Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1919-1958 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
4 reels of microfilm: 16 mm
1 folder
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
He was born in Schoenau, Molotschna and died in Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan. In 1923 he married Maria Goossen (1889-1934), daughter of estate owner Jacob Johann Goossen (1858-1920) and Aganetha Kaethler (1861-1946). Together they had two children Aganetha (1923-1989) who later married John Enns, and Helene (1926-) who married John L. Wieler. In 1934 Maria Goossen died and Friesen married her sister Helena Goossen (1895-1985). Together they has one child Margaret Lousie Friesen (1937-).
Repository
Archival history
The material was created by Abraham A. Friesen and donated to Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas in 1949 by his widow. The material was microfilmed in 1999 for the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg by, IKON Office Solutions, Wichita, Kansas. In November 2002 Friesen’s son-in-law, John Enns donated 35 photographs which was processed as the Jacob Goossen family fonds. With this material was a business card and the sermon preached at his funeral which is placed in this fonds.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, Newton, Kansas
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This fonds consists primarily of correspondence, official negotiations, and memos of the Studienkommission (1920-1921), the study commission sent to North America by Mennonites in Russia to investigate immigration possibilities; and of the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (1922-1926), founded to facilitate the immigration. There is extensive correspondence between Friesen and David Toews, Benjamin H. Unruh, Benjamin B. Janz, Peter H. Unruh, and other Mennonite leaders.
Several files deal with the case of "the 62", sixty two young male Mennonite refugees who left Russia for the United States via Constantinople in the early 1920s.
Some genealogical material for Russian Mennonite emigrants for the 1920s can be found here. The "notebooks" folder includes Friesen's passport and diaries.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Described by Conrad Stoesz, November 8, 2000, updated December 11, 2002.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- German
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Inventory file list
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, Newton, Kansas
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Accession nos. 2000-151, 2002-155.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Unruh, Benjamin Heinrich, 1881-1959 (Subject)
- Toews, David, 1870-1947 (Subject)
- Janz, Benjamin B., 1877-1964 (Subject)
- Unruh, Peter H., 1881-1943 (Subject)
- Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (Subject)
- Russlandmennonitische Studienkommission (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
"Folder 124 contains a good photo of the group of 62 from Constantinople." [not included? -- statement in the scope and content note but not in the file list.] AHR