Mennonite
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  1. Chinook or Sedalia Alberta

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    This photo was taken in Chinook or Sedalia, Alberta.  Can anyone help us identify the folks in the picture? 

  2. Lethbridge Screening of “The Russlaender Migration: From Revolution to Reflection”

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    Since we could not accommodate everyone who came out for the Lethbridge screening of “The Russlaender Migration: From Revolution to Reflection”, the film will be shown again at The Movie Mill in Lethbridge on April 12 at 3:00 pm. Free admission.

  4. Sara Decker fonds

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    http://Sara Decker fondsAccession 2016.028

    Title and Physical Description

    Sara Decker fonds. – 194o-1943. – 15 photographs

    Administrative/Biographical History

    Sara Becker was born on 24 January 1921, the daughter of Peter Decker and Anna (Penner) Decker, in Kaltan, Neu Samara, Russia.  The family immigrated to Canada in 1926.  Sara attended the Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Bible School from 1940-1943 and completed the 3-year Bible Course.

    Scope and Content

    The fonds consists of 15 photographs of students, teachers, and the building of the Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Bible School during the time when Sara Decker was a student there.  Her later married name was Sara (Decker) Siple.

    Source of Acquision

    Donated by Ruth Vandenbor, Sara (Decker) Siple’s daughter.

     

     

  5. Frieda Toews fonds

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    Accession 2016.023

    Title and Physical Description

    Frieda Toews fonds, ca. 1888-1952, ca. 187 photographs

    Administrative and Biographical History

    Frieda Toews was born in Altona, Manitoba on 14 December 1947, the daughter of Jacob R. and Helena (Hiebert) Toews.  Both the Toews and Hiebert families migrated from Russia to Manitoba in the 1870s.  Both the Toews and Hiebert families were large and some family members, including Frieda, later moved to Alberta.  Frieda created, or inherited from her mother, four family photograph albums.  In 2016 she donated the photographs in these four albume to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.  The stories of the extended John R. Toews and Helena (Hiebert) Toews family are told in greater detail in a privately printed book entitled Jacob R. and Helena (Hiebert) Toews.  A Pictorial Famly History.  The book was compiled and published by Frieda Toews’s sister, Mary (Toews) Unger.

    Scope and Content

    The photographs were placed in numbered envelopes or archival sleeves in no immediately discernable order.  Some numbered items are missing, but here are also 18 photographs for which no asigned number is now available.  Frieda Toews and Mary (Toews) Unger have provided idenification of persons on the first 50 of these photographs and may be able to continue that work.

    Source of Acquisition

    Donated by Frieda Toews

    Finding Aids

    The smaller photographs are stored, in numerical order, in MHSA Images.  Larger photographs, together with the list indentifying the first 50 photographs are stored in MHSA Images, Oversize “A” Box 1

  6. Kathy Peters fonds

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    Accession 2017.007

    Title and Physical Description

    Kathy Peters fonds, – 12 cm of textual material. – 40 photographs

    Administrative/Biographical Description

    Kathy Peters was the daughter of David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen.  Kathy Peters parents had migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1924 and settled in the Didsbury area of Alberta.  Kathy was born in 1933 at Crossfield, Alberta, and married Edward William Peters.
    In 1987 Kathy Peters received from her mother, Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen, a large collection of letters which various family members had received from relatives still living and enduring severe hardships in the Soviet Union.  These letters were written in the cursive German Gothic script but have been carefully transcribed and then translated.   Expanatory notes are also provided where the dates, places, or relationships are not clearly defined in the letters.  Kathy Peters added detailed genealogical information about the families living in Canada and those living in the Soviet Union.  Most of the letters were  written between 1924 and 1933, but some are dated as late as 1936.  The letters provide much detailed information about the lives and conditions of those who remained in the Soviet Union.

    Custodial History

    The letters were either received directly by David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen, or collected by Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen from relatives in Canada who had received letters from mutual relatives living in the Soviet Union.  Some items are only fragments of letters. They were donated by Kathy (Goerzen) Peters to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta in 2017.
    The photographs came from a Peters family photograph album.  Most of the photos were taken in the Soviet Union and brought to Canada by the parents of Edward William Peters (Kathy Peters’ husband). They were donated by Kathy (Goerzen) Peters to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta in 2017.

    Scope and Content

    The fonds consists of four different sets of original letters, together with transcripts and translations and 40 photographs.  The letters in each file are arranged chronologically.

    1. 62 letters written by Maria Dueckman Goerzen to her son and daughter-in-law, David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen.  They cover the period from 1924 to 1933, the year of Maria Dueckman’s death.  Maria Dueckman was Kathy (Goerzen) Peters paternal grandmother.

    2. 29 letters written by Anna (Goerzen) Fast to her brother and sister-in-law David P. Goerzen and Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen.  They cover the period from 1924 to 1936.  Anna (Goerzen) Fast was Kathy (Goerzen) Peters aunt.

    3. 33 letters written by David P. Goerzen’s brothers, Heinrich and Peter, and his sister Maria (Goerzen) Regehr.  They cover the period from 1924-1933.  These were Kathy (Goerzen) Peters uncles and aunt.

