The Novitiate Formation Collection documents the novitiate programs within the Province of St. Albert the Great, spanning from 1940 to the present. The collection is arranged into three series based on the structure of the novitiate: the Clerical Novitiate (1940–1969), the cooperator brother (COOP) Novitiate (1940–1969), and the Combined Novitiate (1969–present). Within each series, materials are further organized into subseries by the geographic location of the novitiate, reflecting the institutional settings in which formation took place.

The Clerical Novitiate series includes records from St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in River Forest, Illinois, from 1941 to 1949, and St. Peter Martyr Priory in Winona, Minnesota, from 1949 to 1969. The COOP Novitiate series contains materials from St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in River Forest, Illinois, from 1940 to 1969, St. Peter Martyr Priory in Winona, Minnesota, from 1949 to 1969, and St. Rose Priory in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1951 to 1969. Additional subseries within the COOP Novitiate document the Master of Postulants at St. Rose of Lima Priory in Dubuque from 1963 to 1964 and the Master of Postulants and Novices from 1966 to 1967. Following the consolidation of the novitiate programs in 1969, the Combined Novitiate series includes materials from St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in River Forest, Illinois, from 1969 to 1970, St. Rose of Lima Priory in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1970 to 1977, and St. Dominic Priory in Denver, Colorado, from 1977 to the present.