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This series provides information about the daily expenses of running St. Mary’s Orphanage. For individual fostered children, information is given about the promised rate, the amount of board money actually received, who paid for the child’s stay, as well as how long the child remained in the care of the Sisters. Receipts and disbursements show the orphanage’s total expenses for 1958 and 1959. These documents provide information about how many boys versus girls were in the Sisters’ care, as well as the ages of the children. The public welfare accounting forms give details about each individual child, including age, rate per week, admission and discharge date, and the number of days in care. Additional information can be found in the records of orphan fees books (1902-1926 and 1925-1944). These books outline payment information regarding individual orphans’ care. Applications for provincial aid, Orphan Festival financial reports, and general financial reports also make up this series. Cash statements are provided for the period covering 1935 to 1940. These detail information such as the amount of money spent on clothing and feeding the children, Orphans’ Festival expenses, and general bills. The series also shows the amount of fees received from parents, the city of Hamilton, the Orphans’ Festival, and provincial government grants. The 1957 to 1965 journal lists items from the orphanage’s accounts payable and receivable. Items include bread, cereals, coal, water, and grant money. There are also receipt books that cover the years 1930 to 1943. These books give an in-depth look at what the Sisters were purchasing to run the orphanage.

Four record books make up this sub-series. These provide donation information from the surrounding communities of Haldimand County, Caledonia, Cayuga, and Hamilton. In 1854, Father Schneider of Goderich invited the Sisters to come to his mission to collect food for the orphans. From that time onward, the Sisters visited surrounding rural communities to raise monies to help fund the orphanage. These record books provide a list of individual names and businesses and the amount of their donations.

This series illuminates two important orphanage-related activities performed by the Sisters: collecting funds from surrounding rural communities and the annual Orphans’ Festival. These fundraising events were important as it was expensive to house and feed the orphaned and fostered children. Thus, the Sisters asked the community for support. The series contains news clippings, programs, photographs, ledgers and record books.