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The collection includes correspondence and materials regarding World War I Conscientious Objectors.

Two typewritten, unpublished manuscripts describing Buchanan's experiences as a conscientious objector in World War I and and his subsequent service work in France.  These memoirs cover the years 1917 to1919.

The chapters of the manuscript are titled as follows:

Manuscript: [World War I Experience, 1917-1918], 125 pages

Preface

Chapter I: How I Became a Mennonite

Chapter II: Going to Camp

Chapter III: First Army Camp Experience

Chapter IV: Transferred to the Remount Depot

Chapter V: Taken to the Guard-House

Chapter VI: Other Guard-House Experiences

Chapter VII: Cooking and Eating Outside

Chapter VIII: The Dark Hour

Chapter IX: Released from the Guard-House

Chapter X:  From the Remount Depot to the 163rd Depot Bridge

Chapter XI: First Experiences in the Depot Brigade

Chapter XII: The Two Spies

Chapter XIII: Second Guard-House Experience

Chapter XIV: Interviewed by the Board of Inquiry

Chapter XV: To Fort Leavenworth

Chapter XVI: To Fort Riley, and Last Days of Army Camp Experiences

Manuscript: “Experience in Relief and Reconstruction Service During and following World War One, 1918-1919.”  149 pages

Chapter I: From a Military Training Camp to a Relief Unit

Chapter II: In Waiting Before Going to France

Chapter III: Trip to France

Chapter IV: Paris, The Hub

Chapter V:  Some Bits of History

Chapter VI: At Ornans

Chapter VII:  A Trip into the Juras

Chapter VIII: Discharged from the Army

Chapter IX: From Ornans to the Verduin Sector

Chapter X: At Grange-Le-Compte

Chapter XI: A Trip to Verdun and Over Battle Fields

Chapter XII:  Little George

Chapter XIII: At Aubreville and Avocourt

Chapter XIV: Diary of One Week

Chapter XV: A Trip to the Alps Mountains

Chapter XVI:  A Trip to Germany and other Places

Chapter XVII:  Last Days in France, and Back to America

Records pertaining to Project 24, a survey of World War I Mennonite conscientious objectors. Records include correspondence, lists of conscientious objectors, and questionnaires.

A small set of research materials collected by Timothy Falb in the course of conducting three research projects -- one on the post World War II volunteers who shipped livestock overseas, one on Mennonite scholar and educator Edward Yoder, and one on the history of two sister congregations in Ohio, Martins Mennonite Church and Pleasant View Mennonite Church. Also included is an interview with Aldis Gerber, a conscientious objector during WWI. The richest sources of material in this collection are the oral histories. Researchers should note that no transcriptions are available for these oral histories.

The materials are divided into series by subject.

Materials created by a conscientious objector and Civilian Public Service worker during World War II.  The collection consists of 132 black and white negatives depicting various Civilian Public Service camps and miscellaneous scenes from Miller's travels, and 1 color print of Sidling Hill Civilian Public Service Camp in Pennsylvania.  Also includes a booklet entitled On Sequoia Trails, which depicts live at Civilian Public Service Camp #107 in Three Rivers, California.

A set of research materials assembled by Gordon Oyer to write an article on the history Civilian Public Service in Illinois, including CPS Camp #115, Subunit #30.  CPS volunteers at this camp were "guinea pigs" for medical experiments studying the physiological effects of heat and tropical conditions.  Camp #115 was a cooperative agency administered the Mennonites, Brethren, and Friends under the direction of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.  Subunit #30 was administered by Mennonite Central Committee.

Materials in this collection include the diaries of two CPS volunteer participants in these experiments:  Duane Hougham (Methodist) and George Nachtigall (Mennonite Brethren).  Nachtigall's diary is a photocopy of the original.  Also included are letters with CPS volunteers stationed in Illinois, clippings, and a copy of Oyer's article.

This small set of records consists primarily of completed questinonaires regarding Mennonite congregational contact with drafted Mennonite men (Mennonite Church in World War II, Project #3).  Also includes examples of pastoral letters sent to drafted men (a number of them from Waldo Mennonite Church (Flanigan, Ill.) and minutes and other records created by the Virginia Mennonite Conference CPS Support Team.

This small set of papers focuses primarily on Weirich's Civilian Public Service (CPS) work building flood control structures in Iowa and serving as a smoke jumper. Materials include an album of photographs and documents, collected articles on smoke jumpers, and newsletters and ephemera from Camp 18 (Denison, Iowa) and Camp 103 (Missoula, Montana). Also included are 26 photographs of First Mennonite Church (Middlebury, Indiana) in the 1950s and 1960s. Subjects include members of the church's baseball team circa 1950.

Two sets of meeting minutes documenting the work of the Mennonite Central Peace Committee, a forerunner to the Mennonite Central Committee Peace Section.

The richest materials among these photographs are the140 color slides depicing Thut's volunteer work in England with German prisoners of war after World War II and his subsequent travel in the Western United States to Civilian Public Service (CPS) camps. These labeled and well-composed slides include images of Thut's living and working conditions in England, art work made by German POWs, and scenes of CPS work in Montana, South Dakota, and California. Also of note is a slide of Peter and Elfrieda Dyck's wedding gifts.

Click on "Online Images / Records" to see an inventory of the slides.

Other materials among Thut's photographs include a number of poorly-labeled black and white photographic prints of Goshen College in the early 1920s. Notable scenes include a May Day celebration and the construction of the college gymnasium. Also included is his passport obtained in 1944.

A small collection of materials pertaining to Miller's experiences as a conscientious objector in World War I. Materials include transcribed outgoing correspondence, written from Camp Taylor, KY, and France from 1918 to 1919, collected articles on the treatment of conscientious objectors in World War I, and a small set of Guy F. Herschberger's research notes and correspondence regarding the Illinois and Kansas State Councils of Defense.

Transcript of Christophel's court martial proceedings for his refusal to rake and sow grass seed at Camp Zachary Tayler, Ky.  Christophel, a Mennonite conscientious objector, refused to do this work because it "was of a military nature."  He was sentenced to ten years hard labor at Fort Leavenworth.

Also included in this small set of papers are a biographical sketch written by Russell Kraybill (1984) and a collection of memories of Christophel provided by his family, friends, and students.

Transcript of Elmer Leichty's court martial for refusing to accept work orders at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky, during World War I.

A printed letter sent to J. N. Mast of Fairview, Michigan, expressing anti-Mennonite and and anti-German sentiment during World War I.  The letter was written by W. F. McNeely, Chairman of the American Defense Society of Oscoda County.

A brief memoir describing Wideman's experiences as a conscientious objector during World War and copies of his military discharge papers. Also includes some biographical information about Wideman compiled by his daughter. Researchers should note that this collection includes no original documents, but rather black and white photocopies.