Fonds 0350 - Grande Prairie Roman Catholic School District No. 28 fonds

Board of Directors, Grande Prairie Catholic Schools Tri-Chairman Meeting to Finalize Amalgamation Lou Albinati, Chairman of the Board Mr. P.V. Croken, Board Member Staff at St. Joseph’s St. Joseph’s Grad Class St. Joseph’s Grad Class St. Joseph’s Grad Class St. Joseph’s Grad Class St. Joseph’s Grad Class
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Grande Prairie Roman Catholic School District No. 28 fonds

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  • Textual record
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Fonds

Reference code

CA GPR 0350

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1483 cm of textual records
892 photographs
46 architectural drawings

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1927-present)

Administrative history

The first Catholic education institution in the Grande Prairie area was established at St. Francis Xavier’s Mission on Sturgeon Lake in 1907. When St. Vincent’s Mission was established on Bear Creek in 1908, the brothers taught school to the Metis children of Flying Shot Lake, but not in a formalized system. In 1910 the townsite of Grande Prairie City was laid out across Bear Creek from the Mission, and soon there were one-rooms schools both in the village and in the Flying Shot Lake District, so the Metis children went to the public schools. By 1927, there were enough parishioners to demand a separate Catholic School Board, so Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 28 was formed. The school, named St. Joseph, was started with lay teachers, but by 1932 it was under the charge of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, with Sister Lucy as principal. This was the only Catholic School in the area until after World War II.

In 1946, Fr. Robert, OMI, encouraged the parishioners of Spirit River to create a separate school district. They appealed to the Grey Nuns, who were already running the hospital in Spirit River, to give them Catholic Education as well, but their request was denied. Finally, in 1948, Spirit River RC Separate School District 36 was formed. Two new Grey Nun Sisters arrived from Montreal and Ste. Marie School opened that September. In the meantime, Fairview RC Separate School District No. 35 had established early in 1948 with the unanimous support of the parishioners. Within two weeks a site was chosen and by September a two-room school, named St. Thomas More, was finished and ready for classes.

For almost ten years there was little change in the numbers of Catholic School districts in the area, then two were formed in quick succession. In 1955, Sexsmith RC Separate School District No. 51 was formed and St. Mary’s School was built, taught by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. This school was supported by five rural auxiliary districts who could send their students to Sexsmith as well. In 1957, Beaverlodge RC Separate School District No. 68 was established, and St. Mary’s School opened in September 1958, taught by the Sisters of the Holy Cross traveling in from Grande Prairie. By 1959, a convent had been built beside the school to house the Sisters. Over the next years, several more rural districts were created but they all sent their children to the existing schools.

In 1989 a study considered the financial, governance and political implications of amalgamating the districts in a report titled “Feasibility of Amalgamating Separate School Jurisdictions in the Grande Prairie Area”. The study covered four Catholic Separate School jurisdictions: Grande Prairie No. 28, Grande Prairie Rural No. 190, Beaverlodge No. 68, and Sexsmith No. 51. The study concluded that the Grande Prairie City and Rural could be combined but that Beaverlodge and Sexsmith would be adversely affected. An update in 1991 continued to pursue the idea, broadened now to Fairview and Spirit River. On August 31, 1994, the amalgamation of the Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools became official. At that time there were three participating partners: Grande Prairie, Fairview, and Spirit River. Beaverlodge and Sexsmith joined later to create one large district named Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 28.

Custodial history

The records were deposited at South Peace Regional Archives by the Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District in 2008. In 2009, there was an accrual of blueprints.

Scope and content

The fonds consists of minutes for the separate school districts in Grande Prairie, Spirit River, Fairview, Sexsmith and Beaverlodge; daily registers for Grande Prairie Schools, Spirit River, Sexsmith, and Beaverlodge; operational files for Grande Prairie, Spirit River, Sexsmith and Beaverlodge; photographs for Grande Prairie, Spirit River and Fairview; and scrapbooks which contain news clippings about the entire area.

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Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District by gift agreement, 2008 and 2009.

Arrangement

Records are arranged in the original order in which we received them. Therefore, the minutes and school registers of all the districts, which were being housed at the Catholic Education Centre, are together, while the operational files, which were being housed at individual schools representing predecessor school districts, are in the series related to that school/district.

Language of material

  • English

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Restrictions on access

FOIP restrictions on content of Daily Registers and files regarding personnel.

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Accruals

Further accruals are expected.

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Accession numbers: 2008.076; 2009.94

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Description record identifier

0350

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South Peace Regional Archives

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Partial

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  • English

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