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New Treasures: Archives of the Mennonite Church
By Dennis Stoesz, ArchivistWhat follows is a sampling of personal papers and organizational records that have come into the archives during the first six months of 1997. They are listed alphabetically by the name of the collection.
Graber, C. L., 1895-1987, and Mina (Roth) Graber, 1895-1968, Goshen, Indiana. Photograph album, 1950-1952, of Grabers' work with refugees in Europe after World War II, under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee, and of a trip to Puerto Rico, 1953. Includes pictures of workers, refugees, and Mennonite families and churches in Germany, Netherlands, France and Switzerland. Persons include Christ Witmer family, C. F. Klassen, Rev. and Mrs. J. J. Voth, Orie O. Miller, home of Christian Schnebele, and Edward and Elsie Butzman. Album also includes photographs of Dan and Mary (Graber) Widmer, Iowa, and of their visit to Puerto Rico, 1953, where their daughter Gladys Widmer worked. 1 Photograph Album. Donor: Gladys (Graber) Beyler.
Jubilee Mennonite Church, 1996- , West Liberty, Ohio. Church records, 1995-96, of the birth of this congregation. Includes church bulletins, a Lenten devotional, a short history of the church, correspondence, membership lists, a mission statement, a treasurer's report, and a program of the first official meeting, January 21, 1996. 2 Files. Donor: Mary K. Yoder.
Kreider, Leonard C. Photographs, 1927-1931, taken by Kreider when he was a student at Goshen College. Includes informal shots of friends, dating couples, fun and game activities, sports events, campus buildings, dormitory rooms, faculty, building of Coffman hall and the Goshen dam. Also includes formal photographs of several individual students, sport teams, debating team, Vesperian society, staff of Record newspaper, 1931, and the Aurora society. Kreider quite likely developed his own pictures. Collection consists of three albums, mostly identified, original negatives, and one panorama photograph of the whole Goshen College faculty and student body. 10 linear inches. Donor: Rachel (Weaver) Kreider, Goshen, Indiana.
Mennonite Central Committee, 1920- , Akron, Pennsylvania. Records, 1941-1995, including various series of records reflecting the work of this service organization. The one set of records, dating from 1975-84, have been microfilmed and are found on 56 reels. This includes the official correspondence 1984, reports, 1975-84, Peace Section files, 1980-84, personnel files, 1981-85, and the Polish Trainee personnel files, 1971-83. The other set of records include audio-visual materials, 1967-95, Financial Services files, 1941-82, Washington Office files, 1968-93, European Office files, 1950s-84, and files from several district offices: Great Lakes office, 1968-84, Central States office, 1972-84, and the West Coast office, 1952-84. 9.5 linear feet. Donor: Irene Leaman, Records Manager.
Mennonite Church of Warsaw, 1988- , Warsaw, Indiana. Church bulletins, 1989-1996, from its beginning when four couples started meeting in Warsaw. The congregation began to use church bulletins on December 10, 1989. Bob Gerber was pastor from 1989-1995, and Frank Byler was interim pastor in 1996. Donor: Arlo C. Brenneman, Goshen, Indiana.
Mininger, Paul, 1908-1997, and Mary (Erb) Mininger, 1906-1983, Goshen, Indiana. Papers, 1885-1994, from three generations, including correspondence from grandmother Eliga D. Mininger, 1903-09, an 1885 childhood scrapbook from Hettie Kulp, and correspondence, articles, photographs and sermons from Mininger's father and mother J. D. and Hettie (Kulp) Mininger, dating from 1932-1955. Materials from Paul Mininger include sermon notes, school notes, and correspondence, dating from 1944-1994, reflecting his ministry at North Goshen Mennonite Church, his presidency at Goshen College, 1954-70, and his research into Christian higher education. 23.75 linear feet. Donor: Paul Mininger and Jim Mininger.
