The Sisters of Charity Archives - Major Holdings

Please note that collection material comes in many formats, including manuscript and typescript documents, files, books, textiles, newscuttings, photographs, audio-visual recordings, paintings, drawings, and a wide range of objects.

Extract from 1833 Constitutions (English translation), manuscript ca. 1886. This extract highlights the purpose of the Congregation: Service of the Poor.

Congregational government and administration

Congregational Chapter records
Acts of Chapter, correspondence, reports, planning and preparation documents

Superior General & General Councillors records
Minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence files, circulars, newsletters

Body Corporate records
Minutes of meetings

Regional Superiors records

Congregational Bursar's records
Ledgers, balance sheets, correspondence files, reports, minutes of meetings

Congregational Secretary's records
Correspondence files, personal files of members

Sisters of Charity from the community of St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne relaxing at a picnic. Mother M. Berchmans Daly, the Foundress of the Hospital, is the Sister holding the umbrella. Ca. 1918.

Religious life

Convent records
Annals, photographs, minutes or reports of assemblies and other meetings, liturgical material, financial records, correspondence

Spiritual formation records
Novitiate records, Committees' records, Retreat records

Admission records

Personal records
Unofficial records such as diaries, notebooks, private correspondence, artwork, spiritual reflections, photographic records.

Religious Vows of Sisters Mary Veronica O'Brien, manuscript. 1850. This document is traditionally written by the novice who is about to make her religious profession. The Sisters of Charity take the usual religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and, in addition, the vow of service of the poor which characterises the Congregation.

Ministries

Note: record holdings for individual facilities, governance structures or initiatives vary greatly.

Health and aged care ministry records (hospitals, hospices, medical research, aged care, and governance structures)

Education ministry records (congregational and individual ministries in primary and secondary schools, including boarding colleges, tertiary colleges, and adult education)

Child care ministry records (orphanages and other residential care facilities)

Overseas missions ministry records (congregational and individual ministries in various fields throughout the world)

Welfare ministry records (various congregational and individual ministries being expressions of the Vow of Service of the Poor: for example, prison visitation, counselling, Aboriginal Awareness, Social Justice, Outreach)

Spiritual and Pastoral ministry records

Miscellaneous ministries records

Extract from the Album of Paintings and Drawings by Captain Starlight (aka Frank Pearson). 1884. This album was presented by the famed bushranger to two Sisters of Charity who visited him over a number of years whilst at Darlinghurst Gaol. The ministry of Prison Visitation is one of the traditional expressions of the Congregation's Service of the Poor.