City House Calling: The Sacred Heart School of Montreal, 1861-1986

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

For students and former students of the Sacred Heart School in Montreal, this work will be a valued souvenir. It fails to be anything more than that.

Most histories of this size and scope transcend the ingrown focus by identifying a role within the bigger picture of their particular field which the organization can claim for its own. City House Calling is professionally printed and obviously the result of a lot of editorial effort. As I read through reminiscence after reminiscence by former students, I expected that at any moment the reason for all this effort and expense would be revealed. It didn’t happen. If the book is to be believed, for 125 years girls have been attending this school, oblivious to everything but the day-to-day trivia of their immediate surroundings. For graduates looking back, the cherished memories are of making the perfect curtsy or winning some little prize. The work fails to have a point, to show the value of the school to anyone or anything outside itself. The school apparently produced no graduates who went on to great things, it achieved no impact on its community. Why anyone other than a student or former student of the school would be interested remains an unanswered question.