From Cereal Boxes to Web Pages:
Introducing our North Newton Archives
By John D. Thiesen
The Mennonite Library and Archives at Bethel
College, North Newton, Kansas - the Archives part now being the
Archives of Mennonite Church USA-North Newton - has multiple
roots. The first president of Bethel College, C. H. Wedel, had
an active interest in Mennonite history. He wrote a four-volume
Mennonite history and probably was involved in some collecting
of historical materials at the college. In those earlier years,
archival and library items and museum objects were collected
together and were not thought of as separate categories in the
way we would probably treat them today.
In 1911 at the triennial session of the General
Conference in Bluffton, Ohio, a number of younger General Conference
leaders, at the inspiration of C. H. Wedel who had died in 1910,
formed a Mennonite Historical Association. H. R. Voth, a former
General Conference missionary with the Hopi in Arizona, was active
in the association and did most of the detail work, keeping detailed
ledgers of historical items collected. H. P. Krehbiel was also
an active promoter of historical interests and the Association's
collections were kept at his Herald Publishing Company (Mennonite
Weekly Review) for a time. After Voth's death in 1931 the Association
became less active.
Abraham Warkentin, a Mennonite refugee from
Russia in the 1920s, professor of German at Bethel College, and
a pastor at First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, became involved
with historical collecting both with the Association and at the
college. In 1939 the Association turned over its materials to
a new General Conference Historical Committee. Some of the materials
were moved to the college and some remained at the Herald Publishing
Company. When Warkentin moved to Chicago in 1947 to be the first
president of the General Conference seminary there, some of the
materials went with him to the new institution (an egregious
violation of present-day archival standards).
Cornelius Krahn, another Mennonite refugee
from Russia, came to Bethel College in 1944 and became the most
well-known promoter of historical collecting for the college
and General Conference. His involvement from the 1940s to the
1970s made him almost synonymous with the Mennonite Library and
Archives at Bethel.
Also during these same decades, John F. Schmidt
was the internal face of the archives, bringing organization
to the records that had been and were being gathered, and serving
researchers who wanted to use them. He also was the keeper of
many oral traditions about the archives.
Despite the close ties with the General Conference
Historical Committee, the General Conference only designated
the archives at Bethel their official archival repository in
1964. At that time, many records were transferred from General
Conference offices, or the possession of individual General Conference
leaders, to the archives. According to oral tradition, for example,
P. H. Richert, long-time chair of the mission board, had kept
the mission records in breakfast cereal boxes, one month of papers
per box. One can still see the bend in the paper from this storage
method.
The work of the archives and historical library
are closely integrated, although the Mennonite Church USA has
taken responsibility primarily for the archival work. Many researchers
use both archival and library materials. For example, family
history researchers often will use both published family histories
and membership records of congregations to answer their questions
about the past.
The archives currently contain around 4300
cubic feet of documents, 30 percent are records of the former
General Conference Mennonite Church, 19 percent are records of
Bethel College, and another 30 percent are personal papers of
individuals and families. The rest includes area conference records,
records of individual congregations, and records of various Mennonite
organizations, sometimes obscure, such as the Leisy Orphan Aid
Society of Halstead, Kansas; and also records of non-Mennonite
peace organizations, such as Kansans Concerned about Vietnam,
from the 1960s and 1970s. The archives contain an estimated eleven
million pages, weighing over sixty-four tons.
There are numerous interesting collections
in the archives. Perhaps the oldest archival documents can be
found in the van der Smissen family papers, with correspondence
dating back to 1759 and some family history material earlier.
(The van der Smissens are allegedly descended from the medieval
emperor Charlemagne.) Many languages are represented, including
German, Low German, Russian, Dutch, and French. In the papers
of missionaries to Native Americans H. R. Voth and Rodolphe Petter
one also finds Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Hopi. Such collections
are often used by anthropologists and linguists who have only
a peripheral interest in Mennonite history and wonder why these
valuable Native American collections are located in a Mennonite
archives.
Some records have dramatic stories, such as
the church record books of the Mennonite church in Danzig, with
charred edges, recovered by MCC workers in Poland after World
War II.
The Mennonite Library and Archives at Bethel
College, North Newton, Kansas - the Archives part now being the
Archives of the Mennonite Church USA-North Newton - has multiple
roots. The first president of Bethel College, C. H. Wedel, had
an active interest in Mennonite history. He wrote a 4-volume
Mennonite history and probably was involved in some collecting
of historical materials at the college. In those earlier years,
archival and library items and museum objects were collected
together and were not thought of as separate categories in the
way we would probably treat them today.
