Provincial Suzanne Cooke, RSCJ, and the provincial team have promoted Michael Pera to provincial archivist. Michael has served the United States – Canada Province as assistant archivist since 2007 and has been instrumental in ensuring that the archives are easily accessible and highly functional. Having been on several provincial committees, including the Bicentennial Committee and currently the Anthology Committee of the Network of the Sacred Heart Schools, Michael is well known and respected. He had already taken the lead with the library, database, photographic and audiovisual collections, and digital processing. He joins the lay archivists of approximately 60% of North American women’s religious congregations, those of several provinces of the Society of the Sacred Heart, and the Society's general archives in Rome. Michael serves as the province’s first lay provincial archivist. The USC province archives are in St. Louis, Missouri.
For the past 14 years, Lyn Osiek, RSCJ, served in this role. Sister Osiek’s knowledge and understanding of the Society and her intelligent and quick responses to inquiries have helped many better appreciate the Society’s history. The province has also benefitted from her wise influence and collaboration in many publications and projects. Under Sister Osiek’s direction, all the audio magnetic media in the archives collection was digitized, and the archives became international with its reception of the province archives of Canada and the Antilles. At the request of the provincial team, Sister Osiek has joined the provincial office staff to help with special projects.
Additionally, the provincial team has asked Mary Charlotte Chandler, RSCJ, to join Michael at the archives. This model of a lay archivist assisted by a member of the congregation is a common practice today. Sister Chandler is a trained researcher and values the importance of historical context. Her love of the Society, deep commitment to our mission, understanding of our foundational documents and her relationships with so many throughout the Society will prove to be most beneficial.