    4. 29 letters from members of the Johann Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens family to the families of their daughters Susanna (David) Goerzen and Anna (Gerhard) Duerksen.   They cover the period 1924-1933.    Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens were Kathy (Goerzen) Peters maternal grandparents.

    40 Peters family photographs, filed separately.  The 40 photographs come from a Peters family album.   Edward William Peters (Kathy Peters husband) was the son of Gerhard Jacob Peters and Susanna Peters.  The Gerhard and Susanna Peters family lived in the Yazykovo Mennonite colony before migrating to Canada in 1924.  In Canada they settled on the Burns Ranch near Didsbury, Alberta.  There is identifying information for some of the photographs, but many do not have any identifying information.

    Notes

    Katharine (Goerzen) Peters  GM158100
    Susanna (Wiens) Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters mother GM413662
    Maria (Duekman) Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters paternal grandmother GM207137
    Anna (Goerzen) Fast – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters aunt GM1400383
    David P. Goerzen – Kathy (Goerzen) Peters father  GM158098
    Johann Johann Wiens and Susanna (Dyck) Wiens, Kathy (Goerzen) Peters maternal grandparents GM413660 and GM413661
    Edward William Peters –  Kathy Peters husband GM158097
    Gerhard Jacob Peters  – Kathy Peters father-in-law GM158095
    Susanna Peters GM – Kathy Peters mother-in-law  GM158096

     

  7. Langemann, Johann and Anna. – ca 1890-1989. – 50 cm

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    Accession 2024.007

    Title  and Physical Description

    Johann and Anna Langemann fonds, c. 1890-1989, 50 cm.

    Administrative/Biographical History

    Johann and Anna Langemann were residents of Gnadenheim, Molotschna settlement, where the family had a well-established Wirtschaft.  Johann was born on 13 December 1888 in Gnadenheim.   Anna (Baerg) Langemann was born in in the same village on 3 September 1897.  Both came from “blended” families in which their fathers’ first wives had died.   They had then remarried.  They migrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1926 and established a small mixed farming operation in Coaldale, Alberta.  Most of both Johann’s and Anna’s siblings, however, remained in the Soviet Union.

    The fate of close family members who remained in the Soviet Union became a major concern for Johann and Anna Langemann.  For at time after 1926 there was quite extensive correspondence with immediate family members and other relatiaves who were still living in the Soviet Union.  That was disrupted in the mid-1930s, but resumed to a limited extent by some of the survivors after Stalin’s death.  Despite their own difficult financial constraints, the Langemann family provided whatever support they could for their desperate, starving and oppressed relatives in the Soviet Union.   They also preserved letters, written in cursive Gothic German script, which they received from those relatives.  Specifically, Anna (Baerg) Langemann had 2 sisters, 2 brothers, 2 half sisters and 4 half-brothers.  Only Anna and one half-sister migrated with their families to Canada.  All of Anna’s other siblings remained in the Soviet Union where they suffered great harship.  One of Anna (Baerg) Langemann’s half-brothers was exiled and died in Siberia in 1940.  Two of her brothers also perished in the Gulag.   One was taken away and died in a prison camp in 1940 and the other was taken in 1937 and shot on 5 February 1938.  Johann Langemann had 4 half brothers, two of which came to Canada.  The other 2 remained in Russia where one “disappeared” in 1937.

    Johann Langemann died on 23 March 1945.  The family then relocated, for a short time, to Sardis, British Columbia, but returned to Coaldale where Anna and her family lived until her death on 21 January 1983.  They had three sons, one of whom died in infancy, and three daughters.

    Scope and Content

    The fonds includes some genealogical information, some documents pertaining to the migration and subsequent land acquisition in Coaldale, thirty-nine photographs, and a large collection of letters, most of which were written by siblings and relatives living in the Soviet Union.  Many of the letters were translated by Johann and Anna’s children, Peter Langemann and Agnes (Langemann) Thibert.   They apparently focused their efforts mainly on letters written by siblings or nieces and nephews of Johann and Anna (Baerg) Langemann and on letters written by Johann Langemann’s siblings and relatives.  The translated letters are arranged somewhat sporadically,  in chronological order.   Many of the letters, however, either have no date, or only the day and month but not the year in which they were written.  Often there is also no signature, and there are numerous fragmentary or incomplete letters.  Included are several binders or folders of unprocessed letters or fragments of letters.

    File List

    o1.01 “Familien Chronik” taken from a damaged family Bible.
    01.02 Langemann Genealogical Chart
    01.03 Johann and Anna Langemann – Russian passports
    01.04 Various legal documents related to the farm in Coaldale, Alberta
    01.05 Binder of family photographs.  Three oversized photographs are filed separately.
    01.06 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from relatives of Anna (Baerg) Langemann. 1927-1931.
    01.07 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from relatives of Anna (Baerg) Langemann, 1931-1934.
    01.08 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly form relatives of Johann Langemann, 1927-1934.
    01.09 Binder of letters in Gothic cursive script, with translations, mostly from Anna (Baerg) and Johann Langemann 1948-1989.
    01.10 Binder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.
    01.11 Binder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.
    01.12 Folder of unprocessed original letters in Gothic cursive script.

