Finding aid, records of Providence Academy (Vancouver, Washington)

Contents\nOverview of Records..............................................................................................2\nHistorical Note........................................................................................................2\nArrangement..........................................................................................................3\nAdministrative Information....................................................................................4\nBox and Folder List.................................................................................................6\nHistory ..............................................................................................6\nAdministration .................................................................................7\nSub-series: Local Community\nSub-series: Correspondence\nSub-series: Other\nPersonnel..........................................................................................7\nSub-series: Faculty & Staff\nSub-series: Students\nSub-series: Alumni\nDepartments.....................................................................................9\nSub-series: Resident Students/Boarders\nSub-series: Kindergarten\nSub-series: Grade School\nSub-series: High School\nSub-series: Music\nSub-series: Chapel\nFinancial..........................................................................................11\nSub-series: General\nSub-series: Student/Boarders Accounts\nLegal Records..................................................................................11\nProperty Records............................................................................12\nReports...........................................................................................13\nPublications....................................................................................13\nPost-Closure....................................................................................14\nSubject............................................................................................14\nNewspaper Clippings......................................................................15\nAppendix 1...........................................................................................................16\nApostolic Vicars (prior to formation of the western Province) serving at Providence Academy\nProvincial Superiors of Sacred Heart Province serving at Providence Academy\nLocal Superiors/Administrators\nProvidence Academy (Vancouver, Washington) records\nCollection Finding Aid\n4800 37th Ave SW • Seattle, Washington 98126 • 206-937-4600 • archives@providence.orgProvidence Archives, Seatle, Washington\nProvidence Academy, Vancouver, Washington 2\nOVERVIEW OF RECORDS\nRepository: Providence Archives, Mother Joseph Province, Seattle, Washington\nCreator: Sisters of Providence, Sacred Heart Province; Providence Academy’s major divisions and\nbodies\nRecord Group Name: Providence Academy\nRecord Group Number: 22\nDates: 1856-2013\nScope and Content: This record group documents the history, activities, works and individuals of the\nlocal religious community, administration and staff of Providence Academy, Vancouver, Washington.\nThe records cover the years from the foundation of the Sisters of Providence in the West (1856) to\nthe closure of the Academy in 1966, the bulk dating from approximately 1900 to 1960. The records\ncontained in this collection were created, received, and collected by the religious community of the\nSisters of Providence and by personnel (staff, students, and alumni) associated with Providence\nAcademy (PAV).\nExtent: Approximately 25 linear feet\nHISTORICAL NOTE\nFounding and Early Days\nMother Joseph of the Sacred Heart and four other Sisters of Providence arrived in Fort Vancouver,\nWashington Territory, on December 8, 1856, completing a 35-day journey by train and ship from\ntheir home in Montreal, Quebec. They came to the west at the request of the Most Reverend A.M.A.\nBlanchet, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nesqually, who accompanied them on the journey. How-ever,\nwhen the sisters and Bishop Blanchet arrived in Vancouver, they found that the bishop’s plans\nfor their arrival had not been fulfilled. His assistant, the Reverend J.B. Brouillet, thought the sisters\nshould go to the town of Olympia, although he doubted that anyplace in the territory was ready for\nthem. In any case, he had failed to prepare a place for the sisters to live, so they slept in the attic of\nthe bishop’s small house.\nWithin a few months, the sisters had made their home in Vancouver. A small cabin served as their\ndormitory and first school, which opened April 14, 1857. They accepted into their care several or-phans\nand an elderly man who had no home. Bishop Blanchet gave them two acres on the St.