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This fonds consists of a diary written by Peter Hamm describing the life of his parents and grandparents and documents births, marriages, and deaths of family members. Portions of this diary related to the journey from Bergthal Russia to the East Reserve, Manitoba were copied by his son Bernhard Hamm.
Bernhard’s journal is in Mennonite Heritage Archives Volume 2047.2. Another family member whose materials are also at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (Volume 1748) is Peter’s first cousin, Andreas Hamm (1863-1936).

Two journals record verdicts of volost court for periods September 15, 1899 to January 1, 1900, and January 1 to December 28, 1900.

Documents re complaints to volost court, statements of complainants, witnesses, accused, and record of verdict.

The most common civil suits are of workers against factories for tardiness in wage payments, of creditors against debtors for failure to make timely payments, and of creditors for payment of debts against estates of deceased members of the community.

Common criminal cases involve the consumption of alcohol, violations of sanitary regulations in the slaughter of cattle, misbehavior and petty theft. Information re members of court.

This collection consists of correspondence received by Peter Hoeppner (1825-1907) after he immigrated to Canada. Writers from Russia include Isaac Dyck, Joahann Hildebrand, Kornelius Hildebrand, Bernhard Hoeppner, Peter Klassen, and Heinrich Penner. Letters from people in Canada include Aganetha Heppner, Cornelius Sawatzki, Peter Sawatzki, and Ludwig Witte. A few land assessment records are also included.

This fonds contains an 1884 exercise booklet of Jacob B. Peters from the Reichenbach school on the Manitoba East Reserve, a ledger with mathematical problems from [191-]. The exercise booklet gives an insight into writings exercises as practised in the Mennonite schools in Manitoba, whereas the mathematical problem book gives examples of mathematical problems as taught in Mennonite private schools.

This fonds consists of correspondence and store records. A portion of the correspondence contains letters received from Russia (1895-1898) and the rest concerns various personal and community matters. The store records include ledgers (1891-1903) and account books (1894-1902) from the stores in both Gretna and Osler. Most of the material is handwritten.

Office created in 1884 by Tavria Gubemiia Zemstvo Assembly. Its task was systematically to gather and process information re local agriculture and industry, trade, public education and public health. The only documents preserved are from the All-Russian agricultural and land census of 1917.

Documents on land possession of land-owners from the Mennonite villages of Halbstadt Volost, dated 1873 and 1881 re: land owners and renters, previous owners; size of propenies; land use; boundary-related questions; individual officials of village communities, with signatures.

Information re decisions of village assemblies re mongages, assignment of Mennonites to villages, migratlon.

Map of property of W.W. Wiens of Village Schoenau.

This fonds contains documents pertaining to the life of William Hespeler, such as confirmation of attending the Polytechnic Institute in Karlsruhe (1847-1849), of deferment from military service in 1850, of immigration to Canada, and of naturalization as a British subject. The fonds includes the items taken to Russia in 1872 (i.e. responses from Ottawa to the Russian Mennonite inquiries about priveledges been sought such as exemption from military service). The fonds also contains various items with the autographs of individuals such as Otto von Bismark, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia, and the British monarch, Queen Victoria. The documents pertain to Hespeler's service to Canada or Germany.

The district administration offices were created in 1797 as local organs of the Ministry of State Domains. They consisted of a local head administrator and two assistants: one responsible for law enforcement and one for economic-related activites. The Archive of the Zaporozhe Region possesses no documents of the Khonitsa district admjnistration before 1861, with one exception, a German-language account book for the period January 1, 1851-January 31, 1852.

List of village resident-property owners of village Khonitsa enfranchised to vote in village assembly and a certificate of the Khonitsa district administration for 1904-1909. Other documents of this fond were removed by German occupation authorities in October 1943, and transported to Germany. Their whereabouts are unknown.

