Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you an interview with Bethel College professor Dr. Mark Janzen, who studies the little known history of Mennonites who lived in Prussia from the 1530s to the late 1700s. In this episode, we learn that Mennonites lived in mixed villages instead of colonies, like they later did, how they acquired land in the vast region of Prussia, and the political complexities of living under a system with several power centres.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you the story of Samuel McRoberts, the American lawyer and banker whose deeply religious wife Harriet persuaded McRoberts to negotiate and facilitate a mass re-settlement of Canadian Mennonites to Paraguay in the 1920s. Did the hymns the Mennonite delegation sang for the McRoberts play a role in Samuel’s decision to help the Mennonites? You’ll have to tune in to find out!Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a conversation with archivist Laureen Harder Gissing. When Laureen was 13 years old, her grandmother gifted her with a cheque for $13.00. That gift inspired a life long interest in her family’s history, and the bigger picture of Mennonite history. Today Laureen is the archivist at the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, which holds collections from all over the world – including records from non-European Mennonites, and documents dating as far back as 1520.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the story of a provincial government experiment to resettle a group of Manitoba Mennonites near Burns Lake, B.C. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hear about their journey to B.C., and the challenges they faced when they got there.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you an interview with author and satirist Andrew Unger about his book Once Removed. The novel’s main character, Timothy Heppner, is determined to preserve the heritage in his small Manitoba town, but is at odds with the town’s pro-development mayor. Andrew talks about how fiction and historical fact can work together, the place of humour in his story telling, and his ancestor Abram, whose nickname was “Lazy” Reimer.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck shares the tragic tale of a group of Mennonites who in 1918, moved from Manitoba to Vanderhoof, British Columbia. They had high hopes of owning land and establishing prosperous farms. For at least one family, their dreams were dashed. Listen to Tragedy at Vanderhoof to find out what happened to these unfortunate souls.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring your listeners an interview with nationally acclaimed writer David Bergen about his novel Away from the Dead, a fictional account of victims and their relationships during the historical events that led to the complex and multi-layered conflict of the Ukrainian revolution in the late 1910s. Bergen has written more than a dozen books, many of which feature Mennonite backdrops. He is the recipient of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his 2005 novel The Time in Between. Bergen grew up in Niverville, Manitoba, and today crafts his prose from his home base in Winnipeg.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a story about the Beaverlodge Mennonite Church, a little known congregation that formed in the late 1920s and disappeared from the landscape of Peace River country in northern Alberta some 15-ish years later. Guest Doug Klassen, Executive Minister of the Mennonite Church Canada, shares about his little-known family connection to the church, and we capture his reaction when a surprise visitor shows Doug church records containing names of his ancestors.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn part two of this two-part series, Elmer answers questions about his personal interest in Mennonite history, and how he came to move and restore an old house barn that now resides in the village of Neubergthal.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailMarch 4 marks 69 years since Golden West Radio CEO Elmer Hildebrand first walked through the doors of the brand new CFAM radio station in Altona in 1957. We cover a lot of ground in this 2-part conversation. In Part 1, Elmer shares how Golden West Radio got its start. When he arrived at work for his first day, the building’s construction was still in progress, so he helped lay tiles to finish up the floor.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we carry on with our 2-part series featuring historian Dr. Aileen Friesen. In this episode, Aileen shares concerns about the endangered state of historical Mennonite documents in Ukrainian archives as the Russian invasion and war drags on.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you part 1 of a 2-part series featuring an interview with Dr. Aileen Friesen. Aileen wears more hats than a Caps R Us store can hold. She is a professor, a published author, a researcher, editor of Preservings magazine, executive director of the D.F. Plett Foundation, and co-chair of the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies, to name just a few activities in which she is involved.Still, she found time to talk with us about what drove her to study Mennonite history (hint: it’s something her grandmother said), and she shares concerns about the fragile state of historical Mennonite documents in Ukrainian archives as the Russian invasion and war drags on.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailDuring Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered parts of his story with help from the Gulag History Museum of Repressions in Moscow. Maria shares with listeners what she has learned about her great-grandfather’s struggle and faith during this time.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you ‘From Russia with Woe’, part one of a two part series. During Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered parts of his story with help from the Gulag History Museum of Repressions in Moscow. Maria shares with listeners what she has learned about her great-grandfather’s struggle and faith during this time.