Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1928-1950 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
168 photographs
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
H.H. Hamm was an author, teacher and administrator of the Rural Municipality of Rhineland.
Heinrich H. Hamm (1877-1962) was born in the village of Chorititza, Chortitza colony, South Russia. as the son of Gerhard Hamm and Anna Knelsen. He attended school in the village of Rosenthal. In 1892 he immigrated to Canada with his parents and settled in the Winkler-Morden area and two years later relocated to the village of Neuanlage along the Post Road. Hamm attended the Mennonite Educational Institute in Gretna for training as a teacher around the year 1894. He taught school for one year in Neuanlage, two years at Hoffnungsort, three years in Edenthal, replaced teacher Benjamin Ewert for a year in Edenburg, and then taught for three years in Altona.
H.H. Hamm married Anna Dick in 1904 and they had 3 children.
In 1913 Hamm became secretary-treasurer for the Rural Municipality of Rhineland and in 1919 he also became secretary for the village of Altona, a position which he held until 1935. Hamm continued to serve the Municipality until 1944 when he moved to Ottawa for a year. When he returned, he became the first mayor of Altona after it incorporated in 1946. Hamm retired from public life in 1949 and the following year he went on a trip to Europe and the Middle East. He died in 1962.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
These photographs fall into several different categories. The final 120 images consist of photos and postcards collected by H.H. Hamm in 1950 on his tour of Europe and the Middle East, covering England, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Egypt and the Middle East. Another section of photos covers a trip that the Altona Council took to tour the Lake of the Woods and Lake Superior areas in 1939. There are photos of a family trip to Minnesota in 1928 as well as some postcards from Minnesota. H.H. Hamm also went to Niagara Falls and to the New York World Fair in 1939. Miscellaneous items includes images of H.H. Ewert's last hand-writing on the chalk board at MCI, images related to the Heinz Regehr family in Waterloo (relatives) and postcards of places of interest from Pennsylvania to New Mexico, to San Marino, California to Jasper, Sardis and Winnipeg in Canada.