The New Archivist at the Little Sisters of the Assumption
Céline Hirsch, the new lay archivist of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, presents the archive service
and the exhibitions that were organised for the General Chapter of summer 2022.
I started working in the archives of the Little Sisters of the Assumption in March 2022, taking over from
Sr Madeleine Rémond as an archivist. I have since been in this job on Rue Violet for a little less than 10
months.
I’d like to begin by telling you a little about myself. Before coming to the LSA archives, I worked for 13
years in the archives of the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Sion, both in their General Archives, which were in
Rome until 2013, and in the archives of their European territory. The work was quite different there. It
was particularly more solitary, but it allowed me to gain some experience in the field of religious
congregation archives, and in 19 th and 20 th century religious history. It also allowed me to acquire all the vocabulary.
I began my work at Rue Violet by getting to know the collection and the history of the congregation. The
help of Sr Madeleine was very precious. I am also in contact with archivists from other congregations and
dioceses on various archival matters.
Anna-Chiara Capretti, Catherine Hamot, and I meet weekly to share our respective work and to reflect on
projects or work to be carried out in common.
We have designed two exhibitions; one which retraced the history of the first General Chapters of the
congregation (until 1968) and another somewhat more general about the congregation and the mission.
These exhibitions were displayed last summer during the General Chapter, and we were pleased to
receive a great deal of positive feedback, which encourages us to continue along this path!
Some examples taken from the guestbook include:
It is so interesting to rediscover the path that the congregation has followed, and the evolution,
generation after generation (…)I felt very moved, and I thank you for it.
Thank you for your energetic enthusiasm towards the congregation; you keep alive the spirit that
has animated us since the beginning and continues to renew itself.
Thank you (…). You have made “life flow” through the ages and have given us a taste for history.
We have many ideas for continuing to enhance the value of the archives and the history they
convey, and I hope that we will be able to put them into practice, little by little!
We also wish, when possible, to forge links with the archivists of the other congregations of the
Assumption family, and we began by meeting Sr Véronique Thiebaut, RA, Archivist of the Religious of
the Assumption, who received the three of us for a visit of their beautiful museum (which opened in the
spring of 2022) and archives. This visit was very interesting and inspiring for us, and I would like to
thank Sr. Veronique again for her passion in transmitting her love for her congregation and its history.
All this while continuing our daily work of filing, inventorying, responding to research requests, and
other long-term tasks! We believe this work to be essential, convinced as we are of the importance of
history and of making it known.
Céline Hirsch-Poynard, October 2022