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Today, we have an interview with Laureen Harder-Gissing from the Mennonite Archives of Ontario. Laureen has studied family secrets, their connection to church life and family genealogies, and how secrets are handled at a public archive.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the compelling life story of Adina Janzen, who survived the dark Soviet era in Russia. In 1934, her father was taken by Soviet authorities. They instantly lost the family breadwinner. At one point, a starving Adina turned to eating chalk! Her story is a heartrending yet hope-laden tale of living on three different continents and finding light in dark places.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, In Part 2, Dr. Jantzen reveals how Prussian rulers targeted Mennonite women, which eventually provoked a mass migration of Mennonites out of Prussia.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, we bring you an interview with Bethel College professor Dr. Mark Janzen, who studies the little known history of Mennonites who lived in Prussia from the 1530s to the late 1700s.

In this episode, we learn that Mennonites lived in mixed villages instead of colonies, like they later did, how they acquired land in the vast region of Prussia, and the political complexities of living under a system with several power centres.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, we bring you the story of Samuel McRoberts, the American lawyer and banker whose deeply religious wife Harriet persuaded McRoberts to negotiate and facilitate a mass re-settlement of Canadian Mennonites to Paraguay in the 1920s. Did the hymns the Mennonite delegation sang for the McRoberts play a role in Samuel’s decision to help the Mennonites? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, we bring you a conversation with archivist Laureen Harder Gissing. When Laureen was 13 years old, her grandmother gifted her with a cheque for $13.00. That gift inspired a life long interest in her family’s history, and the bigger picture of Mennonite history. Today Laureen is the archivist at the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, which holds collections from all over the world – including records from non-European Mennonites, and documents dating as far back as 1520.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the story of a provincial government experiment to resettle a group of Manitoba Mennonites near Burns Lake, B.C. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hear about their journey to B.C., and the challenges they faced when they got there.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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Today, we bring you an interview with author and satirist Andrew Unger about his book Once Removed. The novel’s main character, Timothy Heppner, is determined to preserve the heritage in his small Manitoba town, but is at odds with the town’s pro-development mayor. Andrew talks about how fiction and historical fact can work together, the place of humour in his story telling, and his ancestor Abram, whose nickname was “Lazy” Reimer.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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