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This fonds contains materials that Bernhard Schellenberg created, and materials that he collected in his role as conference archivist. It consists primarily of correspondence, notebooks, and papers. The notebooks and papers mostly concern Russian Mennonite history, biographies of Mennonite leaders, and Mennonite life and thought. There are also some artworks and some publications, also relating mostly to Mennonite history. The majority of the material is original and handwritten. Finally, the collection includes several maps and photographs.

This fonds consists of Dr. Thiessen's medical text books and notebooks with her own recipes and treatments/prescriptions. Also included are photos and two large sketches of Katharina and Abraham Thiessen, and research about Dr. Thiessen by Shirley Bergen. This material is very unique as it not only some of the earliest medical materials of the southern Manitoba Mennonites but it also of a prominent woman physician.

The Peter Toews fonds consists of a variety of materials, both published and unpublished. Among the published materials are a number of items of rare Mennonitica. Most notable among these are such works as:
-Johannes Decknatel, ed. Auszug aus den merkwuerdigsten Abhandlungen aus den Werken Menno Simons. Koenigsberg: D.E. Kanter, 1765.
-Confession oder kurze und einfaeltige Glaubens Bekaentnisse derer Mennoniten in Preussen (Confessio aut Breves ao Simplices Fidei Articuli illorum Mennonistarum in Borusia). Lublin, Poland: n.p., 1683.
-Peter Toews, ed. Das wachsame Auge Gottes: Aus den hinterlassenen Schriften des Johann Toews. Elkhart, IN: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1908.

Most of the other published items are less noteworthy than these three and seem to have been added to the collection by Peter's son Isaac Toews at a later date. The latter have some interest regarding subjects such as anti-Semitism, popular American theology, and historical theology of the Mennonites.

The fonds contains considerable diary/memoir material. The "Erfahrungen und Beobachtungen" are essentially letter-books compiled by Peter Toews. This material was largely written and collected in the mid 1890s. He deals with the period ca.1860-1890 in these booklets. The greatest amount of space is given to church issues. The diary material covers the years 1871-1878 and 1910-1914. The earlier diary also focuses heavily on church affairs. The later one is more like a scrapbook, with appended statements of his expenditures. It contains some comments regarding church affairs, copies of letters and documents written in this period, and poems he wrote (as well as some copied from other sources) during these years.

Another significant item in the Peter Toews fonds is the first Manitoba church membership register of the Kleine Gemeinde group. The register lists some people who stayed in Russia. For numerous families, the register lists both their Russian and Manitoba places of residence. Frequently, additional comments have been made about a given family, either pertaining to migration to Kansas, Nebraska, or Alberta, or about the circumstances surrounding the death of some family member. The register has not been consistently updated after 1879, which leads one to believe that a new register was begun at that time. For some families Toews made entries until the 1890s.

The fonds contains a handwritten volume on the history of the Kleine Gemeinde from its inception to the mid-1870s. (This manuscript has been translated and published in Plett's History and Events.) Much of the material pertains to elections of church officers (and in some cases removal of them), questions of faith and practice dealt with by the church, and discussions on non-resistance and emigration in the face of the threat of universal military service in Russia.

Peter Toews has also maintained collections of correspondence material. One group of letters dates from the period 1866-1872. The people with whom he corresponded were largely Kleine Gemeinde church members from the Molotschna and Crimean Mennonite settlements. Most of the letters pertain to the church affairs of the community.

In addition to this, he has correspondence which he copied out by hand into a small 17 x 11 cm booklet. These letters deal with a wide variety of subjects, some personal, and some church-related (e.g. discussions of church discipline). There are also a few letters from other time periods. It should be noted that this fonds does not contain all of Toews' original correspondence. At least some correspondence is deposited at the Mennonite Library and Archives in North Newton, Kansas.

Another significant category of material in this collection includes the manuscripts of a great number of the poems which Toews wrote. His poetry is almost exclusively religious and devotional in nature. One particularly interesting poem, his "Nachklang zum Empire Tag," is a reaction to the exaggerated patriotism which he observed in the Empire Day celebrations. The collection also contains a manuscript copy of Das wachsame Auge Gottes.

