Photographs relating to the Ontario Mennonite Immigrants Advisory Committee (OMIAC) program of Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, which served the Low-German community in southwestern Ontario.
Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church formed the first Canadian Mennonite peace centre lodged in a congregation in 1987. The centre was supported by the Peace and Justice Working Group, formed in the early 1980s. The group's activities included participation in public protests and actions for peace and justice, and education of the congregation around issues of peace and justice.
Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church (Kitchener, Ontario)
This fonds consists of a number of categories of materials created and collected by its founder Abram A. Vogt, and subsequent volunteer staff. The oldest item is a book by Menno Simons published in 1556 entitled Die Fundamente der seligmachenden Lehre unsers Hern Jesu Christi. Most of the published [Series 3] and unpublished genealogies and family histories were published in the 20th century with most of them bewteen 1960 and 2004. Collection contains a Historical Library of 1155 published titles related to Mennonite history and genealogy. Unpublished Mennonite genealogical collections is another category of materials [Series 1]. There are over 200,000 cards in a genealogy card index (entitled Kartei) [Series 4]. There is a substantial collection of biographical newspaper clippings (entitled the Aktei) and geographical/event newspaper clippings (entitled Chronik) [Series 2]. The MGI photograph collection contain photo of individuals, families and organizations [Series 5]. There are 37 maps related to Mennonite history. The collection contains the correspondence from the MGI Office with researchers [Series 6]. There are also electronic records -- both related to administration of the collection and also various genealogical databases in PAF and BK formats. The MGI holdings also contained the following separate fonds or collections: a) Mennonite Benevolant Society - Bethania fonds, b) Agnes Kettler collection, c) Anna Vogt fonds, d) A.K. Friesen letter collection, e) Katherine H. Loewen collection (to be described separately).
The East Africa Revival began as an ecumenical, grass-roots Christian renewal movement in 1929. The movement emphasized a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ, and encouraged a Christ-centered life in community that broke down barriers of denomination, race, class and ethnicity. Women took significant leadership roles in the movement.
North American Mennonite missionaries returning from East Africa spoke of the influence of the revival on their lives, and sought to bring the same revival to North American Mennonites through itineration and fellowship conferences. In 1981, Simeon and Edna Hurst and Ron and Marjorie Lofthouse from Ontario attended an East Africa revival fellowship retreat in Minneapolis. They were inspired to bring a similar retreat to Ontario, forming the Canada East Fellowship Retreat. Photographs in this file are publicity images used in annual Canada East Fellowship Retreat brochures.
This file contains a sampling of the glass slides collected and used at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in the 1940s. Some of the slides were created from photographs of church activities or supplied to the church by mission organizations. Others, mostly texts of hymns, were ordered from the United Church Publishing House in Toronto and used in informal worship services. All slides in this file bear the United Church Publishing House label (not visible in scans), which would indicate that this publishing house did the work of transforming all of these photographs into slides.
Several mission and service activities supported by the congregation are highlighted. They include: 1) The Stirling Crusaders program whereby children and youth grew produce, raised livestock, collected recycling and did odd jobs to raise funds for war relief and missions projects; 2) the activities of missionaries Lillian and Cyril Forth of the Sudan Interior Mission (a non-Mennonite mission in Nigeria supported by the congregation); 3) the House of Friendship in Kitchener. These slides were used by the congregation in meetings and informal services to highlight these mission and relief activities.
Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church (Kitchener, Ontario)
Photographs taken by Hildegard Martens and her father, G. J. Martens, in southwestern Ontario, Rainy River in northern Ontario, and Manitoba Colony, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico during her research for a report on Mennonites from Mexico returning to Canada. The research project was directed by Frank H. Epp and funded by Mennonite Central Committee Canada and Canada Manpower and Immigration. Hildegard Martens was the author and researcher, Frank Epp wrote the introduction, and Martens and Epp together wrote the recommendations.
Photographs in this file include pictures of Old Colony and other Low German community Mennonite churches, agricultural activities of Mennonite individuals and families, and street scenes in Mexico.
The Access Project was a program of community education in cooperation with the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Project (VORP) of Mennonite Central Committee Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Corrections. The program ran from 1977-1980. In 1977, the Access Project created two educational slide shows, one on "The Law, Crime and the Administration of Justice" and another on "Juvenile Delinquency." Slides were also taken for use in displays and for a television series on "Crime and the Community." The slides in this file are assumed to have been created for the above purposes. The slides came to the Archives in no particular order, and may have been used for more than one presentation. No scripts for the slideshows have been located.
