Archives Awareness Week 2019: You're the Translator!

 

April 1-7 is Archives Awareness Week in Ontario, and we've got a challenge for you! The Archdiocese of Toronto is proud to offer masses in 33 languages. It's wonderful to be able to serve such a diverse community, but one of the challenges of the job is to accurately process material that comes to us that we don't automatically understand. 

It's a bit easier now that we have the Internet, but ARCAT archivists didn't always have that luxury. When the older material in the archives was described, the archivists would have had to rely on people in the building or in the wider Catholic community who spoke languages other than English to provide translations. As you'll see below, it can be especially challenging when trying to decipher handwritten letters.

Now it's your turn to play language detective! We've selected 10 records in different languages, and it's your job to match them to the list below with the help of a few clues in the captions. Good luck!

Polish - Tamil - Italian - Latvian - German - Slovak - Chinese (Traditional) -  Hungarian - Croatian - Korean 

A.

This 1968 booklet explains the history of a community group associated with Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.

ARCAT Parish Collection

B. 

This 1920 letter to Archbishop McNeil was translated by a priest at St. Casimir's Church. It reads,

"I place myself in your hands with a great request with humility from America. I am a priest and was educated in Europe. I received priestly ordination from the Rev. Bishop Carfory of Chicago but if your excellency would accept me I would be very grateful and would be able to unite the _____ people and I would be properly situated with regard to yourself. I place myself in your memory."

MN EC05.15
Archbishop McNeil Fonds

C.

This 1963 booklet on the sacrament of marriage was in the collection of a personal parish established in 1955 and named after Mary, Queen of their country.

ARCAT Parish Collection

D.

This 1956 ad from the Ontario Department of Highways explaining highway signs to newcomers is from the newspaper Nový Domov, which is still in publication today.

MG EN12.46
Cardinal McGuigan Fonds

E. 

In 1947 the Archbishop of Cologne wrote to his countrymen in Canada to ask for assistance for the people in his area who were suffering as a result of the Second World War.

MG EN03.01
Cardinal McGuigan Fonds

F. 

The youth of St. Elizabeth Parish were invited to a disco dance in 1977.

G. 

This 1875 note is explaining a few facts about Canada, including how many Catholics are members of the cabinet (il gabinetto) and senate (il senato).

L AD04.77
Archbishop Lynch Fonds

H. 

This 2002 bulletin comes to us from Sacred Heart of Jesus (Ye Su Sung Shim) Parish.

ARCAT Parish Collection

I. 

A 1954 circular for Canadian Catholics hailing from a particular Baltic State.

MG EN06.08
Cardinal McGuigan Fonds

J.

A page from the 2013 Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan, which is fully available in six languages and summarized in 30.

Available on the Archdiocese of Toronto Website: www.archtoronto.org/Pages/plan-summary.aspx  

Scroll down for the answers!

To find a mass in all of these languages and more, you can use the Find a Parish tool: https://www.archtoronto.org/contact-us/find-a-parish

Answers:

A. Chinese (Traditional)

B. Polish

C. Croatian

D. Slovak

E. German

F. Hungarian

G. Italian

H. Korean

I. Latvian

J. Tamil

Archives Awareness Week: Word Search

April 2nd to 8th is Archives Awareness Week in Ontario.

Click here for a full list of events sponsored by participating archives.

This year we are offering our blog readers an archives word search. Find the word "archives" in all of the following documents:

Neil McNeil fonds, First World War series, FWCG01.60

Bishop Lynch fonds, LAM12.07

Archbishop Lynch Letterbook, LB05.200

Cardinal McGuigan fonds, MGFA02.33b

Archbishop Lynch fonds, LAA13.21

Latin translation required.

Archbishop McNeil fonds, MNAH01.32

Neil McNeil fonds, MNTA01.173

Excerpt from a chancery inventory, ca. 1934

St. Catharines fonds, SCAE05.05

And now for more of a challenge:

See below for solution:

Archives Awareness Week 2017: The Results Are In!

The results of our Archives Awareness Week 2017 Now and Then Quiz are in! How did you do?

