St. Vincent Ferrer School and Parish records
Finding aid created by Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Archives staff using RecordEXPRESS
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Archives
2020
1520 Grand Avenue
San Rafael, California 94901
(415) 453-8303, ext. 110
info@sanrafaelop.org
https://sanrafaelop.org/
Title: St. Vincent Ferrer School and Parish records
Dates: 1870-2018
Collection Number: DSSR1
Creator/Collector:
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Extent: 10.55 linear feet
Repository:
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Archives
San Rafael, California 94901
Abstract: The St. Vincent Ferrer School and Parish Records consists of materials related to the history and administration of St. Vincent
Ferrer School and St. Vincent Ferrer Parish. Materials include administrative records, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs
and photographic material, and ephemera related to students and alumni. The materials were collected by the Dominican Sisters.
Language of Material: English
This collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Archives. For permissions to publish, please contact the Archivist.
St. Vincent Ferrer School and Parish records. Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Archives
All records were created or collected by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael.
Biography/Administrative History
The St. Vincent Ferrer Convent School was established in Vallejo, CA in 1870 as a Catholic Free school for girls by five sisters
who moved from St. Catherine’s in Benicia. General John Frisbie donated money and land to build the school. St. Vincent’s
was the third school opened by the Dominican Sisters in California. As enrollment increased, the need for a new building arose.
The grammar and primary classes moved from the old wooden buildings that had been added to the Church in 1890 into a new two-story
brick building in 1893 when St. Vincent’s became co-ed. A new, co-educational high school building was completed in 1917.
The first school year in the newly constructed three-story boy’s school was briefly interrupted with the outbreak of the Spanish
flu. The Dominican Sisters offered to have the school serve as a Naval hospital from October to November 1918, and again,
in 1919, from January until early February when there was a second wave of influenza. Sister Eulalia, who had previously been
a nurse, along with five other sisters volunteered to care for the women and children who were patients at the hospital. St.
Vincent’s High School returned to being an all-girls school in 1968 when the boys moved to the newly built St. Patrick’s High
School. St. Vincent’s High School merged with St. Patrick’s High School in 1987. The convent was torn down in 1993-1994 and
the sisters moved to a building at St. Patrick’s on Benicia Road in Vallejo and commuted to the school. Several Dominican
Sisters remained teachers at the school until 2016 when they permanently moved from Vallejo and joined the congregation in
San Rafael, California.
Scope and Content of Collection
The St. Vincent Ferrer School and Parish Records is made up of materials related to the history and administration of St.
Vincent Ferrer School and St. Vincent Ferrer Parish from 1870 to 2018. The collection consists of photographic materials,
administrative records, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, student work and art, awards, events programs, alumni news, and yearbooks.
Researchers interested in the history, students, faculty, and administration of St. Vincent’s school and St. Vincent’s Parish
(Vallejo, Calif.) may find this collection useful.
The collection has been arranged into four series. Administrative records, 1870-2010 consists of materials related to the
school’s daily operations, students, alumni, honors and awards. School history, 1884-2013 consists of materials about the
history of the school, students, and alumni. The St. Vincent’s Parish, 1901-2018 series consists of materials related to Parish
administration and governance, the sisters’ personal and liturgical life, commemorative events, and the Dominican Order. The
Photographic material, 1870-1988 is made up of photographs and photographic material of St. Vincent’s church, St. Vincent’s
school, students, faculty, alumni, the sisters, the city of Vallejo, California, and Mare Island, California. The materials
are arranged chronologically within their series.
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Dominican sisters. Congregation of the Holy Name (San Rafael, Calif.)
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Mare Island Naval Shipyard Vallejo (Calif.)
St. Vincent’s School, Vallejo (Calif.)
St. Vincent’s High School, Vallejo (Calif.)
St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School, Vallejo (Calif.)