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the chilly tale about a group of Mennonites whose ship became trapped in icy Lake Superior in the spring of 1876. A journey that was meant to take five days turned into a 15 day ordeal. They ran out of food, and almost out of coal to power the steam ship. Their story is pieced together from letters and journals of the travellers who did – eventually – arrive at their southern Manitoba destination.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 2 of the Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen. In Part 2, we return to the story of Jacob Hoemsen, as he rejects his pacifist upbringing to serve in the controversial Mennonite Self Defence League to protect Mennonite colonists from various paramilitary groups during the War of Ukrainian Independence. Later, a close call with Soviet authorities for whom he worked, clinched his decision to migrate to Canada.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 1 of The Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen. In Part 1, Jacob Hoemsen was raised as a pacifist, pursued education in Germany,  and completed his mandatory non-combatant role in the Russian government’s Forestry Service. During WWI, Jacob served as a medic, eventually joining the elite Flying Column at the battlefront.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring listeners the story of Manitoba born and raised nurse and midwife, Anna Thiessen. For years, she was the only trained medical practitioner in Colonia Sommerfeld, Paraguay. Anna helped an estimated 1,000 mothers deliver their babies.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn this REWIND episode, host Dan Dyck explores the Mennonite holiday tradition called brommtopp, named for the strange musical instrument used, which can be translated as "rumbling top". This tradition was brought to Imperial Russia from Prussia, and continued in Manitoba into the 1950's.  Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we have a nostalgic retelling in English of the story Christmas 1926 by beloved Low German story teller Gerhard Ens. Told through the eyes of 10-year-old Hauns, Gerhard imagines a fictional account of what it might have been like for Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union to celebrate their first Christmas in Canada. We are grateful for the extra time Golden West has granted this episode, which clocks in at 21 minutes. Thank you!Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we bring you an episode with the excessively alliterative of Festive Foods and Folkways from the Mennonite Tradition. This instalment is based on a two-volume book series by Norma Jost Voth. She interviewed about 60 elder women who brought their Christmas traditions and celebrations from Russia to North America. Tune in to hear about Norma’s work, and listen to show host Dan Dyck mangle the pronunciation of German and Dutch words like Niejoasch’owend and Oilie Bollen.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we’re delighted to bring you an interview with Patrick Friesen, a third generation Mennonite from Paraguay. His great-grandfather, C.F. Friesen, was one of the early leaders and teachers in Paraguay. Patrick shares about the historical migration from Manitoba, paints a picture of the Menno Colony today — and issues an invitation in English and Low German to visit his community for its 100th anniversary in 2027.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a story that’s about as close to a Whodunnit Mystery as Mennonite history gets. It’s a story about a baby, a pig pen, and ongoing attempts to get rid of the child — even as he grows up. To learn more, tune in to Episode 53 of Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailAfter a few consecutive episodes that leaned into some darker stories in Mennonite history, we’re pleased to bring you something on the lighter side.To air on Sunday, Nov. 30 we bring you… (drumroll )… A Short History of House Barns! Join me and Roland Sawatsky, curator at the Manitoba Museum and past curator at the Mennonite Village Museum in Steinbach, as we reveal that a house barn is (!SPOILER ALERT!)  “a barn connected to a house,” how far back we can trace the history of these structures, what a GANK is — and oh, so much more. While we might take these buildings for granted, I was surprised at what we can learn about how people have interacted with and constructed these homes for people and animals.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 3, the final instalment of our series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary leader during the civil uprisings of the late 1910s. In Part 3, Sean Patterson brings us insights into the role that wealth and ethnicity played in the movement named for Makhno, and draw some conclusions about what Mennonites today can and should take away from this story.Series synopsis:In Part 1 (Nov. 8), we take a deep dive into the life of Nestor Makhno’s early years, learn about his ideology, how he understood anarchy, and what his goals were.In Part 2 (Nov. 16), we focus on the terrible Eichenfeld Massacre, and find out if and how Makhno was implicated.In Part 3 (Nov. 23), we look draw some conclusions about what Mennonites today can and should take away from this story.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 2 of a 3-part series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary during the civil uprisings of the late 1910s. Part 2 focuses on the terrible Eichenfeld Massacre on Nov. 8, 1919, when well over 100 Mennonites were executed by Nestor Makhno's men. More Mennonites were murdered in surrounding villages. Did Nestor Makhno attend these events? Why couldn’t he better control his troupes? These are just a few of the questions we ask historian Sean Patterson, who has been studying Makhno and his movement for fifteen years.