Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives

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. 

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

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 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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Today, host Dan Dyck shines the Tales spotlight on Jacob Klaassen and his journals about life on the Canadian prairies from 1919 to 1947. Jake took a circuitous route to Saskatchewan, travelling via Central Asia and the United States, before arriving in Canada in 1918 from Oklahoma. Dan talked with two of Klaassen's great granddaughters, sisters Carole and Marjorie Jantzen, for this episode. They have been key to publishing Kl...

In this episode, Dan sits down with Sara, a history student and archives employee, to discuss Dr. Helen Martens, the first known Mennonite woman to achieve a PhD in Music.  Sara spent considerable time organizing the Helen Martens collection and is well acquainted with Dr. Martens through her materials at the archives. Helen Martens was born in 1928, in Russia and travelled with her family from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1929. H...

In our previous episode, host Dan Dyck shared the story of the Mennonite trek to Central Asia that took place in the early 1880s. Researching and writing that for story raised many questions. In today's episode, Dan sits down with a Mennonite historian John Sharp. John has spent a lot of time in Central Asia exploring the Mennonite presence there, and he helps dig deeper into the story of the trek and the lingering influence o...

In the early 1880s, hundreds of Mennonites trekked from Russia to Central Asia. It was a grueling, 3000-kilometre journey. Until recently, the spotlight of this story focused on Claas Epp Jr. as the leader of the quest. In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores history of Claas Epp Jr., the colourful and complicated motivations for the migration, and what happened in the aftermath of this dramatic adventure.

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In Episode 17 we learned about the actions against Katharina Thiessen by the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons. Today's subject was another recipient of those fines. Abraham B. Hiebert was a man who practiced medicine by correspondence. Through letters and packages, Abraham diagnosed, and offered treatments to his patients. In today's episode, host Dan Dyck explores the life and work of a man that practiced medi...

Johannes Klaassen, or John as we’ll call him in today’s story, firmly stood with his conscience and he paid for that decision with his life. In this episode, host Dan Dyck tells the story of John, a conscientious objector from Oklahoma that died in prison after refusing to don a military uniform. Here is his story, as told through the diary of his father, Michael Klaassen. 

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'Big Bill' was born Wilhelm Enns in 1894 in the village of Einlage in Imperial Russia. He was a jack of all trades whose work life included jobs as a teacher, farm laborer, dragline operator, salesman, and shoe repairman, among others. He was also an avid writer. With host Dan Dyck, today we will be exploring the colourful life and storytelling of 'Big Bill' Enns, largely through letters written by Bill and comp...