profession in August 1952 taking the religious name Sister Stella Maris. As a novice, Sister...

Learning Home Economics

Learning Home Economics

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST   Sister Mary Anita taught Grade 7 Home Economics from 1954 to 1958 at St. Michael’s Academy in Belleville, Ontario. Here are a few photos of her students during those years.

A Summer Outing

A Summer Outing

A vintage postcard of the Varuna, a passenger steamboat that plied the Bay of Quinte from 1880 to the 1920s.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST A lovely summer excursion by two Sisters in Trenton to Lake on the Mountain near Picton, as described in the Annals of St....

Looking Back to the Smallpox Epidemic of 1879

Looking Back to the Smallpox Epidemic of 1879

Postcard of Mill Street, Deseronto, ca.1900. Courtesy of the Deseronto Archives.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The COVID-19 crisis has been likened to the 1918 Flu epidemic; yet, if we look in the Archives there are also many similarities with smaller localized...

Celebrating Jubilees During a Pandemic

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVISTCOVID-19 is not the only pandemic in the Sisters of Providence’s history to prevent Jubilees from being celebrated. Historically jubilees were not celebrated altogether annually in June the way they are now. Instead they were celebrated...

St. Michael’s Band, Belleville

St. Michael’s Band, Belleville

BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST St. Michael’s Band, a rhythm band, was formed in 1934 in Belleville by Sister Mary Mercedes. The students were originally recruited from Grade 1 at St. Michael’s Academy and many of the same children stayed in the band into their high...

Remembering the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Remembering the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

St. Mark’s Convent in Prescott, OntarioBY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The Fall of 1918 was a tumultuous time as the First World War wasn’t over yet, but soldiers were starting to arrive home from Europe bringing with them an unwelcome guest – the Spanish Influenza....

Women in Science Day

Women in Science Day

Sr. Mary Cornelia in November 1947 in the lab at Providence Hospital Moose Jaw, SKBY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST February 11th was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science Day. Sr. Mary Cornelia Schauenberg worked in science her entire career, as the...