Convent Collections

Thirteenth Triennial CHWR

The 13th Triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious (CHWR) took place from 22-25 June 2025. The conference theme, 'Lives and Archives' attracted more than 110 delegates from 5 continents. Members from the Convent Collections team were represented in 4 panels across the 4 day conference. The first presentation was delivered by Ruth Ferris and Catherine Nowlan Roebuck: ‘Irish Women Religious in Education in India and Pakistan, 1840-1980: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Lives and Legacies.’ The paper drew on the work of the PINNACLE project coupled with the archival record of the missionary work which the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary engaged in up to and after the partition of India in 1948. Catherine Kilbride then presented ‘1,000 Words in a Picture,’ giving us a ‘Clue to Archival Records of the Experience of Three Sisters of Charity in 19^th Century Paris’ as discerned from a simple dedication written inside a book. On the second morning of the conference, Deirdre Raftery spoke about ‘Congregational “Dynasties” and Convent Dynamics: Kinship Networks and Women Religious in the Long 19^th Century,’ exploring how religious and secular interests aligned in the interests of educating women, while Geraldine Noonan gave ‘Voice to the Founding Sisters of La Sainte Union des Sacrs-Coeurs Congregation in Ireland.’ Challenges to Leadership in Loreto IBVM Convents in the Late 19^th Century were explored  by Ruth Ferris in the afternoon of the last day, using an intriguing quote from an archival letter ‘Living among Detectives and Spies.’ The Convent Collections team were widely acknowledged as providing detailed evidence from research conducted across four female religious institutes in an engaging and captivating manner. We look forward to CHWR 2028.