“Think of it as a time machine,” said Emily Wells, an Archivist for the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (American Province) based in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, and for the Society’s Generalate in Rome. She used this analogy in presentations to the Upper and Lower School, impressing students with the Society’s archive’s extraordinary role in preserving Oak Knoll culture and that of our founding organization, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. 

Using an entertaining set of quiz questions, Wells explained to students that an archive is a collection of documents, records, and other materials preserved for historical research and available for analysis to make future decisions. Archives can help us understand past mistakes and prevent future ones. They show us the evolution of art, technology, and social norms over time within and around our institutions.

Throughout her career, Wells has had the opportunity to visit and work in all four of the Society’s archives across three continents, deepening her expertise and commitment to preserving the legacy of the Holy Child Sisters and the Holy Child Network of Schools.

“Archives help us to remember what happened in the past. They’re a place where we keep stories of people, places, and events so that we can learn more about them,” Wells explained to our students. “But they also give us the ability to learn more about ourselves. You can look at an old document and find out how people lived, what they thought, and things that changed over time.”

Students learned that physical archives can be a valuable tool in their studies and support research in ways technology can’t. Archives help us physically connect to our roots or the subjects we investigate. Companies, businesses, governments, and educational institutions, to name a few, widely value archives in their institutional history. Grade ten students will travel to Rosemont on November 19, 2024, to experience firsthand the scope of its value to Oak Knoll.

When asked her favorite aspect of serving as Holy Child Archivist, Wells replied, “One of the coolest things that I’ve learned is how amazing the Holy Child Sisters were. They were amazing at note-taking and capturing information. The archive demonstrates how caring and loving they were as educators and dedicated to the dignity of each student. That spirit lives on today.”

Oak Knoll’s Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, James McEvoy, served as Tri-Chair of the Centennial Committee and has thoroughly used the archive’s largesse in Rosemont. McEvoy and the committee were instrumental in organizing Wells’s visit to Oak Knoll and sharing the enormous value of the Society’s physical archives in the Holy Child mission’s past, present, and future.

“Especially during our Centennial year, I think Emily’s presentations were important as another reminder of how these students are part of something bigger than themselves, not just in the context of the Society itself, but with regards to the past century of Oak Knoll learning that will hopefully continue in perpetuity,” McEvoy concluded.