A small amount of material relates to World War I. The documents deal with the question of exemption from military service and with the 'Holdeman' people's refusal to contribute the National Patriotic Fund.

Finally there is an assortment of other material including a bologna recipe, an arithmetic notebook, a meditation on Psalm 90, a sermon on the reasons for leaving Russia, and several copies of his will (including an addendum regarding his literary estate).

This collection has a substantial number of potential research possibilities. In the first instance it provides much information on the faith and, to a lesser extent, the daily life of Mennonites in Prussia and Russia.

More noteworthy for Canadian studies is the fact that in this fonds one can examine the records of a leader involved in the emigration from Russia to Canada. It allows one to examine what motivated him to leave Russia - was it the "push" factor of new laws in Russia or was it the lure of economic opportunity in Canada.

The collection provides considerable scope for a study on the theology of the Kleine Gemeinde and 'Holdeman' churches, as well as Toews' personal theology. The large volume of poetry written by Toews allows one to study theological and other questions from a literary angle.

Peter Toews collected information on the history of the Kleine Gemeinde. These materials all predate the group's arrival in Canada, but they do provide a good insight into the historical evolution (both socially and intellectually) of this Mennonite group. The records further provide some useful materials for studying the Church of God (Mennonite) denomination in both the USA and Canada.

The church membership register could provide some possibilities for demographic studies of the Kleine Gemeinde during the early years of settlement in Manitoba. It can be used for reconstructing the statistical data of the original Kleine Gemeinde communities of the East Reserve and for studying migratory patterns during the 1870s. The register is also a valuable resource for genealogy and family history.

Eight types of materials been identified in this fonds as follows:
-1) Peter Toews writings (Volume 2208:4-9; 2781:2-6, 14-23, 25, 28; 588:3-4)
-2) Isaac Toews material (Volume 2208:1-3)
-3) Church matters (Volume 2781:7, 24, 26, 27)
-4) Wilhelm Giesbrecht material (Volume 588:1-2)
-5) Books and pamphlets (Volume 588:5,6; 2781:8-13)
-6) Johann Toews material (Volume 2781:1)
-7) Sermons (Volume 4237)
-8) Microfilm material (Microfilm # 223, 224)

This fonds consists of correspondence and other documents that were created or received by Warkentin in his capacity of Aeltester (elder) of the Ebenfelder Mennonite Church. The letters were exchanged with, and the other materials received from, a variety of church leaders and Mennonite institutions, including: the Conference of Mennonites in Canada and its subcommittees; the General Conference Mennonite Church and its subcommittees; the Rosthern Junior College and the Rosthern Bible School; Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Bethel College; the Mennonite Publication Office and Bookstore; the Rosthern Bookstore; the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization; the British Foreign Bible Society and the Canadian Bible Society; the Canadian Mennonite, the Mennonite Central Committee; the Mennonite Youth Farm; Mennonite Disaster Services; the Swift Current Bible Institute; Freeman Junior College; and various mission programs and mission fields. Some of the materials are filed alphabetically (1943-1948), some by month (1948-1955; 1963-1965), and some by year (1955-1962).

This fonds contains writings of H.T. and Clara his wife, including an extensive well-organized sermon collection. There is a photograph of a reunion of former Kronsgartner, Wiesefelder and Prijuter from 1973, as well as a map of Wiesenfeld as remembered from 1923. There is also one sound recording of H.T. Klassen speaking about his childhood memories of Russia.

This fonds consists of Klassen's collection of poetry, sermon notes, research on doctors in Russia, recollections from Russia, and two manuscripts: "The Kronsweide Mennonite Church in Russia: Its Villages and Elders" and "Im Zyklus der Zeit"

This fonds contains a collection of sermons in German (1936-1941), and correspondence, minutes and reports related to the Nordheimer Church (Dundurn, Saskatchewan), Conference of Mennonites in Canada annual conferences, the Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization, and the German English Academy. Materials are both handwritten and typewritten.

