10 / Author's Preface

research. The project appealed to him as a worthy one for a doctoral dissertation. The academic year of 1964-65 was spent as a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, during which time he concentrated on American church history as further background preparation for writing the history .

In producing this history the writer drew on his researches for an MA thesis at the University of Pittsburgh on The First Amish Communities in America (1954). The chapter on "The European Background of Ohio Mennonites and Amish" has been adapted from this thesis.

A number of sources and persons are acknowledged for their indispensable contributions. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Archives of the state of Pennsylvania were consulted with profit. Librarians in the Berks County Historical Society at Reading, Pennsylvania; in the Chester County Historical Society at West Chester, Pennsylvania; and in the Lancaster County Historical Society were generous in making available historical documents in the study. The county courthouses in all the above counties contain basic legal documents in forms of deeds and wills which were studied.

The Ohio State Archives were consulted and special recognition is due to Dr. Meredith Kilpatrick, the archivist in charge, for his helpfulness. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Library at Columbus made its records accessible as did also the Western Reserve Historical Society at Cleveland. Historical headquarters and county courthouses were researched in Columbiana, Mahoning, Wayne, Holmes, Allen, Fairfield, and Fulton counties. Records on Ohio church history were consulted at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

The Library of Congress and the National Archives were visited several times to research rare newspapers, county histories, and census records. A visit was made to the Newberry Library in Chicago to explore Midwestern sources on frontier life.

Of most relevance to the undertaking were the depositories of Mennonite Church records. The Archives of the Mennonite Church at Goshen, Indiana, contain large resources and the author is indebted to Melvin Gingerich, the archivist, for guidance to valuable manuscript collections of leaders as well as official records. Grace Showalter, librarian of the Menno Simons Historical Library and Archives at Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, Virginia,