Historical Committee

Hist Mss 1-354
J. N. (Joseph N.) Byler, 1895-1962; and Edna (Miller) Byler, 1904-1976
Papers, 1917-64
13 Boxes (11 Green, 2 Large)

Correspondence, 1940-58                                              Boxes 1-2 (Green)
Relief Work, 1941-59                                                      Boxes 3-8 (Green)
Relief Courses, 1943-44                                                 Box 9 (Green)
Monterey Mennonite Church, 1946-59                           Box 10 (Green)
Miscellaneous, 1941-60                                                  Box 11 (Green)
Journals, Early papers, Photographs, etc., 1917-64       Boxes 12-13
                                                                                                  (Large)

J. N. Byler was a teacher of social science and manual arts at Hesston College, 1926-1941; then director of CPS camps and relief work for Mennonite Central Committee.  He was a conscientious objector in World War I and a member of the Friends Reconstruction unit in France.  He was baptized on August 14, 1913, and joined the Cedar Creek Mennonite Church, Mason, Iowa.

Edna Ruth (Miller) Byler graduated from Hesston College in 1923.  She married J. N. Byler, her teacher at Hesston, in 1925, and they were the parents to two children.  On a trip to Puerto Rico with her husband, she saw the needlework of poor women and agreed to market it.  This, together with crafts added later, turned into Mennonite Central Committee's SelfHelp Crafts program.  She was a member of Pennsylvania (Whitestone) Mennonite Church, Hesston, Kansas.

    Eleven boxes of papers were deposited by Edna Byler (Mrs. J. N. Byler), Akron, Pennsylvania, in 1966 (Accession #1720 / #1817).  An additional four folders of Byler's personal correspondence was deposited by Mrs. Ernestine Lehman, Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pennsylvania, in 1967 (Accession #2010).    Two additional boxes of J. N. Byler's archives were deposited by John Byler, a grandson, Harvard, Massachusetts, in 2005 (Accession #7258, 2 Large Boxes, November 7, 2006 / des).  This included a copy of Byler's 1925 M.A. Thesis as obtained by John Byler from the University of Nebraska, Byler's journals, photographs, etc.  The thesis is was transferred, and is available, from the Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College.

The first 11 boxes of the collection was organized and listed by Sharon L. Klingelsmith, Assistant Archivist, June 28, 1978, inventory of 6 pages.   This inventory was typed into the computer and posted on the web by Erin Wilson, March 19, 2001.  Files in Boxes 12 and 13 were numbered and listed by Nelda Nussbaum, with an update to the entire inventory by Dennis Stoesz, Archivist, November 7, 2006.
 

Box 1 (Green)

1/0    Introduction to collection, and to J. N. and Edna Ruth (Miller) Byler.

Correspondence:  Boxes 1-2 (Green)

Box 1 (Green) (Continued)

1/1    Correspondence, 1940-41
1/2    1941
1/3    1942
1/4    1942- France
1/5    1942-44 – Personal

1/6    1943
1/7    1944
1/8    1944- Egypt & England
1/9    1945
1/10    1951

1/11    1952
1/12    1952- India
1/13    1952-54- Hong Kong
1/14    1953
1/15    1953-54 – German Overseas
1/16    1954

Box 2 (Green)

2/1    1955
2/2    1955 –Hong Kong
2/3    1955 – Korean Overseas
2/4    1956
2/5    1956 –Hong Kong

2/6    1956- Personal
2/7    1956-57 – Europe & Middle East Trip
2/8    1957
2/9    1957 –Hong Kong
2/10    1957 – Personal

2/11    1958
2/12    Undated

Relief Work:  Boxes 3-8  (Green)

Box 3 (Green)

3/1    Report of Commissioner Trip to Austria
3/2    Report of Trip to England
3/3    Report of Trip to Europe
3/4    Report of Trip to Europe and the Middle East
3/5    Report of Trip to the Far East

3/6    Report of Trip to Formosa
3/7    French Relief Work
3/8    Hong Kong Reports
3/9    Report of Trip to Italy
3/10    Report of Trip to Japan

3/11    Report of Trips to Java and Sumatra
3/12    Report of Trip to Korea
3/13    Reports on Korea – 1952-1955
3/14    LaPlata, Puerto Rico
3/15    Report of Trip to the Middle East
3/16    Report of Trip to the Philippine Islands

Box 4 (Green)

4/1    Reports to MCC, 1941-1942
4/2    Reports to MCC, 1943-1945
4/3    Reports to MCC, 1946-1947
4/4    Reports to MCC, 1948
4/5    Reports to MCC, 1949
4/6    Reports to MCC, 1950

Box 5 (Green)

5/1    Reports to MCC, 1951-52
5/2    Reports to MCC, 1953
5/3    Reports to MCC, 1954-1956
5/4    Reports to MCC, 1957
5/5    Reports to MCC, 1958-59
5/6    Reports to MCC, notes taken on relief trip

Box 6 (Green)

6/1    Austria – folder #1
6/2    Austria – folder #2
6/3    Customs Clearance
6/4    Heifer Project
6/5    Holfswerk der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland

6/6    Hong Kong
6/7    Menoniten Kinderheim
6/8    Middle East
6/9    Miscellaneous
6/10    S. S. Volendam
6/11    Taiwan

Box 7 (Green)