\nJames Mission Claim (adjacent to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver headquarters), and\non this land a small group of multi-purpose buildings sprang up. The sisters named their new home\nProvidence of the Holy Angels. Over the next few years, it came to encompass the sisters’ residence,\nnovitiate, and infirmary; an orphanage for boys and girls; a boarding and day school; rooms for the\nelderly and insane; and the first St. Joseph Hospital. The sisters also cared for the priests and bishop\nat St. James Cathedral, and visited the poor and sick in their homes.\nThe Catholic Church was involved in a long dispute over ownership of the St. James Mission Claim,\nso it was not to become the sisters’ permanent mission site. Rather, Mother Joseph purchased prop-erty\naway from the disputed area and protected the sisters’ interests through incorporation. January\n28, 1859, marked the incorporation of their charitable works as the “Sisters of Charity of the House of\nProvidence in the Territory of Washington,” which continues today as one of Washington state’s old-est\ncorporations and the parent corporation for Providence Health & Services. The stated purpose of\nthe corporation was “the relief of needy and suffering humanity, the care of orphans, invalids, the sick\nand the poor, and the education of youth.”\nIn the early 1870s, Mother Joseph began planning a permanent home for Providence of the Holy An-gels\non the property she had purchased earlier. She designed and supervised construction of Provi-\nProvidence Archives, Seatle, Washington\nProvidence Academy, Vancouver, Washington 3\ndence Academy, located at Tenth and Twelfth, “C” and Reserve Streets, Vancouver. The local Hidden\nBrick Company supplied the bricks for the four-story structure. The sisters and their orphans and\nboarders moved into the Academy on September 7, 1874, before the interior was finished. Mother\nJoseph supervised construction of a large addition in 1891, but otherwise the exterior of the building\nremains much as it was built. The interior was improved and remodeled several times over the years.\nFor fifty years, Providence Academy continued to serve as the home for the sisters’ provincial admin-istration,\nnovitiate, and infirmary, as well as for all the sisters who served at the school or hospital.\nWhen the provincial administration moved to Seattle in 1924, the Academy was given over entirely to\nthe education of youth, with a co-educational kindergarten and elementary school, and a high school\nfor girls. The Academy accepted boarders as well as day pupils at all levels. Although the sisters con-tinued\nto care for orphans, they were fully integrated with other boarders attending the school.\nIn 1954, the Catholic community of Vancouver opened St. Joseph Parish School, and two years later\nSt. James Parish School. Prior to this time, Providence Academy had been the only Catholic school\nin the city. The sisters agreed to staff both of the new schools, and most of the students from the\nAcademy grade school transferred to the new St. James. At this time, Providence Academy grade\nschool closed.\nProvidence Academy high school continued to operate for another decade. In 1966, with enrollment\nand the number of teaching sisters declining and the school in need of remodeling, the sisters de-cided\nto close the Academy and to sell their property in Vancouver. The building lay vacant for sev-eral\nyears before it was purchased in 1969 by Robert Hidden, grandson of Lowell Hidden, founder of\nHidden Brick Company. The family continued to own the building and it operated as The Academy,\na mixed-use space for offices, shops, restaurants, a Montessori school, and a wedding chapel. In\n2012, the Fort Vancouver National Trust launched a campaign to raise 16 million dollars to purchase\nand restore the Academy building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places\nin 1978.\nFor Further Information\nBurnham, Howard J. Early Land Titles in Vancouver, Washington. 1947.\nHussey, John A. The History of Fort Vancouver and Its Physical Structure. 1957.\nLentz, Sister Dorothy.1 The Way it Was in Providence Schools: Stories of Seven Providence Schools\nin the West Founded between 1856-1920. 1978.\nMarshall, John R. A History of the Vancouver Public Schools. Dallas: Taylor Pub. Co. 1975.\nMcCrosson, Sister Mary of the Blessed Sacrament. The Bell and the River. 1957.\nRossi, Louis. Six Years on the West Coast of America, 1856-1962.\nARRANGEMENT\nThe record group is divided into 12 series: History, Administration, Personnel, Departments,\nFinancial, Legal, Property Records, Reports, Publications, Post-Closure, Subjects, and Newspaper\nClippings. When necessary, the series have been further divided into sub-series.\n1 Any reference to a Sister will be indicated with the placement of “Sister” or “Mother” before her\nname. Unless otherwise indicated, these Sisters can be assumed to be Sisters of Providence.\nProvidence Archives, Seatle, Washington\nProvidence Academy, Vancouver, Washington 4\nADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION\nRestrictions: Providence Archives is a private repository. Access

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