March 14, 2016 Volume 20 Issue 6 | Freeman Simard is pictured in traditional indigenous regalia in the front of a church in Manigotogan, Man., which is about 200 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. A small portable record player is helping Freeman as he participates in an event called ‘Native awareness’ Read More
February 29, 2016 Volume 20 Issue 5 | In the spring of 1948, First Mennonite Church in Greendale, B.C., was inundated with water. Dikes had been built along the rivers some 50 years earlier, but they had suffered from neglect. During the winter of 1947 and early 1948, a lot Read More
Not too long ago we received an email request from a longtime Mennonite Pioneer Mission worker who had been stationed in northern Manitoba. He was trying to find a 1968 letter written to the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) by Chief Leveque of Little Grand Rapids Reserve and was wondering if we could help him out. Sure enough, we were able to locate the letter in the CMC collection (volume 358, file 8).
The Mennonite Heritage Archives occasionally receives special donations of important historical documents and artifacts. On Friday, February 19, 2016 MHA received a donation from Gerhard Dyck that contains a wealth of information that includes a variety of Russian papers and legal documents, a passport, and some photos from the early 1900s. What was especially significant was the donation of a gold signet ring that belonged to Gerhard’s great-grandfather Peter Schroeder, who was a member of the Duma (the Russian Parliament).
Another story of Mennonite aeronautic innovation has recently been discovered in a donation to the Mennonite Heritage Archives. In 1931, three Steinbach three men took the initiative to design and build an airplane in the automotive garage where they worked.