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A small set of photocopied records from the U.S. National Archives (State Department) and the Mennonite Central Committee Archives pertaining to suspected Nazi sympathies and / or political support within Germans Mennonite colonies in Paraguay.  Includes the 1940 Edwin Schoenrich report "The Mennonite Colonies in the Paraguayan Chaco."

Alma Slagel Eigsti "adopted" a Russian Mennonite refugee named Margareta Unruh through her Sunday school class at Waldo Mennonite Church in Illinois. Unruh and her family were forced to flee Russia in 1943, first staying in Holland and later immigrating to Paraguay. Eigsti and Unruh corresponded with each other from 1946-1981. In this collection are the letters that Eigsti received from Unruh. The letters describe Unruh's domestic life and her personal needs. There is also a small amount of correspondence from Tina Boschmann.

Most of the papers document his conscientious objector status at Camp Funston during World War I.

Also included is an 1874 Russian passport of his grandfather Daniel Krehbiel, and his own passport from a 1968 service trip to Paraguay.

2 reel-to-reel tapes, CD copies, cassette copy. It's likely that none of these is the original interview.
Kliewer interviewed by J. Winfield Fretz in Paraguay in 1951.
Interview transcript by Mary Rempel (done in 2013).
Digitized material at https://mla.bethelks.edu/archives/ms_480/

This fonds consists of the following series:
1) Lists - Paraguayan Mennonite Emigrants. This is a bound, handwritten book containing the family names, number of people traveling, colony of origin, and their destination in Canada (name & address). Also includes a short list of families who returned to Paraguay. - 1956 & 1957 (1 File) Box 373

This fonds contains letters, photos, envelopes, postage stamps, and a school exam booklet from 1906 – 1907.
These letters are a valuable set of primary source documents for several reasons. They document a crucial chapter in the family history of Johann and Maria Neufeld over the time period from 1926 to 1979. In addition to that, these letters are a showcase for the stories that many other Mennonite families experienced through the 1920s migrations to Paraguay and Mexico. Most importantly, these letters give an outstandingly valuable insight into the daily life of the 1920s settlers in the Paraguayan Chaco and the moral and financial support these settlers got from their relatives that stayed in Canada.

A "newsletter" created by John R. Schmidt and his family describing their life and work as medical missionaries with the Paraguayan Leprocy Project at the Kilometer 81 Hospital.

The papers consist mostly of correspondence and articles relating to the various mission fields. Most important would be the materials on the General Conference Mennonite mission in China. Especially interesting is the material on the Japanese internment, including a large group of sketches of camp life, and items relating to the changes in China after the war.

The family history materials in the collection are also significant. They shed light on the early Bethel College (Halstead Seminary) and on Emmaus Mennonite Church near Whitewater, Kansas.

See box list for contents of unprocessed boxes.

Various subjects and time periods

Minutes, financial records, and correspondence of an organization created to aid and assist the migration, resettlement, and rehabilitation of Mennonites displaced after World War II. The organization administered funds to facilitate the migration of Russian, Dutch, and German Mennonites to Paraguay.  These records not only provide an in-depth look at the financial aspects of the miagration, but also contain migration statistics and insight to the practical problems faced by Mennonite refugees seeking to relocate. Post-1950 records document Mennonite resettlement in Uraguay and West Germany as well.