Fonds UMASC Mss 386, Pc 333, Tc 171 (A.12-83) - Hiebert, Brown Family fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Hiebert, Brown Family fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record
  • Graphic material
  • Sound recording

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

CA UMASC UMASC Mss 386, Pc 333, Tc 171 (A.12-83)

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

Physical description area

Physical description

1.5 m of textual records.
1010 photographs, 227 negatives.
7 audio recordings.

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1837-2013)

Biographical history

Erdman Penner (1837-1907) and Maria (Van) Eitzen (1840-1900) arrived on the International, the first boat of Mennonite immigrants to southern Manitoba, on July 3, 1874. They came from the Chortitza village of the Bergthal colony in southern Russia. Erdman started a merchandise business and opened a rafting supplies store along the railway line that was passing through Gretna. He became mayor of Gretna in (). The family spent winters in Winnipeg. In 1874, their daughter Helena Penner was born.

In the 1880s, the family moved to Mountain Lake, Minnesota where Helena continued her schooling. Helena, or Helen as she was also known, attended the University of Manitoba and became the first Mennonite woman to graduate from this institution when she did so in 1899. Helen also organized the Modern Language Club (the University Women’s Club) at the University of Manitoba. She is also known as the author of “Granny stories” – a memoir of Mennonite life on the prairies. Helen married Gerhard Hiebert in 1902 and settled in Winnipeg. They had three daughters: Helen Elfriede (Di) Allen (1908-1982), Gerda Louise Riddoch (1910-1980), and Catherine Elizabeth Brown (1918-2013). Helen Hiebert passed away in 1970.

Helen's husband, Gerhard Hiebert (1868-1934), was a prominent Winnipeg surgeon who became chief surgeon at the Winnipeg General Hospital (1917-1919). Gerhard’s parents were also Mennonites from southern Russia who took the Kenilworth ship from Antwerp and arrived in New York on July 17, 1876. They came from Berjansk village near Chortitza village and settled in Mountain Lake, Minnesota.

Gerda Riddoch received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire O.B.E. from the Queen of England in 1970.

Catherine Brown graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc. in 1938. She often travelled to England to visit her sister Elfriede (Di) and her husband John Frank Allen. Catherine was accepted by St. Thomas Hospital in England to study physiotherapy. During the Second World War she returned to Canada and married her husband, Edward C. Brown. Catherine and Edward had three children: Shirley, Peter, and Kenneth. In 2005 Catherine Brown established the Dr. Gerhard Hiebert Memorial Bursary Fund, in memory of her father, at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba.

Edward Brown’s grandfather was the Hon. Edward Brown, provincial treasurer of Manitoba (1915-1917). Edward’s father, Wallace E. Brown, was an original grain merchant for Richardson and Sons, Ltd. from the 1920s to 1960.

Custodial history

Catherine Brown entrusted the family archives to her daughter, Shirley Brown, who donated it to University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections in 2012.

Scope and content

The Hiebert, Brown Family fonds represents stories, experiences and contributions of three generations of a Mennonite-Northumberland family painting a vivid picture of life in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the first half of the 20th century. The fonds consists of biographical information on all members of the Hiebert, Brown family, their correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Also included are Paul Hiebert's audio-recordings and a manuscript, "Willows Revisited" (1970); Wallace Brown's recollection of the Winnipeg General Strike (June 21, 1919); Catherine Brown's genealogical research material into the Hiebert-Brown family's roots; and material pertaining to Catherine Brown's cousin, Erdman Penner, a cartoonist for the Walt Disney Company from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

An online finding aid is available at the link below:

Mss 386, Pc 333, Tc 171 (A.12-83)

Associated materials

Paul Hiebert fonds - Mss 7, Pc 86

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Mss 386, Pc 333, Tc 171 (A.12-83)

Institution identifier

UMASC

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

  • English

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres