Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives

In our second part on Steinbach engineer Klaas W. Brandt, we learn about how he helped two budding entrepreneurs and pilots build Steinbach’s first airplane in the early 1930s. 

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Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on I...

Many small communities have a person that everyone knows, who doesn't quite fit the standard mold, but has become a part of the fabric of the place. In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores the story of 'Flower Annie' of Winkler, Manitoba. 'Flower Annie' was born Anna Neufeld in 1909 and earned her nickname and living by selling paper flowers around town. Despite being a well-known part of the community up t...

Summer Rewind - Author Ralph Friesen sits down with Dan Dyck to discuss his recently published book Prosperity Ever – Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s. Published by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, this book looks at the history of this community, primarily Mennonite, and how it weathered the Great Depression better than other communities in Manitoba at the time.

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Summer Rewind - In today's episode, host Dan Dyck sits down with archivist of the Mennonite Heritage Archives Conrad Stoesz to discuss their mutual love of Mennonite history, where the Mennonite Heritage Archives originated, and what archives can offer us today.

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Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives ...

Host Dan Dyck presents the life story of Anna Thiessen (1892-1977). While Anna had dreamt of working in India, her life would lead her to Winnipeg. Here she provided support to young women entering the workforce as matron of Mary Martha Home. This was a place for Mennonite girls to live and build community while they supported their far-flung families through work as domestic help.

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 Host Dan Dyck presents the life of artist Marta Armin (born Goertzen, 1923-2009). Marta was born into a large family in the village of Chortitz, Manitoba. Her creativity was noted throughout her life, but following a series of major shifts starting at 60, her artistic life bloomed. Part of this growth included a series of works reminiscing on her childhood in southern Manitoba - 60 of which are at the Mennonite Heritage Archives i...

Host Dan Dyck chats with Mennonite Heritage Archive (MHA) administrator Graeme Unrau about his work in the world of GLAM*, Mennonite identity and the stories we tell about ourselves. Graeme also highlights some of his favourite collections at the MHA and the inspiration he has found in the people he meets and works with at the archives.

*GLAM is an acronym for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums that is widely used in the cu...

Host Dan Dyck sits down with author David Elias. David discusses ancestor and noted Mennonite diarist Peter A. Elias, growing up in southern Manitoba, and his upcoming book Into the d/Ark. 

Peter wrote extensively and honestly about pioneering in Manitoba, and his personal struggles with the church after arriving in Canada in the early 1870s.

This interview was recorded while David was on the Canadian Mennonite University campus for ...

Chortitz is a village in Southern Manitoba that traces its beginnings back 150 years to the arrival of Mennonites on the 'East Reserve' in 1874. Host Dan Dyck sits down with local Abe Penner, whose family has roots there going back to 1903, and Jason Janzen, anniversary organizer, to discuss the Mennonite presence in the area and how they plan to celebrate their 150th anniversary. 

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Join host Dan Dyck as he sits down with Lyle Thiessen to learn more about the history of the Reinland - Rosengart area of southern Manitoba and their upcoming 150th anniversary celebration. 

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

Follow the Mennonite Heritage ...

 In 1926, Maria Kroeker Neufeld (1870-1950) and her husband Johann Neufeld (1869-1950), along with three of her seven children, were part of a group of Mennonites that moved from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Paraguay. Prompted by a desire for greater autonomy from provincial education legislation and fears of integration, their story is one of a family divided by continents and conviction. In this episode, host Dan Dyck reviews the...

Host Dan Dyck sits down to discuss the research of PhD student Jonathan Hildebrand. Jonathan is exploring Indigenous-Mennonite relations through his research of land and waterways on the historical West Reserve in southern Manitoba. He is based at the University of Manitoba and is originally from Altona, Manitoba. Previously he worked for nearly a decade as an urban planner in the areas of land use, urban design, and Indigenous pla...

In this episode, host Dan Dyck continues his exploration of the folks that work at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (MHA). He previously spoke with Conrad and Sara about their work the the MHA, and today you’re going to hear from Isaiah, archival assistant at the MHA. 

Isaiah is in the business program at Canadian Mennonite University. Studying accounting while working at a historical archive might seem like an unlikely pairing, but ...

In our previous episode, host Dan Dyck tried to understand why Heinrich J. Toews would have committed the violent acts that ended in the death of a student and, ultimately, his own death months later. In this episode, Dan sits down with Ken Loewen, the grandson of shooting survivor Susanna Loewen (Rempel), and keeper of a grim memento that has been passed down in the family. Through the lives of the survivors, Dan tries to understa...

How does a teacher that professes to care for his students and profession become the perpetrator of a school shooting? In this episode, Dan Dyck presents the first of two episodes on the Altona school shooting of 1902 that ultimately claimed the life of one student and the perpetrator Heinrich J. Toews. In it, we learn about the shooting itself, as well as the life and state of mind of Heinrich J. Toews. Both in the lead up to the ...

In this episode, host Dan Dyck gives us a glimpse at the incredible life and service of Helen Friesen Reimer (1905-1993). Helen started her professional life as a rural school teacher, where seeing the need, she was inspired to become a nurse. This was the start of an adventurous life that would see her take roles in nursing and medical administration around the world, working for the World Health Organization and the United Nation...

In this episode, host Dan Dyck continues a conversation with Sara Dyck that was started a few episodes back with the episode on Dr. Helen Martens, the first known Mennonite woman with a PhD. Sara discusses what pulled her to working at the archives, what she finds rewarding, and what the archives did when they became the unexpected recipients of 300 Amish romance novels.

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Mennonites don't dance, or do they? Can a dance by any other name still be as fun? In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores Mennonite "circle games" with the help of Werner Ens, someone who has devoted a lot of time to recording and researching these traditions, as well as ethnomusicologists Doreen Klassen and Judith Klassen. Circle games were once a popular social activity for young Mennonites in southern Manitoba, b...

In this episode, host Dan Dyck is taken on a tour through the Mennonite Heritage Archives with archivist Conrad Stoesz to learn more about the day to day operations at the archives. Conrad also share some stories about the materials at the archives, how they came to be there, and some of the interesting ways that they have been accessed over time. 

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