Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Daughters of Charity Archives
Province of St. Louise

Access Policies

The Archives is closed weekends and holidays. All photocopying is done by the staff at a charge of 50 cents per copy.

Reference Policy:

The Archives accepts reference requests by letter, phone, and email. Staff time for reference requests is limited to 2 hours.

Borrowing Privileges:

All collections are non-circulating.

Networks/Consortia:

None

Background Note:

The Company of Daughters of Charity St. Vincent de Paul was founded in France in 1633. The Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's was founded by Elizabeth Seton in Emmitsburg, MD in 1809. In 1850, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s joined the Paris-based Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. In 2011, the Province of St. Louise was formed from the consolidation of four former provinces: Albany, Emmitsburg, Evansville, and St. Louis. The collections of the newly-established Provincial Archives reflect this consolidation. The chronological scope of the collections is 1809 to the present. The geographic scope of the collections mirrors the boundaries of the Province of St. Louise: from the East Coast (including portions of the Province of Quebec in Canada) to the Rocky Mountains.

Description of Collections

Books and monographs:

Approximately 10,000 volumes concerning the history of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul including its founders, leaders and ministries from 1809 to the present; also scholarly books concerning the community’s founders (Vincent DePaul, Louise de Marillac, and Elizabeth Ann Seton) and Vincentian spirituality.

Periodicals and newspapers:

No newspaper collection; selected newspaper articles appear throughout the manuscript holdings, filed with the appropriate mission.
Periodicals: Vincentian Heritage and Annals of the Congregation of the Mission are available for research.

Archives, manuscripts, correspondence, and oral histories:

The archival collections measure approximately 12,000 linear feet, inclusive dates from 1809 to the present. Materials include brochures, pamphlets, letters, diaries, newspaper articles, and Provincial Annals. Subjects covered include the charity, nursing, social work and teaching missions of the Daughters of Charity; the community’s work during natural disasters, epidemics, and armed conflicts such as the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II; lives of community saints and leaders; history of the Catholic Church in the United States, especially in areas where Daughters of Charity have been present; history of women religious in the United States; women’s higher education.

Paintings, photographs, slides, and prints:

Paintings: The Archives contain religious artwork collected from former missions, paintings of community saints, and original artwork of Sisters.
Photographs, slides, and prints: Images of missions are organized by mission. Photos of individual Sisters are housed with files on those Sisters.

Subject Headings