Accessions 2002.023, 2002.024, 2002,025, 2003.001, 2003.012, 2005.045, 2017.014.001
Title and Physical Description
Tim Janzen collection. — Copied 2001-2005 (originally created 1799-2005). — 42 microfilm reels. – 1 computer disk
Administrative/Biographical History
Timothy Paul Janzen was born in Salem, Oregon in 1960. He is married to Rachel Ann Sauter, with whom he has four children: Paul, Marilee, Andrew and Bethany. He is a family physician living in Portland, Oregon. He makes extensive contributions to the Mennonite and Germans-from-Russia family history community through his volunteering and philanthropic efforts. He has been an active member of the California Mennonite Historical Society committee that oversees the GRANDMA (Genealogical Register and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Project, and is an avid contributor as well as proponent of others contributing to that project. He has schooled himself in Russian and German so that he can extract genealogical information from historical documents printed and handwritten in those two languages. He has been a force in ensuring that information pertinent to Mennonite family history is preserved through microfilming and through indexing and transcribing into the GRANDMA project, online (websites of the Mennonite Historical Societies of Manitoba and Alberta), and on the shelves of a large number of Mennonite historical societies.
Tim Janzen has also compiled and edited several lists of Geological Resources for Low German Mennonite Researchers. Copies of these reports were received as part of the mixed archival accession 2017.014 and are filed as 2017.014.001.
Scope & Content
The collection consists of microform and digital copies of archival records documenting the history and genealogy of Mennonites in Prussia, Russia, and North America. Included are the Molotschna Colony Census file (1835) documenting a Mennonite settlement in Russia; excerpts from the Guardianship Committee of Foreign Settlers in South Russia fonds (1799-1833) documenting early Mennonite relations with the government of Russia; Ulrich Dueck fonds (ca. 1950-ca. 2001) describing genealogies of Mennonite families in West Prussia; Tim Janzen’s historical map collection (1914-2005) documenting the locations of Mennonite colonies in West Prussia and southern Russia (1914-1921) including a partial transliterated index to place names (2005); and the Herman Thiessen fonds (ca. 1950-ca. 2001) describing the Thiessen family genealogy.
The Genealogical Resources for the Low German Mennonite Researcher, compiled and edited by Tim Janzen (Accession 2017.014.001) include separate detailed lists of Canadian, United States, Russian, Prussian, Netherlands, Latin American, Internet, General Resources, Genealogical software programs, and the Grandma database.
Source of Supplied Title
Title based on contents of the collection
Language
The material is in German, Russian, and English
Originals
The original documents are held by Odessa State Archives (Ukraine); Mennonite Library and Archives (Newton, Kansas); and Svetlana Martins (Moscow, Russia)
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions on access
Finding Aids
Finding aids to the five archival units are available in the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta archives database
Accrurals
Accruals are expected
Notes
Accessions 2002.023, 2002.024, 2002,025, 2003.001, 2003.012, 2005.045
Last updated July 2012 – Jim Bowman
Part of the Tim Janzen collection
GRANDMA #234160