This fonds consists of personal correspondence received and written from 1949-1999. These records document Bernie Wiebe's vocational and personal life as a Mennonite leader, educator, counselor, preacher, radio minister, editor of a denominational paper, and husband and father. Some files relate to the specific congregation or instituion for which he worked. There are also files related to his trip and tours to Russia, Europe, Holy Land, and South America; as well as a few items of family interest and a personal nature. One series of files contains his private correspondence with Dr. G.K. Epp and Dr. George Richert, the fiirst presidents of Menno Simons College, as well as private conrrespondence with specific churches and individuals regarding conflicts in the church between 1986-1999.

The materials in the collection consist of handwritten letters notifying friends and family of a death, a few wedding invitations, pattern for a skirt and a recipe. A list of people in several villages are noted at the end signifying to whom the notice should be passed. The collection is helpful in understanding funeral practices in the Mennonite community, verifying and supplementing vital records already recorded in church and government sources. In addition some information as to the residents of some villages can be gleaned. Most common villages mentioned in the letters include Schoenweise, Reinland, Kronsfeld, Blumenfeld, Haskett, and Gnadenthal.

This collection contains records pertaining from at least 6 different fonds in the State Archive of the Zaporozhe Region. They include the Berdyansk Uezd Steppe Forestry Department (Fond 250), the Alexandrovsk Uezd Land Survey Commission (Fond 230), the Melitopol Uezd Statistical Bureau (Fond 255), the Berdyansk Uezd Land Survey Office (Found 263), the A.A. Koop Agricultural Equipment and Machinery Factory (Fond 158) and the Zaporozhe Okrug Executive Committee (Fond 316). The materials focus roughly on four themes – forestry, description of land and estate possessions, business correspondence and emigration.

This fonds contains the diary of Jakob Guenther starting on the 16. Jan. 1945 when he was conscripted into the German army. It continues during the period that he was a Russian prisoner of war in Romania from the end of the war till 19 February 1946. The last entry is dated 20. Sept 1947 written in Canada, expressing his longing to be reunited with his wife and daughters, or at least to have confirmation of their well-being.

This fonds consists of four series: 1) Epp Diaries, 1837-1843, 1851-1986 2) Epp Materials, 1788-1811, 1846, 1878-1955 3) Epp Family Photograph Collection, [1920's?] 4) Epp Family Farm Ledgers, 1927-1986.

This fonds contains mainly letters received from siblings who remained in the homeland (Russia/Soviet Union) written in the post-revolution era, after Johann J. and Helena Wiens immigrated to Canada. The letters describe experiences of family, exile and complete disruption of their way of life as the communist regime developed. There is a 19-year period of no letter exchange beginning in 1937 when Stalin initiated an horrendous purge of anyone that might be a threat to his regime. After Stalin's death, things began to change slowly, and starting in 1956 contact was again established and another series of letter were exchanged. This fonds includes letters which Johann received from his sister Anna Siemens, his brother Jacob's family, his brother Peter Wiens and his sister Liese Letkemann. There are also some letters from relatives, David and Justina Kasper, Gertrude (Enns) Regehr and others. In addition to the letters from Russia, this fonds also contain two notebooks -- one consisting of the Wiens family register compiled by Johann J. Wiens, and the other a 1948 trip diary and address book created by Helena Wiens.

This collections contains a photocopy of a journal written in 1919 by a young woman, Katharina Hildebrandt (1901-1920), who was engaged to be married to Johann Isaac Warkentin, who was murdered on 26 October 1919 in Eichenfeld, South Russia. The collection also includes a Hildebrandt family register of birth and death dates of the children of Heinrich David Hildebrandt (1870-1919), father of Katharina, who also was murdered at the Eichenfeld massacre on October 26, 1919. Another item is a 1988 transcript of an interview of Isaac Warkentin (1908), a brother of Johann who died in 1919.

This fonds consists of two sections of letters which Jacob and Sara Braun received from the Friesen family. The first section dated 1921 to 1938 were received from the Friesen family in Ogus Tobe, Crimea, first while living in Tiegenhagen (Ukraine) and then after 1925 while living at Ste. Elizabeth, Manitoba. The second section dated 1956 to 1982 are letters written mainly by Helene Dueck, Renate Dueck, Peter Friesen and Anna Wall in the Soviet Union to Jacob and Sara Braun in Manitoba. The letters are arranged chronologically by year. The letters provide a view of how one immigrant family to Canada remained in contact with the family members left in the home country. They also provide a view of how one family experienced life in the Soviet Union from 1921 to 1982.

This fonds consists of congregational bulletins (1965, 1966, 1969, 1973, 1976-1993, 1995-2000), congregational correspondence (1949), financial records (1952, 1957, 1963), congregational meeting minutes (1961, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1984-1986, 1988, 1996), annual reports (1974, 1976, 1977, 1984-1986, 1988, 1996), congregational newsletters (1977).

This fonds consists of weekly Sunday bulletins (1996-2000) which pertain to the life and worship of the Mennonite congregation at Oak Lake, Manitoba.