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Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives & Gallery
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Jacob Goossen Family fonds

  • CA MHCA photograph collection number 578
  • Fonds
  • 1900-1972, predominant 1900-1930

This fonds consists of 35 photographs, mostly taken in Russia, of the Goossen family, extended family, and of the Wintergruen estate. The photos are of high quality and show a wealthy Mennonite family in Russia. Included is a rare photograph of the interior of the Schoensee Mennonite Church.

Jacob Goossen

A.06 European Ministries

This sub series contains records and correspondence with Arbeitsgeminschaft zur geistlichen Unterstützung in Mennonitegemeinden (AGUM) in addition to European ministries minutes, reports, memos and correspondence.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board. European Ministries

A.07 General Board

This sub series contains the program committee files (1980-1992) and assorted correspondence, minutes, reports related to the General Board. Many files are from individuals personal collections, including Theodore E. Friesen, Frank K. Isaac, David P. Neufeld , and Henry Poettcker.

B.01 Board of Missions

  • CA MHCA Volumes: 276-346, 348-354, 356-368, 492, 498-499, 505-506, 964-966, 1009, 1047, 1050, 2033, 2313-2314, 2330, 2838, 3189, 3198, 3225, 3374-3375, 4893, 4937
  • Series
  • 1922-1979, predominant 1963-1970
  • Part of Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds

Much of this material consists of correspondence with individual mission stations. Approximatly 0.5 meters of the material in these files dates from before 1962. Among this material are minutes (1940-1971), reports, and correspondence (1943-1959). The oldest Board of Missions material is the financial ledger for the years 1914-1957. This ledger was begun by G.G. Epp and was maintained by P.P. Epp from 1927-1931. Both these men served as treasurer for the Missions Committee.

The David Toews files, is only indirectly related to the CMC Board of Missions. Toews served as field secretary responsible for the Canadian operations of the Home Missions Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church (1917-1946) and as member of the CMC Committee for Home Missions from 1943-1945, but the majority of these records are related to his General Conference involvements. The correspondence has all been filed alphabetically. One file of material in these records pertains to the CMC Archives but it appears to have been created by J.J. Thiessen, not by David Toews. The bulk of the material relates to the assistance which the General Conference provided for the creation of new churches in Canada in the years 1923-1946.

The H.J. Gerbrandt files reflect his involvement as field secretary (1959-1960) and secretary (1961-1965) of the Mission Board, as well as his service with Mennonite Pioneer Mission. Most of the material consists of correspondence, minutes, and reports. The files employ an alphabetical filing system.

George Groening served as a member of the Board of Missions for ten years during which period he was vice-chairman for one year (1958) and chairman for six years (1961-1966). Groening also served as chairman of the Mennonite Pioneer Mission Board before its amalgamation with CMC Board of Missions. His records contain a total of 1.36 meters of correspondence, minutes, agendas, and reports (both general and local) from the years 1948-1966. The H.H. Penner files cover approximately the same period as the Groening files and the types of material are quite similar as well. There is no obvious filing order in the collection.

The Mennonite Pioneer Mission (MPM) was operated by the conference of Mennonites in Canada since 1960. Some pre-1960 records in these files seem to have been transferred to the Conference in 1960. The J.N. Braun treasurer files (1942-1961) fall into this category. The early financial records of Mennonite Pioneer Mission are not entirely complete. Some of the pre-1949 ledgers were retained by the Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Manitoba, founders of the Mennonite Pioneer Mission. The files also contain correspondence for the years 1931-1948. Finally there are also minutes of the MPM Board for the years 1944-1959. The post-1960 period the MPM files were generated by the CMC Board of Missions' executive secretaries. They were responsible for overseeing all MPM operations. There is considerable correspondence with people from the various mission stations. In 1971 the structure was again changed, and MPM received its own executive secretary, while the other facets of Board of Missions work were taken over by the newly formed Congregational Resources Board.

This record sub-series has intriguing research possibilities. The materials are useful for studying the history of several northern Manitoba native communities or the history of missions in Canada, and for doing cross-cultural studies. There are also possibilities for demographic studies, especially with regard to migration of Mennonites in Canada. The Board of Missions files could also be of considerable interest to the local historians who is trying to reconstruct the church development in their community.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada - Resources Commission - Board of Missions

A.04 Finance committee

Most of the financial records consist of administrative correspondence after 1965. There are documents relating to the finances of the difference CMC boards. There are a series of ledgers dating from 1930-1945, 1949-1957 and 1957-1973. Also included are the CMC financial Records from 1981-2001 which include personnel files, pension benefit statments, and external audits. These financial records pertain to all branches of Conference work and can help demonstrate the growth of the Conference in a quantifiable way.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board. Finance Committee

A.03 Executive secretary /General secretary files

  • CA MHCA Volumes: 133-149, 158-161, 164-174, 460, 463-464, 469-471, 500-502, 507, 516-524, 527, 649, 843-844, 963, 1057-1058, 1126-1127, 1582-1587, 1699, 1783-1791, 2437, 2575, 2613, 2719-2720, 2805-2816, 3149-3160, 3167-3173, 3741-3748, 3774-3777, 3961, 3970-3971
  • Series
  • 1947-1999, predominant 1961-1999
  • Part of Conference of Mennonites in Canada fonds

