Museum of Work & Culture Seeking Catholic School Yearbooks

The Museum of Work & Culture wants to expand its Catholic School Archive and yearbook collection.

Raymond H. Bacon and Anne D. Conway, Co-Directors of the museum, report the archive is an annex of the 1929 Catholic school classroom.  Lois. D. Peloquin and Albert Brunelle, Jr., archive co-directors assisted by Eugene A. Peloquin, are developing the archive, which is displayed in an exhibit designed by Bernard Fontaine, a staff member, and crafted by Henri Berthiaume, a museum volunteer.

People who taught or attended Catholic schools anywhere in the world are encouraged to donate class or group snapshots, school buildings, or pictures with nuns or brothers.  The archive binder can accommodate items no larger than 8 ½” x 11.” 

Also welcome are baptismal, first communion, confirmation pictures or any memorabilia from Catholic school days.  A one page composition recalling school days or pictures depicting later periods of life such as snapshots at work, military service, at home or any situation that captures the past is most welcomed.

The museum has a collection of yearbooks of the three high schools in Woonsocket:  Mount St. Charles “Excelsior,” St. Clare’s “Je Me Souviens,” and Woonsocket High School’s “Quiver.”  The yearbooks not only represent the students but also tell the history and culture of the city.  Yearbooks of the following years are needed to complete the collection, as well as provide duplicates.

Mount St. Charles       

1926-34, 1936, 1938-39, 1941, 1944, 1956, 1976, 1978, 1993-95,1998-99. 2003-06, and 2008-12.

St. Clare                      

1928, 1931, 1935-38, 1942-44, 1949, 1959-60, 1964 and 1969-73.

Woonsocket HS 

1907, 1909-12, 1917-18, 1924, 1927, 1937, 1952, 1958-60, 1971-72, 1084, 1977-82, 1991-92 and 1994-2012.

Donations of the materials listed above can be mailed or brought to the Museum of Work and Culture during normal business hours: 

Tuesday - Friday: 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.; and Sunday 1-4 p.m. 

Materials can also be mailed to the Museum of Work & Culture, 42 South Main St., Woonsocket, RI 02895.  All donations will be acknowledged.