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we start a three part series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary during the Ukrainian Revolution in the late 1910s. Makhno was reviled by some, and praised by others. He commanded 100,000 troupes, bands of whom pillaged Mennonite villages, executed Mennonite landowners, and raped and killed Mennonite women. The Makhno name still strikes horror in some Mennonites today, while in Ukraine, a statue honours him.In this series, I’ll take a deep dive into who Nestor Makhno was with historian Sean Patterson. Sean has been studying Makhno and his movement for fifteen years.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we we present you with the story of Smallpox and the Mennonite Experience. According to historians, the smallpox virus has been circulating among humans for about 3,000 years. In this episode, we unpack the involvement of Russian Empress Catherine the Great and her vaccine cause, and share Mennonite encounters with smallpox and vaccinations as they lived and travelled across Europe, Russia, and into Canada.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we deliver Part 2 of our conversation with Mennonite author and satirist Andrew Unger, in which we ask how the Low German language influences satire, what makes satire funny – or not, and whether popular media has changed what Mennonite people find funny.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday we bring you Part 1 of a two-part chat with Andrew Unger. He is the author and creator of The Unger Review, a satirical web site that gently and humorously skewers Mennonite faith and culture. Andrew tells me how his sense of humour developed, the little known influence of satire on early Anabaptists, the benefits of laughing about Mennonite Tupperware, and how his humour is an expression of love for his own Mennonite identity.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday we bring you a special feature for Thanksgiving weekend!Mennonite history enthusiast Gerhard Ens first recorded this fictional account of the first harvest by Mennonites in Canada (1876) on audio tape in the Low German language. The story, told through the eyes of an impatient 10-year-old Henry, has now been translated into English and adapted for radio by the Tales team.  We hope you enjoy this nostalgic and entertaining re-telling.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we present the life story of the inspiring and resilient Susana Miller. Despite multiple family tragedies and hard times, Susana managed to rise above it all, and find joy in her 101 years of living.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a 100-year-old story about a government tactic that was used as recently 2010. During World War I, the federal government ordered all Canadian citizens to register. They needed to know how many recruits they could rely on should the war drag on. Based on their principles and values, some Mennonites in southern Manitoba refused to register. Even threats of fines and jail couldn’t persuade them. It ultimately took a Bible story to convince them. One hundred years later, the government again turned to the same story to convince Mennonites to complete census forms in 2011.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we bring you an interview with Ben Nobbs-Thiessen. He studies the history of Mennonite migration at the University of Winnipeg. We talk about his visits and research among Mennonites in Bolivia, what change looks like in that context, and what we in Canada can learn from Mennonite migrations to Latin America.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailYou’ll want to tune in to this delightful conversation with Erin Koop Unger, who writes for the Mennotoba blog about local Mennonite and Manitoba history. We learn about a discovery she made while researching her own family background, and we find out how many wood ticks she gets while out exploring abandoned cemeteries.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailPeter J. Klassen (1889-1953) was one of many educated Mennonites who migrated to Canada and took up farming out of necessity. After fleeing from the Soviet Union in 1925, him and his wife Elisabet (Liese), built a life on the prairies of Saskatchewan near the community of Herschel. They eventually retired to Yarrow, British Columbia. Throughout his life, he read and wrote extensively - publishing in Der Bote and other German papers, and a number of books. His writing has been described as imbued with a "poignantly realistic sadness" - stories that came from his core.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down to discuss the research of PhD student Jonathan Hildebrand. Jonathan is exploring Indigenous-Mennonite relations through his research of land and waterways on the historical West Reserve in southern Manitoba. He is based at the University of Manitoba and is originally from Altona, Manitoba. Previously he worked for nearly a decade as an urban planner in the areas of land use, urban design, and Indigenous planning, before returning to school to learn more about the place he’s from.Using sources from the Mennonite Heritage Archives, as well as other archives, interviews, and the Red River Valley Echo, Jonathan explores unexpected interactions that tell a deeper story and further our understanding of the region.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn our second part on Steinbach engineer Klaas W. Brandt, we learn about how he helped two budding entrepreneurs and pilots build Steinbach’s first airplane in the early 1930s. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailMany small communities have a person that everyone knows, who doesn't quite fit the standard mold, but has become a part of the fabric of the place. In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores the story of 'Flower Annie' of Winkler, Manitoba. 'Flower Annie' was born Anna Neufeld in 1909 and earned her nickname and living by selling paper flowers around town. Despite being a well-known part of the community up to her death in 1980, most people did not know much about who she was. This is the story of 'Flower Annie'.