The files in this series include records of the Kleine Gemeinde Waisenamt, the EMC Hilfsverein, and Estates Committee. The primary purpose of these entities was to fulfill the biblical admonition to care its members especially for orphans and widows (Waisenamt=Orphans Office). Its role expanded over time. It looked afer the administration of the estates of orphans and widows, ensuring inheritance distribution according to accepted rules. The Kleine Gemeinde Waisenamt dissolved sometime in the 1950s. The Hilfsverein begun in 1929 offered loans to those who had no means to begin farming. The Estates committee helped with the inheritance practises and settling of estates. The functions of these various entities were eventually all under the EMC Board of Trustees, except for the ones that were done by organizations not under church control, such as the credit unions, banks and trust companies.
The files are arranged alphabetically according to topics ranging from Alcoholism to Billy Graham, to Dancing, to World Council of Churches. Also included are travel diaries from the many trips he lead and took overseas. At the end of the topical section, a new section begins that includes a few periodicals, awards, and Eduard Reimer correspondence and manuscript.
The collection contains photographs depicting aspects of Nicholas J. Fehderau's family's life in the city of Halbstadt (Ukraine) and on his family's farming estate up to 1924, when he immigrated to Canada. The Nicholas J. Fehderau photo collection includes more than the 83 scanned images in this collection (see also NP152 for more photographs). The collection documents the assumptions, motivation, vision, and everyday life of one Mennonite estate family, the Fehderau family.
The material in this series consists of photocopies of records collected or written by Wilhelm Giesbrecht. Some of the correspondence is unclear if it is to Toews or Giesbrecht but one folder has been included in this series.
This series of documents are about the immigration of Mennonites to Canada, specifically Manitoba. There are trip diaries, and other memoirs on the general topic of Emigration and Immigration of the Kleine Gemeinde people who came from Russia to Canada.
