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New Treasures: Archives of the Mennonite Church
By Dennis Stoesz, Archivist
What follows is a sampling of personal papers and organizational records that have come into the archives during the first six months of 1998. They are listed alphabetically by the name of the collection.
Amigo Centre, 1957- , Sturgis, Michigan. Records, 1996, including executive minutes, board minutes, program development and usage of camp. Twenty-nine computer files totalling 216,638 bytes, as contained on one three-and-a-half inch high density disk. 1 inch. Donor: Dana L. Sommers, Executive Director.
Believers' Church Conferences, 1967- . Records, 1963-1997, including correspondence, programs and some papers from the fourteen conferences which have been held to study the concept of the Believers' Church. These materials were generated by co-convenors Donald F. Durnbaugh and John H. Yoder who worked with a larger group of some twenty persons on a Committee on Continuing Conversations. The conferences have been held once every two or three years from 1967-1996. Hosts have been Anderson School of Theology, Ashland Theological Seminary, Baptist Theological Seminary, Bethany Theological Seminary, Bluffton College, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, Chicago Theological Seminary, Goshen College, Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, McMaster Divinity School, Pepperdine University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and World Baptist Alliance. 2.5 linear feet. Donors: Donald F. Durnbaugh, Juniata College, and John H. Yoder, Notre Dame University.
Goshen College, 1894- , Board of Overseers. Minutes and Dockets, 1970-1988. This Board was known earlier as the Local Board, 1924-1941, and was known as the Board of Overseers by the 1960s. 1 linear foot. Donor: Stephanie Zeser, Office of the President and Provost, Goshen College.
Goshen College, 1894- , Counseling Services. Records, 1941-1991, including minutes of Student Personnel Policy Committee, 1941-1971; program files, A-Z, 1953-1968; annual reports, 1966-85; and program files, 1959-1991. File topics include such things as drug abuse, 1971; sexual ethics, 1982-88; minority relations committee, 1987-89; Black Student Union, 1977-78; Menno Pause incident, 1967; dance incident, 1965-68; discipline study, 1959-68; and student involvement in college governance, 1961. Russ Liechty was Director of Counseling Services from 1978-1993, and earlier had been Assistant Dean of Men and then Dean of Students. 12.5 linear feet. Donor: Russell A. Liechty, Goshen, Indiana.
Goshen College, 1894- , English Department. Records, 1929-1970, including administrative files, course outlines, essays and teaching notes of S. A. Yoder, who was Professor of English at Goshen College from 1930-35, and 1946-70, and served as chair of the department for many years. Materials also include papers from when Yoder was a student at Harvard University, University of Michigan and Indiana University, 1929-36. The English department existed at Goshen College since 1903, and earlier English professors have included Solomon F. Gingerich, 1905-12, John S. Umble, 1924-54, and Paul Erb, 1939-46. 1.7 linear feet. Donor: Ervin Beck, English Department, Goshen College.
Goshen College, 1894- , Faculty Meetings. Minutes, 1976-1990, of faculty meetings, including agendas, memos, reports, exhibits and policy statements. The earliest faculty minutes date back to September 10, 1901, when they were begun at Elkhart Institute. .7 linear feet. Donor: Stephanie Zeser, Office of the President and Provost, Goshen College.
Hostetler, La Verne Yoder, 1914-1990. Scrapbook albums, 1926-1934, of when La Verne Yoder, daughter of President S. C. Yoder, was a student at Goshen College Academy (High School), 1926-30, and at Goshen College, 1930-34. The first album was given to La Verne by five of her friends on her 16th birthday. She subsequently wrote in it, and pasted photographs of activities in which she was involved. La Verne also kept a scrapbook of her college days at Goshen College, which includes memorabilia and snapshots. 1.25 linear feet. Donor: Jane Robinett, Calexico, California.
Hostetler, S. Jay, 1901-1978, and Ida (Miller) Hostetler, 1900-1972. Papers, photographs, slides and tape recordings, 1927-1976, of their ministry in India, Ghana, Nigeria, and North America. Includes sermons preached in India and North America, 1927-56; historical articles, correspondence, photographs, and tape recordings of their work as missionaries in Ghana, 1957-64; some more general files on work in Nigeria, 1958-60; and personal correspondence during the time of Ida's illness and death, 1972, and from S. Jay's final illness, 1978. 4.2 linear feet. Donor: Mary Ann Hostetler Melchert, Oakland, California.
Kern Road Mennonite Church, 1960- , South Bend, Indiana. Records, 1959-1984, of Tobe E. Schmucker including correspondence, reports, church bulletins, minutes of council meetings and pastoral committee, and financial records. Schmucker (1918-1986) had come to South Bend in 1954 to begin the Hope Rescue Mission, and the church began meeting at the mission in 1960. Earlier names of the church were South Bend Mennonite Fellowship, 1960-62, and then Kern Road Chapel, 1962-1982, when the congregation built a meetingplace on Kern Road. 1 linear foot. Donor: Steve Nolt, South Bend, Indiana.
Meyer, Esther (Steiner), 1898-1994. Correspondence, writings, photographs and artifacts, 1910-1980. It includes Meyer's journal of events at Oak Grove Mennonite Church, Smithville, Ohio, 1945-47, regarding congregation-conference relations. The papers also reflect Meyer's activity in getting a church constitution written, and her suggestion on the use of elders in a church. Other materials include work on the genealogy of Eby, Steiner and Thut families on her mother's side, and of the Conrad, Gerig, Meyer, and Schrock families on her father's side. Also includes writings of her studies at Western Reserve University, her financial journals, and her correspondence. She married J. C. Meyer in 1923. 7 linear feet. Donors: Children, Albert J. Meyer, Goshen, Indiana; Margaret Irvin, El Sobrante, California; and John W. Meyer, Stanford, California.
Neuschwander, Evangeline (Matthies) and Vernon L. Neuschwander, 1920-1992. Papers, books, and artifacts, 1930s-1950, reflecting the life of Evangeline and Vernon, and their ministry of relief and service with Mennonite Central Committee through the years. Includes German songs sung by Evangeline in the Mennonite Brethren churches in Ontario during the 1930s; Evangeline's work in the Netherlands, 1946-48; Vernon's work in the Chaco, Paraguay, 1947; and their work with youth in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1950. The materials mentioned above represent one of many deposits of papers, photographs, slides, tapes, maps, paintings and artifacts that has been made by Evangeline and Vernon over the years. 1.25 linear feet. Donor: Evangeline Neuschwander, Goshen, Indiana.
Winey, Lois, 1910-1995. Papers, 1958-1975, on Winey's research into the Business Department of Goshen College, including class lists, lists of graduates and their degrees, 1926-1975. Courses included accounting, bookkeeping, business, commerce, economics, secretarial work, shorthand, and typing. Materials include unpublished papers such as "Business Education at Goshen College, 1894-1952," by Erma Zook; and "History of Shorthand;" and course materials from her classes through the years. Winey was unable to complete a final report on her research. Winey graduated from Goshen College in 1936, and was an Assistant Professor of Business at the College from 1937-1977. She received her M.A. from New York University in 1950. 15 linear feet. Donor: Martha Stern, Goshen, Indiana.
Denis Stoesz has served as archivist since 1989.
Mennonite Historical Bulletin, July 1998