In 1911 at the triennial session of the General
Conference in Bluffton, Ohio, a number of younger General Conference
leaders, at the inspiration of C. H. Wedel who had died in 1910,
formed a Mennonite Historical Association. H. R. Voth, a former
General Conference missionary with the Hopi in Arizona, was active
in the association and did most of the detail work, keeping detailed
ledgers of historical items collected. H. P. Krehbiel was also
an active promoter of historical interests and the Association's
collections were kept at his Herald Publishing Co. (Mennonite
Weekly Review) for a time. After Voth's death in 1931 the Association
became less active.
Abraham Warkentin, a Mennonite refugee from
Russia in the 1920s, professor of German at Bethel College, and
a pastor at First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, became involved
with historical collecting both with the Association and at the
college. In 1939 the Association turned over its materials to
a new General Conference Historical Committee. Some of the materials
were moved to the college and some remained at the Herald Publishing
Co. When Warkentin moved to Chicago in 1947 to be the first president
of the General Conference seminary there, some of the materials
went with him to the new institution (an egregious violation
of present-day archival standards).
Cornelius Krahn, another Mennonite refugee
from Russia, came to Bethel College in 1944 and became the most
well-known promoter of historical collecting for the college
and General Conference. His involvement from the 1940s to the
1970s made him almost synonymous with the Mennonite Library and
Archives at Bethel.
Also during these same decades, John F. Schmidt
was the internal face of the archives, bringing organization
to the records that had been and were being gathered, and serving
researchers who wanted to use them. He also was the keeper of
many oral traditions about the archives.
Despite the close ties with the General Conference
Historical Committee, the General Conference only designated
the archives at Bethel their official archival repository in
1964. At that time, many records were transferred from General
Conference offices, or the possession of individual General Conference
leaders, to the archives. According to oral tradition, for example,
P. H. Richert, long-time chair of the mission board, had kept
the mission records in breakfast cereal boxes, one month of papers
per box.
The work of the archives and historical library
are closely integrated, although the Mennonite Church USA has
taken responsibility primarily for the archival work. Many researchers
use both archival and library materials. For example, family
history researchers often will use both published family histories
and membership records of congregations to answer their questions
about the past.
The archives currently contain around 4300
cubic feet of documents, 30% are records of the former General
Conference Mennonite Church, 19% are records of Bethel College,
and another 30% are personal papers of individuals and families.
The rest includes area conference records, records of individual
congregations, and records of various Mennonite organizations,
sometimes obscure, such as the Leisy Orphan Aid Society of Halstead,
Kansas; and also records of non-Mennonite peace organizations,
such as Kansans Concerned about Vietnam, from the 1960s and 70s.
The archives contain an estimated 11 million pages, weighing
over 64 tons.
There are numerous interesting collections
in the archives. Perhaps the oldest archival documents can be
found in the van der Smissen family papers, with correspondence
dating back to 1759 and some family history material earlier.
(The van der Smissens are allegedly descended from the medieval
emperor Charlemagne.) Many languages are represented, including
German, Low German, Russian, Dutch, and French. In the papers
of missionaries to Native Americans H. R. Voth and Rodolphe Petter
one also finds Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Hopi. Such collections
are often used by anthropologists and linguists who have only
a peripheral interest in Mennonite history and wonder why these
valuable Native American collections are located in a Mennonite
archives.
Some records have dramatic stories, such as
the church record books of the Mennonite church in Danzig, with
charred edges, recovered by MCC workers in Poland after World
War 2.
With the creation of the new Mennonite Church
USA, the "Archives" part of the Mennonite Library and
Archives is now the Archives of the Mennonite Church USA - North
Newton, preserving records of enduring value associated with
the Mennonite Church USA and enabling researchers to ask questions
of and carry on conversations with the Mennonite past.
Current staff includes John D. Thiesen, archivist
(and co-director of libraries for Bethel College). John began
working in the archives and historical library as a student in
the late 1970s and has worked full-time there since 1990. Barbara
Thiesen (also a Bethel co-director of libraries, and married
to John Thiesen) is librarian for the historical library part
of the collection, at about one-quarter time; she has worked
there since 1984. James Lynch is assistant archivist and began
in 2000. There are also several volunteers, some of them long-term
friends of the archives.
For more see our web pages at http://www.bethelks.edu/services/mla/ |