La Collection de photographies X-6 témoigne de la présence et des activités missionnaires des jésuites dans des communautés du Nord de l’Ontario. Les photographies incluent des églises, territoires et paysages, écoles, étudiants et résidences pour étudiants. Elles incluent également des portraits de jésuites œuvrant dans les diverses communautés du Nord de l’Ontario.

Le fonds est organisé en 10 séries qui témoignent de l’organisation originale dans lesquelles les photographies étaient classées : Wikwemikong, Waubaushene, Spanish, Sault-Ste-Marie, Port-Arthur, Penetanguishene, White River, Schreiber, Victoria Mines et Missions de l’Ouest.

The Spanish Residential School fonds contains records that pertain to the establishment, administration, operations, and eventual closing of the Spanish Residential School. It also contains records that pertain to the day school in Wiikwemkoong, which preceded the Spanish school. The schools were administered by the Jesuit fathers of the Upper Canada Province, initially named Independent Mission of Canada (1887-1907), Province of Canada (1907-1924), then Vice-Province of Upper Canada (1924-1939).

The fonds is organized into five series: Administration and Financial Records; Student Affairs and Community Life; Spanish Residential School Buildings; Jesuit Personnel and School Staff; Spanish Residential School Photography Laboratory. It contains correspondence, diaries, newspaper clippings, financial statements, student registers, and student publications. The fonds also contains photographs associated with the schools’ cultural and sports programs, including hockey and football, photographs of the schools’ buildings and Jesuit personnel, and photographs of the Spanish community. Notably, the fonds also contains photographs produced by the students themselves in the school’s photo laboratory, established by Fr. William P. Maurice, S.J.

The fonds documents the activities of Julien Paquin, S.J. It contains information on the presence of Father Paquin within different missions in Northern Ontario and concerning his involvement in the First World War. It also includes his correspondence. The fonds is comprised of five series: correspondence, military service, missions, spiritual notes and reflections and Collège Saint-Boniface. The documents part of the fonds range from 1896 to [1935].

The fonds testifies to the Jesuit presence in several communities in Northern Ontario since 1844. The material attests to the work of the Jesuits as missionaries and chaplains in the region of Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie, Manitoulin Island, and in the communities along the Canadian Pacific Railway, up until 2015. In addition, the fonds provides information on the Jesuit involvement and interest in setting up schools for the Indigenous children of the region, including the Spanish Residential School, as well as on the history of the region and on the Ojibwemowin language. Documents dating from the 1960s onwards show new reflections within the Jesuit community, leading to a shift in their approach to the work they carried out among Indigenous communities.

The fonds contains diaries and announcement books, personal and historical notes, correspondence, financial statements, annual reports, parish records, Status animarum, baptismal and marriage certificates, church visitors’ books, Jesuits’ vows, insurance policies, meeting minutes, souvenir brochures, programs, legal deeds and agreements, and contracts. It also contains audio reels and cassettes, videocassettes, objects, publications, maps, architectural drawings, photographs, slides, and negatives.

The collection contains records pertaining to the religious life of Joseph-Marie Couture, S.J. As the man credited with introducing aviation to Northern Ontario, a number of records pertaining to flight and his aircraft can be found in the collection: correspondence between Father Couture and the Provincial concerning his plane, flight-related budgets and expense lists, newspaper articles and books written during and after his life about his story of flight, and a number of photographs of Father Couture and various community members with his plane.

His long career at Longlac and Lake Nipigon, Ontario is demonstrated by a substantial amount of correspondence reporting to other Jesuits about his experience, as well as requesting supplies and detailing logistics. While the bulk of the correspondence is in letter format, the collection also comprises a number of telegraphs sent to Father Couture commemorating his silver Jubilee (indicating 25 years in the Society of Jesus). Additionally, the collection contains a small number of his personal belongings, including a mass book, Longlac paraphernalia like brochures, and several diplomas and certificates.

Many of the records pertain to the aftermath of Father Couture’s death: photographs of his tomb-unveiling ceremony, commemorative articles and scrapbooks produced by colleagues and friends, and telegraphs sent to his contemporaries in Longlac expressing condolences for his passing can all be found in the collection.

The collection contains records that attest to his religious life, including a souvenir photo card from his first mass and ordination, birth and baptism records, and memorial cards. A number of photographs can be found in the collection which depict a pow wow in Spanish, Ontario in the 1930s along with other images of Father Dwyer with Fathers and Brothers at Spanish, mostly taken in the 1920s. The collection also contains correspondence from the 1930s to 1940s, most of which is between Father Dwyer and the Provincial and concerns missions at Spanish, Wikwemikong, Garden River, and Sault Ste-Marie.

The fonds contains records pertaining to the spiritual life of Daniel Hannin, S.J. As a lifelong advocate for adult education in Indigenous communities, Father Hannin’s fonds includes several bound essays and theses on the topic. It also includes correspondence between Father Hannin and religious and academic colleagues. Brochures and newsletters from the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, Campion College, and other groups and institutions demonstrate Father Hannin’s involvement in both spiritual and educational life wherever he went. Finally, a number of photos depict Father Hannin over the course of his life, from earlier graduation portraits to celebrations with friends later in life.