     

     

  8. Highland Mennonite Brethren Church Calgary fonds. – 25 cm – 1995-2004

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    Accession 2024.005 and 2025.002 (filed with 2024.005)

    Title and Physical Description

    Highland Mennonite Brethren Church Calgary fonds. – 25 cm – 1995-2004

    Administrative/Biographical History

    Highland Mennonite Brethren Church in Calgary began as a Mennonite Brethren city mission in the 1950s.  The group, meeting in rented facilities, was organized as the Calgary Mennonite Brethren Church in 1956.  In 1962 they built their own sanctuary in the Highland district of Calgary at 4018 Centre B Street, N W., Calgary, T2K 0W2.  The congregation was then renamed as the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church.  In 1983 the congregation divided to form the Dalhousie Mennonite Brethren Church.   The Highland Mennonite Brethren Church is affiliated with the Alberta, Canadian, and General Conferences of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

    Scope and Content

    The fonds consists of church bulletins from 1995 to 2004 when Harry Heidebrecht served as the Senior Pastor of the Church.   They were evidently kept by Harry Heidebrecht and include his sermon outlines and also some other notes and reports.  The fonds includes only bulletins for the worship services in which Harry Heidebrecht preached or had a prominent role.

    At the request of the MHSA archivist, the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church made available copies of the Council Meetings of the church during the time when Harry Heidebrecht was the pastor.  These were years of transition and it is instructive to gain insight into Council and Sunday morning worship perspectives.

    Source of Acquisition

    The church bulletins and sermon notes were donated to the Mennonite Heritage Museum, Abbotsford, British Columbia.  The Mennonite Heritage Museum donated them to the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta since the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church is an Alberta church.

    The copies of Council Meetings were donated by the Highland Mennonite Brethren Church.

     

     

     

  9. Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee fonds

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    Accession 2002.019

    Title and Physical Description

    Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee fonds. – 1937-1974. – 3.5 cm of textual records

    Administrative/Biographical History

    The Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore Mennonite District Committee was one of many local committees of the Vertreterversammlung der Mennonitischen Ansiedler Albertas (Representative Association of Mennonite Settlers in Alberta).  It included Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonites who had migrated from a variety of places and churches in the Soviet Union in the 1920s.  Some had purchased and settled on Namaka Farm, an 8 square mile tract of land southeast of Strathmore, Alberta, and others on area farms.  Repayment of the transportation debt incurred by the immigrants was the most urgent concern of the Vertreterversammlung, but various inter-Mennonite mutal aid social, healthcare, cultural and economic programs were also established.  Members were assessed a levy or tax to cover operating costs of the Vertreterversammlung.  The Namaka-Carseland-Strathmore district committee also estalished its own cemetery and burial society and negotiated contracts with a doctor and the hospital in Rosemary whereby membership fees covered pat of the doctor’s incom and the hospital operating costs in return for significantly reduced fees for services received by members.  During and after World War II overseas aid and relief programs were created.  In 1963 some of the programs were merged to form Mennonite Central Committee, Alberta, while others, at various times, were closed or spun off as stand-alone agencies.

    Custodial History

    The records were received from Henry Goerzen

    Scope and Content

    The fonds consists of membership lists, financial records, and minutes.

    Source of Acquisition

    Donated by Henry Goerzen

    Associated Materials

    Records of the Vertreterversammlung der Mennonitischen Ansiedler Alberta’s (see MHSA Accession

    Related Materials

    -Namaka Mennonite Brethren Church fonds, MHSA
    -Goerzen Henry D., (2000) Namaka, 1925-2000:Celebrating God’s Faithfulness from Generation to Generation. Didsbury, AB:Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta
    –Trails to Little Corner: A Story of Namaka and Surrounding Districts (Calgary: Namaka Community Historical Committee, 1993.

    File List

    1-1 Kassenbuch – Carselan

  10. Langemann, Ralph

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    Accession 2023.003

    Title and Physical Description

    Ralph Langemann fonds, 1955, 1 cm.

    Administrative/Biographical History

    Ralph Langemann lived in Coaldale, Alberta, where he met and married Fern Olson, the daughter of the local lumber yard.  In 1955 the town of Coaldale published a 42-page booklet entitled Coaldale, 1905 Alberta Golden Jubilee 1955 which, as the title suggests, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the southern Alberta town.  Fern (Olsen) Langemann drew and inserted into a copy of that booklet a map of all the business establishments in the town at that time.   After Fern (Olsen) Langemann’s deathg, her husband, Ralph Langemann donated the booklet with the inserted map to the archives of the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta.

    Scope and Content

    The fonds consists of the booklet Coaldale 1905 Alberta Golden Jubilee 1955 , together map drawn by Fern (Olsen) Langemann of all the business establishments in the t0wn in the 1950s.

    Source of Acquisition

    Donated by Ralph Langemann