This fonds were includes a diary by Jacob Esau detailing the formation and challenges of the Alexanderkrone Zentralschule, and a hair wreath made to commemorate Esau's deceased family members. The materials are central to the understanding the early history of the Zentralschule. Portions of the diary were transcribed by Katharina Janzen and published in the newspaper Der Bote in October and November 1971. This together with the reports written by Esau in the periodical Friedensstimme were central to Ted Regehr's book For Everything a Season: A history of the Alexanderkrone Zentralschule. The hair wreath is a unique item that must be rare in Mennonite circles.

The last will and testament of Jakob Niebuhr (1847-1913), Russian Mennonite industrialist (factory owner) from Olgafeld, Fuerstenland Mennonite Settlement, South Russia.
German translation by Elisabeth Braun de Wiens, Asuncion, Paraguay.
It outlines how his property was to be inherited by his three sons.

This fonds consists of a copy of an eight page family registry compiled by Dietrich Voth, in which he documents birth, death and marriage dates. Include is are the dates for his parents and wife's parents, his children, and a page for each of his Voth siblings and a page for one of his daughters and her family. Besides the date and hour of day for the children's births, he also includes the name of the midwife and how much he paid their services, and occasionally how many hours of labour occured during the birth.

The material in the Peter Epp collection ranges in dates from 1885-1915, though the notebooks were started in 1900. The collection consists of poetry, financial ledgers, correspondence, articles to newspapers, genealogical registers and reports on literary society meetings.

The poetry dates back to 1875. These poems are written by Peter Epp and chronicle various kinds of people and events such as birthdays, weddings, Christmas, immigration, and life at school. Some of the poems were published in German papers such as Die Mennonitische Post. After Epp's death, his son printed the
poems separately in book form.

The financial ledgers start in 1902 and continue until 1915. They are probably records of Epp's involvement as president of the Fire Insurance Society in southern Manitoba (Brandaeltester der Mennonitengemeinden in Sued-Manitoba) during these years.

The correspondence, ranging in date from 1900-1915, is directed to places in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

There are a number of religious articles included in the notebook. Most of these, dating from 1900-1915, were printed in newspapers such as Die Mennonitische Rundschau.

The genealogical registers chronicle the Epp family. In 1901, Peter Epp published a genealogy of his father and descendants.

Several reports of the debates going on in the literary society meetings in Altona are also included in the collection. Epp records several arguments between various individuals, also dating from 1900-1915.

The notebooks further contain a colour drawing of a Union Jack and instructions on the use of wax and pencil crayons. Several recipes are also included.

The strength of this collection for Canadian research lies in analyzing Mennonite social life in Manitoba at the turn of the century. The wide range of material from poetry to debates to theological articles to business matters makes it a rich resource. In particular it chronicles life in a small town (Altona) and also reflects life in other major Mennonite settlements (in Saskatchewan where Epp's children lived).

Instructions to volost administration from Ministry of Intemal Affairs, Ekaterinoslav governor, Ekaterinoslav guberniia zemstvo administration office, other offices of gubemiia and uezd.

Volost office budget estimates.

Information re villages of volost in 1873: size of population; its class and religious breakdown; lists of trading and industrial enterprises; inventories of land belonging to village communities and private individuals; numbers of cattle; amount of land sown to crops; conditions of crops; yields of grains; monies collected for maintenance of forestry service recruits; and collection of various taxes.

Minutes of assembly meetings of volost residents; lists of persons entitled to vote at such meetings; information regarding uezd officials.

Lists of persons obligated to military service; materials for research of public education; budget estimates for maintenance of Nikolaipol secondary/central school and for construction of village primary schools in volost; lists of students of secondary school and in residence.

Documents re medical institutions of uezd and policies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Large body of materials re residents of the colonies during period of first settlement in 1869-1870, in German. Includes lists of residents of villages Nikolaifeld, Franzfeld, Eigenfeld, Adelsheim, Hochfeld, with ages, places of residence prior to settlement in IazikovolNikolaifeld Mennonite settlement.

Information re later transfer of Mennonite families to daughter colonies of Novo-Sofievka area
and to Siberia.

Information re homeowners who suffered housefires.

Documents from period of World War I re aid to refugees and their places of residence.