This fonds consists of reports from the mission field in India published in the Christlicher Bundesbote (1901-1909), correspondence with the Mennonite Mission Board (1902-1909), Susanna (Schowalter) Kroeker's diary (1925-1925), and family letters (1932-1953). A significant letter is the last letter written by Johann F. Kroeker from exile to his wife in 1932. The documents are photocopies of the original and in many cases also include transcriptions and / or English translations.

This item is the autobiography of Olga Thiessen (1916), the daughter of Dr. Isaak Thiessen and Katharina Wallman, main doctor of the Bethania Mental Hosptial in Chortitza, Russia.

This fonds is dominated by sermon notes and conference materials. The materials also reflect J.M. Pauls' involvement with Sunday School and youth activities which span his career within the Bergthaler community. There are files related to his involvement with Salem Old Folks home and the Winkler Bergthaler Church. Unfortunately, his involvement Eden Mental Health Centre and Mennonite Collegiate Institute are not well documented in the collection.
A few personal papers in the fonds include some family correspondence, a short story written by Pauls and his wife about their lives in Russia. There is also a diary of his trip in 1957 to attend the Mennonite World Conference in Germany.

This fonds consists of two groups of letters. The first group of letters were written by Jakob Peters (1908-1944) to his sister Anna Peters (1919-) between 1942 and 1944, after he had accompanied her from the Ukraine to Berlin where she remained to work in a German household. Anna had had little schooling in German, with her father exiled to Siberia when she was 11 and her mother dying when she was 13, and the family being classified as kulaks (tight-fisted landowners). As her German was so poor, Jakob would correct her letters and return them to her so that she would improve her German. There are 24 letters in this group and they have all been transcribed and translated into English.
The second group of letters were written to relatives in Canada, specifically his sister and brother-in-law, Maria (Peters) and Jakob Bergen and her son John Bergen (1922- ). The letters begin from when Jakob Peters escaped Russia in 1928 across the Caucausus to Persia, his years in Brazil and his years studying in Berlin. In his letters to John Bergen, who was studying at Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna during the late 1930s, Jakob Peters often writes about how wonderful it would be for him to come and get an education in Germany after completing his high school in Gretna.

This fonds includes digital masters, optical and negative tracks, broadcast VHS and Beta master videocassettes, release prints in 16 mm film and VHS video format. The moving images contain some colour and some black and white scenes. Otto Klassen's productions are the result of extensive research in archives, both in Canada and Germany. These productions represent the first time that the story of the Mennonite people in Prussia, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and Paraguay have been told through moving images. Several productions were released in multiple languages -- English, German, Low German and Spanish. At least 11 separate titles or series are represented in this fonds. They are:
-1) The Great Trek 1939-1945
-2) Prairie Pioneers: The Mennonites of Manitoba
-3) Mennonites Conquer the Vistula Delta
-4) Mennonite Monument
-5) 75 years Mennonites in Mexico
-6) 50 year Freedom Jubilee: Praise God for Canada
-7) Women of Courage: Stories of Sadness & Stories of Suvival
-8) Gespräch: Delgatenreise 1921
-9) Im Dienst Der Liebe (KM 81)
-10) Frajoa Enn De Oost-resaew, "Three Short Plays"
-11) 125th Anniversary of Mennonites in Manitoba: 1874-1999

This fonds consists of diaries written by David Janzen after having lived in Canada for over 20 years. Janzen writes about daily activities in the family and on the farm. The diaries start in 1947 and continue until 1966, four years before his death. At the back of some of the journals are addresses of friends and relatives and newspaper clippings of interest to Janzen at the time (i.e health matters, how to deal with insects, etc.)

This fonds consists of the following series: -
-1) Peace and War
-2) Mennonite Encyclopedia
-3) Materials relating to trips. In addition there is one pamphlet entitled: Bericht ueber die Mennonitische Lehranstalt zu Gretna, Manitoba, and a photocopied journal.

This fonds consists of correspondence, much of it with Charlotte Sauer, regarding the translation and publication of the translation of Eric Sauer's "Das Morgenbrot der Welterloesunge", manuscripts of the Eric Sauer translation, sermon notes and various Russian periodicals, evangelical tracts, and catalogues of Russia religious material.