1 : D. Archbishop's Palace / Lourdes Lane

The residence at 9 Earl Street near Our Lady of Lourdes Church was known as Head of Wellesley Place and designed by A.W. Holmes. It was originally meant for Archbishop McEvay. McEvay died in early 1911, and the house subsequently became the official residence of Archbishop Neil McNeil in 1913. The entrance faced south, down Wellesley Place. It was refurnished in 1935, and Archbishop McGuigan lived there from 1934 until May 1947.

After this, the building was used as an infants' home run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, which was eventually taken over by the Catholic Children's Aid Society. The house was renovated in 1960 and was reopened as a shelter for adolescent boys called the Neil McNeil Residence. It closed in 1965 and was sold to the Ontario Cancer Institute.

Archbishop's Palace

1914

PH 31P/227AL 20
ARCAT Photo Collection

2 : I. St. Mary's Church / Adelaide & Bathurst Streets

The present building at Adelaide and Bathurst is, in fact, the third St. Mary’s church. The cornerstone of the first building was laid in 1852 at the site which was described as being on the lakeshore at the edge of the city. At the time, there wouldn’t have been much between the church and the lake. Soon after the building was opened, it was deemed structurally unsound. A second iteration was also found to be lacking in integrity. The present church was designed by Joseph Connolly and was opened in February 1889.

St. Mary's Church

1914

PH 31P/227AL 03
ARCAT Photo Collection

3 : F. St. Michael's Hospital / Bond Street

The parcel of land at Bond and Queen was originally occupied by a Baptist church and was purchased by Archbishop Lynch in 1876. The building was used as a meeting hall until 1889, when it was turned into a women’s hostel run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Soon after, the Sisters decided to use the building as a hospital and school for nurses. St. Michael’s Hospital opened in 1892 with 26 beds, six doctors, and four nurses. The hospital was expanded many times as need grew. For an excellent description of the growth of the St. Michael’s campus, see the poster produced by the hospital archives. See last week's blog post to learn more about the records ARCAT has about nurses.

St. Michael's Hospital

1914

PH 31P/227AL 08
ARCAT Photo Collection

4 : B. St. Francis of Assisi Church / St. Agnes Church / Dundas West

In 1903 a church designed by architect Charles J. Read and known as St. Francis of Assisi was built on the north side of Arthur Street (now called Dundas West) at the corner of Grace Street. After an influx of immigration to the area, a bigger church was needed, and one was built at the corner of Grace and Mansfield. The older church was given to the Italian-speaking community in 1914 and renamed St. Agnes. In 1970 it was given to the Portuguese community.

St. Francis of Assisi Church

1914

PH31P/227AL 09
ARCAT Photo Collection

5 : J. Our Lady of Lourdes Church / Sherbourne Street 

The church at Earl and Sherbourne, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1886, was built to celebrate Archbishop Lynch’s silver jubilee on property attached to his residence. Architect Frederick Law modeled the structure after Santa Maria del Populo in Rome with a magnificent 97-foot dome. The structure was expanded in the early 20th century to accommodate the growing Catholic population.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church

1914

PH 31P/227AL 12
ARCAT Photo Collection

6 : A. St. Basil's Church & St. Michael's College / St. Joseph Street

The site at Clover Hill, now identified as the corner of Bay and St. Joseph Streets, was donated by John Elmsley for a Catholic church and college in the early part of the 1850s. The buildings designed by William Hay were opened in 1856 and operated by the Congregation of St. Basil. Many expansions have been made in the intervening years.

St. Basil's Church & St. Michael's College

1914

PH 31P/227AL 14
ARCAT Photo Collection

7 : C. House of Providence / Power Street

In 1857 the Sisters of St. Joseph opened their William Hay-designed building on Power Street to house Torontonians of all denominations who needed help. Many additions were made, and the facility grew to be four times the original size by the 1950s. The Sisters moved their operation in 1956, and by 1962 the building was demolished to make room for the Richmond Street off-ramp of the Don Valley Parkway. A parkette called Orphan’s Green remains. The original mission is still carried out through Providence Healthcare in Scarborough.

House of Providence

1914

PH 31P/227AL 17
ARCAT Photo Collection

8 : H. St. Michael's Palace / Church Street

The Gothic-style building on Church Street, designed by William Thomas, was completed in 1846. It housed the Bishop, the Cathedral rector, the chancery office, as well as St. Michael’s College for a time. It has had a few expansions and upgrades, but it is the oldest building in Toronto still used for its original purpose.

