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These materials document the professional life of Lena Graber, a medical missionary who served the (old) Mennonite Church.  Graber worked in India and Nepal from 1944 to 1969 under the auspices of the Mennonite Board of Missions and the United Mission to Nepal.  Graber's incoming and outgoing correspondence with her sister, Esther Graber, is very rich with details about her life abroad and her work, especially the medical cases she encountered.  Also included in this collection are her diary she kept from 1944 to 1948, newspaper clippings, award and honors she received, transcripts of several speeches, and miscellaneous materials.

These papers of an (old) Mennonite Church writer and her pastor husband are divided into two series:

(1) Helen Good Brenneman Papers

(2) Virgil J. Brenneman Papers

The collection primarily includes diaries and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks consist largely of photos, obituaries and various news clippings. Her diaries include comments about the weather, domestic chores and her husband's outings.

The personal papers of Ruth Marie Conrad Liechty include her journals, school work, writing projects, family correspondence, correspondence related to the Welcome Committee and the issue of homosexuality, and family papers related to her parents Louetta (Kauffmann) and Daniel Conrad.

Personal papers created by Lydia Oyer, an early leader in Mennonite nursing education. The collection consists primarily of diaries Oyer kept throughout her years as a nurse practitioner, with very brief records on patients, personal activities, and the weather. The scrapbook contains photos, news clippings, and notes from friends, classmates, and teachers from her time at the Mennonite Hospital School of Nursing in La Junta, Colorado. Other writings include essays on religious topics and a poem.

The collection includes diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, and scattered correspondence from friends and family, mostly from Dorothy Smith Shank's years as a Goshen College Academy and Goshen College student from 1924 to 1932.

Personal papers of an (old) Mennonite Church pastor and conference minister and his wife.  These papers are divided into two series:

(1) Cleo A. Mann Papers, 1939-1980

(2) Nellie Miller Mann Papers, 1920-2000

Diaries created by two sisters who lived near Lima, Ohio.  Include brief entries about church services and meetings, Bible school, household chores, funerals, calling on friends, marriages, and  domestic activities. 

Mary Brenneman's diaries document the following years:  1909, 1915, 1964-1965, 1968-1970.

Martha Brenneman's diaries document the following years: 1915, 1936-1974.

This collection chronicles the early life of Elizabeth M. Yoder Woodiwiss (1889-1986), who homesteaded in North Dakota from 1907-1910. Her diaries (photocopies of originals) record her experiences as a homesteader, as well as a few years after she returned to Pennsylvania.  Articles about Elizabeth are also in the collection, alongside her own recollections. There are also photographs depicting her as a homesteader and later in life, as well as photographs of the homesteading community.

The collection includes a diary 1905-1907; Diary 1907-1909; Diary 1909-1910; and diary 1913-1915. Also included is a diary 1910-1912, a diary 1922-1925, and a variety of correspondence with people involved in mission activities. The diaries from 1905-10 were written when Agnes was single, and when she was between the age of 17 and 23, while living in Illinois.  Her diaries tell of every day events in her life including weather, school work, funerals, visitors, church services in English and German and sermon texts, chores, anxiety over church dissensions, concern for starving in India, great interest in missions, a trip to Oregon, California, and Oklahoma, train ride over Rocky Mountains, and the Inauguration Day of President Taft.  Taken from  “A Guide to Mennonite Women’s Diaries (1840-1950), by Anne Yoder, Mennonite Quarterly Review, October 1996, page 488.

Emma Oyer’s collection contains many of her writings, including essays, poetry, and her diaries.  Her work as a Home Missionary is well documented in her diaries, which provide brief summaries of her daily activities. While these diaries do not document her entire life, her earliest years are represented at the Mennonite Home Mission, as well as her latter years as an author and essayist.  Her essays and poetry provide insights into her theology and faith. Also included is a 1951 edition of Missionary Sewing Circle Monthly dedicated to Emma Oyer, with eight tributes to her by Mennonite women.

Personal papers documenting the early life and education of an (old) Mennonite pastor's wife.  Materials include a diary, correspondence, essays apparently written while studying at the Elkhart Institute and Goshen College, and miscellaneous materials.  The essays represent the richest source of information in this collection, as they provide insight into Johns's thoughts on a variety of subjects -- motherhood, marriage, temperance, modest dress, mission and evangelistic work, prayer, suffering, and so forth.  Some of the essays are brief fiction pieces, and researchers will also find original poetry among the essays.

Papers of a female missionary worker (nurse) in India (1931-1939).  Includes diaries, extensive correspondence with family and friends in the United States, and with Indian friends and colleagues she met in the course of her mission work.  Also includes elementary school, Sunday school, and college notes, diplomas, a scrapbook made by Prairie Street Mennonite Church for her time in India, Christmas letters from missionaries and missionary families, and miscellaneous annotated publications and clippings.

The collection consists of a copy of a diary kept by Ida Beidler from January 1, 1898 until December 29, 1898. The entries chronicle daily weather and domestic activities on a farm.

Personal papers, mostly diaries, of a domestic mission worker of the (old) Mennonite Church.  Leaman, sister of Clara Eby Steiner, served the Mennonite Home Mission (Chicago, Ill.) with her husband, Amos Hershey Leaman, for twenty years.  The diaries are a rich source of information about Leaman's mission service, spiritual life, and personal experiences.  Among other topics, she describes her work as a teacher and mission worker, experiences with Chicago's immigrant community and new converts to Christianity, her engagement and marriage, various illnesses and deaths in the family, Women's Missionary Society and Sewing Circle Meetings, and disagreement among mission staff over a church organ. Her diaries cover the years 1894-1902, 1904-1926, and 1931-1937.

Other materials in her papers include a book of clippings, poetry and prose collected by the Leamans, drawings of Amanda and Amos Leaman, and miscellaneous correspondence and ephemera found in her diaries and other journals.