This sub-series contains largely correspondence, minutes and reports. Some studies, statistical compilations and news releases can also be found in these files. The files provide an overview of the activities of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada from 1961 to 1999.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board. Executive secretary files

The Canadian Mennonite Youth Organization

The sub series correspondence concentrates on the following subjects; administration of the CMYO, publications of the CMYO, special projects (e.g. fundraising for Mennonite Pioneer Mission), involvement with young people's organizations in the United States. The records appear to be complete for the years 1953-1966. In the years following 1960 the amount of correspondence decreased somewhat. In addition to this the collection has a complete set of CMYO minutes for the years 1947-1966 and a number of reports. The files also contain a few issues of Mennonite Youth (1960-1962) and the Young Peoples' Messenger (1947-1950). An complete set of the Young Peoples' Messenger can be found in the CMC Publications files. The financial records in this sub-series consist of three ledgers and several cheque and receipt book for the years 1951-1959.

The collection has considerable interest for researchers doing a historical study of the CMC, especially if they have an interest in leadership development. The CMYO served as a virtual training school for a generation of conference leaders. These materials are quite illuminating when examined in the light of other CMC records. This collection could also be of use to anyone with an interest in Canada youth and their organizations.

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. Auxiliary Organizations. The Canadian Mennonite Youth Organization

A.02 Conference secretary files

This sub-series consists largely of correspondence but also includes minutes, reports and other materials. Correspondence was carried on with many institutions (including different levels of conferences) and touches on a wide variety of subjects. The conference secretary files extant in the Archives were generated by three men who occupied this position successively. They were H.T. Klassen (1947-1954), P.R. Harder (1954-1958), and H.H. Epp (1958-1961).

Conference of Mennonites in Canada. General Board. Conference Secretary

Winkler Bergthaler Mennonite Church fonds

  • CA MHCA Volumes, 41, 1606, 2407, 2926, 3808, 4002, 4252, 4428, 4853, 4854, microfilm no.352, 353, 354
  • Fonds
  • 1955-1999

This fonds consists of two main categories - publications, both regular and special, and minutes detailing the church and its committees. The regular publications included are Church Bulletins (1973-1999), Annual Reports (1964-1999), newsletters (Informers) (1980-1999), other church newsletter (1980-1982), church directories (1976-1999) and pictorial directories (1970; 1980; 1988; 1994; 1999). The special publications included are a membership list from 1994, the church's 75th Anniversary Album published in 1970, a report of individual financial contributions collected in 1960-1961, membership directories from 1976, 1977 and 1979, and the church's history book, compiled in 1995. The second category includes the church minutes recorded from 1955-1999 with 1955-1981 primarily being on microfilm and 1982-1999 being textual records. The committees included are: Ministerial (1962-1974; 1976-1999), Finance and Administration (1964-1999), Church Council (1960-1999), Education (1966-1973; 1976-1999), Centennial Celebrations (1994-1995), Building (1992-1994), Pictorial (1970;1980;1993-1994), Music (1979-1999), Missions (1966-1973;1979-1999), Nominations (1984-1999), History Book (1989-1994), Sunday School Teachers (1979-1999), Membership (1955-1999), Service (1961-1971), and Church Growth (1980-1982). Other material found within the Winkler Bergthaler Mennonite Church microfilms are two student papers done on the Winkler Bergthaler Mennonite Church done in 1979 and 1980 , "Hoffnungsfeld - Winkler" from Adventure in Faith written by Henry J. Gerbrandt.

Winkler Bergthaler Mennonite Church (Manitoba)

J. J. Thiessen fonds

  • CA MHCA Volumes 859-955, 1135-1153, 1656-1662, 2327, 2780b; Maps # 1211-1215; Microfilm reels #18-43; Cassette #34
  • Fonds
  • 1922-1980, predominant 1945-1977

This fonds includes records reflecting the range of activities of J.J. Thiessen with one notable exception. The records of his involvement with the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (later Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council) are largely in the files of that organization. The correspondence covers most eras and there are a wide variety of church reports, sets of institutional minutes of organizations such as the Rosenorter Mennonite Church or Mennonite Central Committee. Some of the correspondence is from relatives, and some pertains to travel abroad. There are materials related to the development of Mennonite post-secondary education in Canada and relief and humanitarian ventures. The largest section of the fonds is arranged in series. The majority of this section has also been microfilmed. Other sections include 19 volumes (Vol. 1135-1153) containing miscellaneous correspondence and minutes, and reports and minutes from the Mennonite Central Committee, 7 volumes (Vol. 1656-1662) containing reports and pamphlets on assorted themes, a ledger book, and another volume of assorted items. The fonds also contains several maps pertaining to Mennonite settlements, a large collection of photographs, and one cassette.

Thiessen, J. J. (Jacob John), 1922-1977

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