St. Michael's Palace

1914

PH 31P/227AL 24
ARCAT Photo Collection

9 : E. Newman Hall / St. Joseph Street

The Newman Club was opened in 1914 at 97 St. Joseph Street, a residence purchased from Judge Auglin, as a place for Catholic students at the University of Toronto. A chapel dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas was constructed in the backyard. After six years, the club needed more space and moved to the corner of St. George and Hoskin. The original house on St. Joseph was demolished to make room for St. Basil’s Seminary, but the chapel was saved for use as a gym and still stands behind the Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre.

Newman Hall

1914

PH 31P/227AL 36
ARCAT Photo Collection

10 : G. St. Paul's Basilica /  Power Street 

The present Basilica is the second church dedicated to St. Paul. The first was completed on Power Street in 1824 and was the first official place of worship in Toronto. The red-brick church designed by John Ewart was used as the diocesan cathedral between 1841 and the completion of St. Michael’s in 1848. After large waves of immigration and settlement in that part of the city, a new church was needed by the 1880s. The present structure, designed by Joseph Connolly, was completed in 1889 in Italian Renaissance style. It is particularly known for its sanctuary art. The church was elevated to the status of Minor Basilica in 1999.

St. Paul's Basilica

1914

PH 31P/227AL 45
ARCAT Photo Collection

Thanks for playing!

Archives Awareness Week 2017: Now and Then Quiz

Today is the beginning of Archives Awareness Week 2017. To celebrate, we put together a quiz to test your knowledge. 

One of our most-used collections in the archives is a 1914 photo album that contains images from a survey of Archdiocesan properties. Can you match the 1914 photos with their modern-day Google Street View counterparts (below)? Answers will be posted on Friday!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

A:

B:

C:

D:

E:

F:

G:

H:

I:

J:

What's behind the sweet suite door: Archives Open House

The Archives serve the offices of the archdiocese on a daily basis but many employees at the Catholic Pastoral Centre have no idea of what lurks behind the Archives suite door.  So we decided to invite everyone to come and see for themselves during an informal open house last Friday:

Our open house promised three things:

• Treasures: samples of the most interesting, eye-catching or generally awe-inspiring documents and artifacts in our holdings

• Trivia: a contest ballot that visitors could complete while wandering around the archives 

• Treats: we made some edibles based on records in our holdings

ARCAT Director Marc Lerman (left) discusses vestments.

Bling is always a hit with visitors!
In addition to pectoral crosses and episcopal rings, there was also a benemerenti and a Companion to the Order of Canada medal on display.

In our reading room were documents such as papal bulls, the decree erecting the See of Toronto and items from the most recent papal conclave.
We loaded microfilm of an old baptismal register to be deciphered for a trivia question.

Examples of different types of black and white photos and their storage.

Examples of textual records, such as a broadsheet of The Toronto Mirror (1856), a ticker tape telegraph, greeting cards, and a note signed by Prime Minister John A. MacDonald

Visitors were encouraged to explore one of our climate controlled storerooms.  The newest addition is this wall-mounted grid that allows us to hang framed items, including archbishops' portraits, our old archdiocesan coat of arms and a limited edition crucifixion relief by Salvador Dali.

The trivia questions.  Happy to report we some very intrepid trivia hounds and three winners.

On their way out, we invited guests to help themselves to some records-inspired treats.
We made "French Kisses" (coconut and almond meringues) that were listed under Ornamented Confectionery in this 1884 banquet menu (only because we thought "Arches of Buffalo Tongues" was slightly over the top).
We also made a Cinnamon Loaf cake from the 1976 Centennial Recipe Book from St. Patrick's Parish, Schomberg.

In addition, we tried to familiarize our colleagues with some of the work we do by setting up a conservation station, a processing station, and a photography table.

Our conservation "lab" displayed various preservation tools and materials (right) as well as a humidification chamber (centre).  We have been using the chamber to soften brittle, rolled architectural drawings, so they can be flattened and stored flat (left).

At the processing station we demonstrated how contemporary records that are transferred to us are appraised, arranged, described and rehoused.
The photography table in the background is for shooting items for the Sacred Objects Exchange.

We are happy to report that the open house was a sweet suite outreach success. Our colleagues were engaged and it was fantastic opportunity for us to show off the archives!