4910 Treffer anzeigen

Thin (1.8” or less) stack. Henry Stauffer lived in Berkeley, California, and wrote that all his ancestors were Mennonite and that he was a graduate of Yale University. One letter (March 9, 1938) is on stationery of First Congregational Church of Oroville, California. The letterhead does not list Stauffer’s name, but attached is a copy of a letter on the same Stationery in which Stauffer identified himself as “Interim Pastor.”

Thin folder, 5 items. After some years as Instructor teaching English, Physical Education, and Home Economics in the high-school-level Academy of Goshen College and Physical Education in the college itself, Olive G. Wyse [Olive Gertrude Wyse] pursued additional graduate education in the 1930s and in 1933 became Instructor of Home Economics at the College level. (In 1939 she would advance to Assistant Professor in that field.)

[Note: in the name Mennonitisches Lexikon, throughout much of the annotation of Harold S. Bender correspondence the annotator mistakenly left the “s” off Mennonitisches; so researchers searching that name should also search for “Mennonitische Lexikon”.] 1” stack, of correspondence 1937-1938. At the beginning of 1937 John C. Wenger [J. C. Wenger, John Christian Wenger (1910-1995)] was living at his home at Telford in eastern Pennsylvania, preparing the final copy of his manuscript for the book History of the Mennonites of the Franconia conference (1937), making plans to marry Ruth Detweiler [Ruth Derstine Detweiler, Ruth Wenger], and arranging to pursue his doctorate at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, which he would receive in 1938, with that book accepted as his dissertation. From 1933-1937 his correspondence with Bender had been prolific, as befitted a protégé of Bender [see folder just previous], and it continues likewise in this folder. Very many messages in this folder are back and forth from Switzerland (where Wenger was studying) and some from Germany where he visited; and a few of those letters are in German.

1” stack. Letters begin with John C. Wenger [J. C. Wenger, John Christian Wenger (1910-1995)] a Goshen College student and continue through his hope to pursue his education at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Much of the exchange is about his writing a book of history of the Franconia Mennonite Conference (which the Franconia Mennonite Conference endorsed and which the University of Zürich accepted as Wenger’s Ph.D. dissertation, 1938. Wenger of course became a church-history, Bible, and religion teacher at Goshen College and later at Goshen Biblical Seminary and the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries. In those roles he was of the “Goshen School” of Anabaptist-Mennonite history scholarship. He may well be considered a protégé of Bender.

Half-dozen items. During the late-nineteenth-century Quickening A. D. Wenger [Amos D. Wenger, Amos Daniel Wenger (1867-1935)] had been a relatively progressive young evangelist from Lancaster Mennonite Conference, and attended Moody Bible Institute. He went on to be was a pastor in Missouri, Iowa, and Virginia and to write church literature materials. From 1922 until his death in 1935 he was president of Eastern Mennonite School. [See GAMEO.]

1/4” stack. Harry F. Weber (Harry Franklin Weber), 1899-1997, entered Mennonite history and corresponded with Bender mainly regarding his book Centennial History of the Mennonites of Illinois 1829-1929 (1931).

Ten or a dozen items. Martin G. Weaver [M. G. Weaver], 1859-1935, was a regional, non-academic Mennonite historian, principally author of Mennonites of Lancaster Conference: Containing Biographical Sketches of Mennonite Leaders; Histories of Congregations, Missions, and Sunday Schools... [etc.].

5/16” Stack. These letters generally convey a warm, sometimes quite personal tone. Abraham Warkentin (1885-1947--see GAMEO) was born in the Molotschna colony in the Ukraine, moved to Germany where he was ordained as a minister and elder, then emigrated to the United States. At Newton Kansas he became a pastor and an instructor then professor at Bethel College, teaching languages and Bible. From 1933 to 1940 he was a member of the Mennonite Central Committee. At Bethel College he also built up a collection of sources for studying Mennonite history, subject of much of the correspondence in this folder. Regarding some other correspondence, a note at beginning of this folder says “Also see A. Warkentin corr. in MCC section, through 1938, of the H. S. Bender Collection.” And Warkentin’s name appears many times in Bender’s correspondence with others, as a computer search of the annotations on Bender correspondence will show, in the “Ancon” files of the Mennonite Church USA Archives website.

3/8” stack. Some routine items not annotated, e.g. items to or from: Harris Whiteman; J. J. Weiler; R. Hunkele of Publisher John Wiley & Sons; publisher H. W. Wilson Company; Shurl Wogomon.

[Note: in the name Mennonitisches Lexikon, throughout much of the annotation of Harold S. Bender correspondence the annotator mistakenly left the “s” off Mennonitisches; so researchers searching that name should also search for “Mennonitische Lexikon”.] 3/8” stack, almost all items written in German. A great many of them are about a loan from the German government that the Mennonite Central Committee and the Canadian Mennonite Board for Colonization had guaranteed. Benjamin H. Unruh [Benjamin Heinrich Unruh(1881-1959)] was born in the Russia empire, became a teacher and scholar, emigrated to Germany, and in the 1920s and 1930s worked with the Canadian Mennonite Board for Colonization and later with Mennonite Central Committee (meaning, in practice, often working closely with Bender) in the work of helping refugees escape the Soviet Union, many of them moving on to Canada and to Paraguay or Brazil. He continued to give close attention to the settlers in South America; he was also prominent in Mennonite circles and conferences, including Mennonite World Conference, in Europe. (For more, see GAMEO article on him.)

5/16” stack. Many of the items are in German. (Note: the annotator is merely skimming contents and his German is weak, so annotations are not entirely reliable.)

About a dozen items, many--whether by Nickel or by Bender--in German.