The records and manuscripts of the Fall River & North American Provinces contain correspondence, publications, notes, minutes, and abstracts, photographs, records, and annals produced by the Sisters from before their establishment in North America until the consolidation of the Groton and Fall River Provinces in 1999. The contents of this collection reflect the activity, ministry, and community trends within the Sisters in the 20th century, as well as their relations with other Provinces, mission work overseas, and the broader expansion and decline of Catholic education between 1945 and 1999. The collection is arranged per the Mollette system, and reflects the organization of the community and its activities, and is divided into series primarily on a subject basis, with separate series for the North American and Fall River-specific materials. Series A covers foundation, including the literal foundation of the Provinces, writings regarding Abbé Debrabant and Mother Helena Daumiere, and constitutions of the Province as a whole. It is the broadest series in timescale, as it contains pre-founding documents from 19th-century France and Belgium, as well as all revisions of the governing structure of the Sisters up until the merger in 1999. This series also includes documentation of the period of experimentation from 1968-1971, as the Sisters interpreted their rule in the wake of Vatican II. Series D covers relations with ecclesiastical authorities, individuals and organizations within the Roman Catholic Church but outside of the congregation and the sphere of women religious. These include the Archdiocese of Boston, the Diocese of Fall River, and the Holy See in Rome. Series E covers relations with other organizations of women religious, such as nuns, lay sisters, and associates of other orders. This series primarily focuses on relations with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, including newsletters and correspondence. Series G covers general administration, the day-to-day operation and communication of the Holy Union Sisters as a whole, and the communications and involvement of the Fall River & North American Provinces with the overall administration of the congregation. These materials include reports, circulars, annals, and newsletters from the General Council, as well as internal assessments and some personnel reports and statistics. Series H covers relations with other individual provinces within the Holy Union Sisters, including correspondence between leadership, grants and mission planning, and Provincial newsletters. This section also covers communities within the congregation, such as individual convents, schools, and missions, and their annals and correspondence. Series J covers personnel, and includes personal information concerning individual Sisters, in addition to writings and artworks produced by Sisters and kept by the community. Subseries 1J, concerning pre-novitiate evaluations and subseries [x]J, concerning former Sisters, are currently restricted. Series K covers formation, the process of admittance and profession into the order, as well as the ongoing personal and spiritual development of individual Sisters and the community as a whole. This series includes information on entrance and profession ceremonies, discernment, retreats and sabbaticals, and conferences and workshops. This series also includes canonical and internal examinations, as well as materials relating to the formation of lay associates and their involvement with the formation of Sisters. Series L covers spirituality, the structured worship, liturgy, theology, and devotion of the community and its members. Series M covers ministry, the activity of the Sisters outside of the congregation as directed by their charism. For the Holy Union Sisters, this ministry is primarily education, and this series contains most information, records, and publications related to the numerous schools operated or staffed by the Sisters of this Province, such as St. Michael's, Bishop Cassidy, and St. Mary. This series also includes missions carried out to found and staff schools in the Southern and Southeastern United States, as well as St. Kitts and St. Thomas in the West Indies. Series P covers publications, the materials produced for circulation and consumption outside of the congregation. These include newsletters, announcements, jubilee celebrations, the Fall River Line, and promotional materials for the 1986 centennial of the Holy Union Sisters in North America. Series T and Q cover temporalities, the financial and real estate holdings of the community and their management. This series includes ledgers, accounting books, deeds and loan documentation, invoices, assessments, and fundraising reports.