Phalo Literary Club, 1913- , Goshen, Indiana. Records, 1913-1994, including a minute book, 1978-1994, Program booklets, 1974-92, Constitutions, 1958-89, 75th anniversary program booklet, 1912-1988, and programs and charter membership of that first year, 1913-14. The first meeting was held on November 25, 1913, when twenty women met in the home of Mrs. D. S. Gerig, on 8th Street in Goshen. The purpose of the club was to study and discuss literature through the review of books. The name of the club was born when its charter members decided the subjects to be considered would include Philosophy, History, Art, Literature and Oratory. 4 linear inches. Donors: Florence Amstutz, Pauline K. King and Ethel O. Yoder.
Schmucker, Mark A. Papers, 1980-1987, including correspondence, articles and newspaper clippings regarding the October 1982 court case in which Schmucker was convicted for failing to register for the draft. He was a twenty-two year old Goshen College student at the time. Schmucker was ordered to pay a $4,000. fine by the U.S. district court in Cleveland, Ohio, and sentenced to three years probation, two of which he served in public service work at Emmaus Home, a United Church of Christ-affiliated residence for retarded adults in Marthasville, Missouri. He was the third person in the nation, and the first Mennonite, to be prosecuted after a 1980 presidential proclamation reinstating draft registration. 20 linear inches. Donor: Anna Belle and Arden Schmucker, Alliance, Ohio.
Seniors for Peace, 1988- , Goshen, Indiana. Records, 1988-95, including minutes, programs, articles and correspondence on the work of this group. Many presentations were given at the given at the Greencroft Senior Center over the years on various topics of peace. 10 linear inches. Donors: Florence Amstutz, Atlee and Winifred Beechy, and Evelyn Kreider.
Steiner, M. S., 1866-1911. Correspondence, 1885-1889, from Steiner in Ohio to Abraham P. Shenk of Elida, Ohio (1885) and of Rockingham County, Virginia (1885-1889). In 1885, Steiner writes about attending a Sabbath School (Sunday School) at Bluffton, Ohio. In March 1888, he writes that "out of the money collected in the [Sunday] school not a cent is to be used for any thing but spreading the Gospel." Steiner suggests that the money be sent to the evangelizing fund at Elkhart, Indiana. 1 File. Donor: Esther Shenk Buckwalter, Newport News, Virginia.
Twenty-Sixth Street Mennonite Church, 1906-1944, Chicago, Illinois. Two photographs, 1911, of the cradle roll and the Mennonite mission at the time John C. and Barbara Hernley Paul were workers there. Photographs were taken in the newly completed building on 26th Street in Chicago. This 26th St. church was begun in 1906 by A. M. and Anna (Annacker) Eash, and they were the main directors of the mission through the years. In November 1908, eight converts were baptized and received into church membership. By 1909, revival meetings by S. E. Allgyer and others resulted in over 92 converts to Christ. The mission was under the Mennonite Board of Missions, Elkhart, until 1923, when the Central Mennonite Conference assumed leadership of it. 1 File. Donor: Winifred Paul, Scottdale, Pennsylvania.
Wyse, Olive G., 1906- , Goshen, Indiana. Papers and photographs, 1918-1995, reflecting Wyse's fifty years of involvement and teaching as Professor of Home Economics at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, 1926-1976. It includes course outlines, lists of Home Economic graduates, 1928-69, a report on "equal pay for equal work" (1947), minutes and reports of the Faculty Fellowship Committee, Social Committee and Faculty Dinners, 1940-69, and material on a 1957 Conference on the Education of Women. The collection also includes materials from her high school education at Wayland, Iowa (1922), her college education at Iowa Wesleyan College (1924) and Goshen College (B.A., 1926), and her graduate work at State University of Iowa (M.S., 1933) and at Columbia University (Ed.D., 1946). Wyse wrote a history of the Goshen College Home Economics Department in 1963, wrote a senior statement in 1976 upon her retirement, and wrote a reflective piece called "History as Identity" in 1978. 10 linear feet. Donor: Olive G. Wyse.
--Dennis Stoesz has served as archivist at the Archives of the Mennonite Church since 1989.
Mennonite Historical Bulletin, July, 1997
Last updated 7 September 1999