Since the Convent of all Souls at St Leonards-on-Sea was the second foundation of the SHCJ, it contains the some of the oldest papers within the European Provincial archives, including the earliest school register which dates from 1850. There is also an extensive collection of loose photographs covering most of the period in which the SHCJ managed a school at St Leonards. It was at this convent and school that the Book of Studies and the SHCJ Rule or Constitutions were created and honed through community discussions. Therefore, both papers and photographs relating to St Leonards give a valuable insight into the place that was a source of SHCJ spirituality and educational ethos. 

The Preston collection includes written accounts by sisters, annals, the school magazine ‘Ubique Reminisci’ and a wide range of photographs showing both the pupils and the school itself. All tell the story of how an unique town with a long history of Catholicism became an important part of the SHCJ’s history and how, in turn, the SHCJ made a significant contribution to the provision of education in Preston and supported the local community in other ways over time.

Cornelia Connelly began in England rather than the United States due the preference of Pope Gregory XVI and others. She nonetheless longed to start SHCJ communities ‘in my own dear country.’ In 1862, a donation of land from the Duchess of Leeds – and the final persuasion of the ever-pessimistic Bishop Thomas Grant - enabled her to realise this dream for the Society. Over 160 years, the American Province has established Holy Child Education throughout the Americas and has nurtured vocations of sisters who have served across the world.

From her early travels with her husband Pierce and their children enroute to Rome, Cornelia developed an admiration for France. Despite their initial evacuation in 1870 due to the Franco-Prussian War, Cornelia’s ambition for a French SHCJ school was realized in 1871 when the SHCJ School in Toul reopened and Cornelia was to spend several periods of her later years there. In 1876 the school relocated to Grenelle in Paris. In January the following year, a school in Neuilly was established. As discussed by sisters in their early letters, one of the advantages of the French schools was to offer an environment to English boarding school girls to perfect their French while surrounded by native speakers. SHCJ sisters also had the chance to improve their grasp of the language and so also their teaching of the subject in England. The French sisters who joined the Society as a result of this initial project became a crucial part of the SHCJ’s development. In 1959, the SHCJ took on an inner-city comprehensive school in Créteil just outside Paris and, although no longer managed by SHCJ nuns, the two former SHCJ schools of Créteil maintain contact with the Society today.

Nigeria is the starting point of two significant moments in the SHCJ's history - the society's very first foundation in Africa 1930 and the birthplace of the SHCJ's first African sister Teresa Okure. Called to the country by Sister Mary Charles Magdalen Walker who had been teaching girls and young women in Calabar for seven years, the SHCJ worked closely with Sr M.Magdalen and the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus to establish schools, Health clincs and other ministries across the country. After over 90 years, the SHCJ ministry continues to expand in Nigeria which is home to the Novitiate in Jos and the African Provincial Office in Lagos. 

The SHCJ were first requested by Bishop Porter to expand their work to Ghana as early as 1933. However, the SHCJ's teaching and pther work in Nigeria was still in need of sisters at this stage and it was not until the Second World War that three SHCJ sisters made the journey west in February 1946. They thought they would simply be starting the new secondary school, but only found out on their arrival that they were to take over a training college at the same time. Letters at the time are testament to the local community's desire and need for the school as they describe children arriving with their fees and other requirements overnight. In 1955 the training college moved to Takoradi with a health clinic and marmalade factory being set up at nearby Fijai. In 1970, a new secondary school was established in Bolgatanga and in 1991the SHCJ opened a new house in Accra for administrative purposes and to support sisters engaged in Local ministries. The Holy Child Senior High school in Cape Coast flourishes to this day with a global network of past students named HOPSA keeping in close contact with the SHCJ.