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailSummer Rewind - Author Ralph Friesen sits down with Dan Dyck to discuss his recently published book Prosperity Ever – Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s. Published by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, this book looks at the history of this community, primarily Mennonite, and how it weathered the Great Depression better than other communities in Manitoba at the time.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailSummer Rewind - In today's episode, host Dan Dyck sits down with archivist of the Mennonite Heritage Archives Conrad Stoesz to discuss their mutual love of Mennonite history, where the Mennonite Heritage Archives originated, and what archives can offer us today.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck presents the life story of Anna Thiessen (1892-1977). While Anna had dreamt of working in India, her life would lead her to Winnipeg. Here she provided support to young women entering the workforce as matron of Mary Martha Home. This was a place for Mennonite girls to live and build community while they supported their far-flung families through work as domestic help.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan Mail Host Dan Dyck presents the life of artist Marta Armin (born Goertzen, 1923-2009). Marta was born into a large family in the village of Chortitz, Manitoba. Her creativity was noted throughout her life, but following a series of major shifts starting at 60, her artistic life bloomed. Part of this growth included a series of works reminiscing on her childhood in southern Manitoba - 60 of which are at the Mennonite Heritage Archives in the Marta Goertzen-Armin Collection. Humorous and often touching, these drawings present a unique and often surprising image of life in a small Manitoba Mennonite village. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck chats with Mennonite Heritage Archive (MHA) administrator Graeme Unrau about his work in the world of GLAM*, Mennonite identity and the stories we tell about ourselves. Graeme also highlights some of his favourite collections at the MHA and the inspiration he has found in the people he meets and works with at the archives.*GLAM is an acronym for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums that is widely used in the cultural heritage sector.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down with author David Elias. David discusses ancestor and noted Mennonite diarist Peter A. Elias, growing up in southern Manitoba, and his upcoming book Into the d/Ark. Peter wrote extensively and honestly about pioneering in Manitoba, and his personal struggles with the church after arriving in Canada in the early 1870s.This interview was recorded while David was on the Canadian Mennonite University campus for Mennonite Writer/s Ten, a conference on Mennonite writing that took place in June, 2025.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailChortitz is a village in Southern Manitoba that traces its beginnings back 150 years to the arrival of Mennonites on the 'East Reserve' in 1874. Host Dan Dyck sits down with local Abe Penner, whose family has roots there going back to 1903, and Jason Janzen, anniversary organizer, to discuss the Mennonite presence in the area and how they plan to celebrate their 150th anniversary. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailJoin host Dan Dyck as he sits down with Lyle Thiessen to learn more about the history of the Reinland - Rosengart area of southern Manitoba and their upcoming 150th anniversary celebration. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan Mail In 1926, Maria Kroeker Neufeld (1870-1950) and her husband Johann Neufeld (1869-1950), along with three of her seven children, were part of a group of Mennonites that moved from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Paraguay. Prompted by a desire for greater autonomy from provincial education legislation and fears of integration, their story is one of a family divided by continents and conviction. In this episode, host Dan Dyck reviews the correspondence between Maria and her family members that is housed at the Mennonite Heritage Archives. The letters illustrate the challenges of creating a new life in Paraguay and the sense of loss that was experienced by Maria, while pointing to the deeper convictions that prompted the move. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down to discuss the research of PhD student Jonathan Hildebrand. Jonathan is exploring Indigenous-Mennonite relations through his research of land and waterways on the historical West Reserve in southern Manitoba. He is based at the University of Manitoba and is originally from Altona, Manitoba. Previously he worked for nearly a decade as an urban planner in the areas of land use, urban design, and Indigenous planning, before returning to school to learn more about the place he's from.Using sources from the Mennonite Heritage Archives, as well as other archives, interviews, and the Red River Valley Echo, Jonathan explores unexpected interactions that tell a deeper story and further our understanding of the region.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, host Dan Dyck continues his exploration of the folks that work at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (MHA). He previously spoke with Conrad and Sara about their work the the MHA, and today you’re going to hear from Isaiah, archival assistant at the MHA. Isaiah is in the business program at Canadian Mennonite University. Studying accounting while working at a historical archive might seem like an unlikely pairing, but Isaiah is fascinated by the relationships and inter-connectedness of the Mennonite community, and has come across some interesting names in his work, including Pamela Anderson and Connor Beddard. The Mennonite Game, celebrity edition, eh?Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.