- CA MHCA Vol. 2138:12-16; Vol. 5479-5480; Photo Coll. 589.
- Fonds
- 1923-2000
This fonds contains a transcript of an interview with Jacob Bergen, Jacob Bergen correspondence with the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization regarding immigration, payment of travel debt and the sponsorship of relatives coming to Canada after the Second World War and correspondence with the Oak Lake Mennonite church (part of the Schoenwieser Mennonite Church in Manitoba). The fonds also includes the letters written by Margaret Bergen (1928-) to her parents, Jacob and Maria Bergen, and the letters received by Margaret from her parents, while attending the Mennonite Collegiate Institute boarding school from 1941-1945, while attending Normal School in Winnipeg 1945-1946, and while teaching in various schools in Manitoba and on an exchange program in Coventry, England in 1961-1962.
This material shows the difficult situation some Mennonites experienced in Russia after the First World War, how one family coped and immigrated to Canada where they started a new life with their children. They letters show the high value that this family placed on education and staying in touch with each other when transportation, travel and communication was quite limited.
Bergen, Jacob