Various collected books and pamphlets.  Contains books on Relief, Hunger, Church World Service in foreign countries mostly printed in the 1950's

Box 8 (Green)

8/1    Area News Letters,  1945-1946
8/2    Book Reviews
8/3    Christian Relief in the Church Program
8/4    MCC brochures
8/5    MCC distribution – Bremen (photos), 1946

8/6    Relief & Rehabilitation articles
8/7    Relief Services articles
8/8    Testimony before House Committee on Foreign Affairs
8/9    Speeches
8/10    Thank you letters, cards

Relief Courses:  Box 9 (Green)

Box 9 (Green)

9/1    Principles & Problems of International Relief Administration
9/2    Relief Training Courses – 1943
9/3    Training Courses – 1943-1944
9/4    Relief Training Schools
9/5    Social Problems – V.S. Schools
9/6    Social Work Course

Monterey Mennonite Church, 1946-59:  Box 10 (Green)

Box 10 (Green)

10/1    Constitution, 1956
10/2    Church Furniture, 1949
10/3    Church records – folder #1
10/4    Church records, 1947-57 – folder #2
10/5    Correspondence, 1946-1947, 1955, 1958, 1959

Miscellaneous, 1941-60:   Box 11 (Green)

Box 11 (Green)

11/1    Amish, 1960 (clipped article from magazine)
11/2    Book – Present Day Religions
11/3    CPS material, 1941
11/4    Historical Committee
11/5    Maps
11/6    Miscellaneous
11/7    Ohio Conference
11/8    Ohio Conference Historical Committee, 1953-58 (information on Monterey Mennonite Church, etc.)
11/9    World War I CO’s, 1948

Journals, Early Papers, Photographs, etc., 1917-64:  Boxes 12-13 (Large)

Box 12 (Large)

12/1    Journal, 1942
12/2    Journal, 1943
12/3    Journal, 1944 - August
12/4    Journal, 1944, August - Nov. 30, 1944
12/5    Journal, Dec. 1944 - Nov. 1945

12/6    Journal, 1946
12/7    Journal, 1947
12/8    Journal, 1948
12/9    Journal, 1949
12/10    Journal, 1951 - May

12/11    Journal, Aug. 20, 1951 - Sept. 2, 1952
12/12    Journal for Germany guest tour, October 12 to November 11th, 1953
12/13    Journal, 1955 - April 6 to June 24 (Korea)
12/14    Journal, Dec. 1956 - April 16, 1957

12/14a    Cash Books: Sept. 1941 -Dec. 1942 & Jan. 1943 - Dec. 1943    
12/14b    Cash Books:  Jan. 1944-August 1944,  July 1944 - Dec. 31, 1945, Income Cash - 1/01/43-May 1947
12/15    Cash Book, 1947- March 1948 and Cash Book, March 1948-Dec. 1949

12/15a    Cash Book, 1950-1952
12/16    Cash Book, 1950-1952
12/16a    Expense Account, Aug. 1951-Sept. 1952

12/17    Cash Expense Account, 1953-1954
12/18    Cash Expenses, 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958, 1959, 1960 (two books)
12/19    Notes (book), lists of addresses and other things

12/20    Folder of important papers, including teacher's certificate, 1925 (Clay County, Nebraska); mortgage payments; certicate of baptism (1918) into Cedar Creek Mennonite, Mason, Iowa; marriage certificate (1925) between Joseph N. Byler and Edna Ruth Miller; and obituary (1918) of Olive Zehr Byler (1896-1918), to whom Joseph N. was married in 1918; etc.

12/21    Important papers on a note/loan
12/22    Papers concerning payment of a loan, 1936
12/23    Papers - Social Security, Health etc.
12/24    Notebook of clippings, correspondence - 1940's

12/25    Article "Twenty Years in Retrospect"
12/26    Correspondence asking repayment on loans, 1924-37
12/27    Medical report, 1952
12/28    Heifer Project correspondence, 1962
12/29    Article "I Was A Guest", correspondence, Colorado State College information.  1940's, 1950's
12/30    Misc. - Article "A Look At The Middle East", correspondence, 1930's - 40's

Box 13 (Large)

13/1    Photos, includes Hess Reunion in Kansas, 1930.
13/2    Photo, no identification
13/3    Cash Book, 1957

13/4    Booklet:  Espelkamp, Mennonite Central Committee building a settlement    for German refugees by Emily Brunk, 1951
13/5    Talks, 1964, given by Edna Byler
13/6    Photo Book, Civilian Public Service, Camp No. 20, Sideling Hill, Pennsylvania, and possibly other camps where Byler was stationed.

13/7    Sermon Notes, 1950's
13/8    Photo Book, Hesston College (about 1921-24)
13/9    Photo Book, pictures taken in Kansas (could date from 1910s, and could include parents of Byler)
13/10    Booklet of notes

13/11    Book in German, many pictures
13/12    Photo prints of cathedrals in France (collected by Byler, when he was director of the Secours Mennonite aux Enfants, rue Sala, Lyon, Fance.)
13/13    Hesston College and Academy photograph, probably early 1920s.
13/14    Photo book from Ruth Fisher and Mr. And Mrs. Glen Gruber, Taiwan, 1940s
13/15    Loose photos, some identified

13/16    Military Induction and discharge papers, 1917-18; an unidentified photo, Words of Comfort booklet, Article hand written, " The March of Communism in the World and the Christians Answer."
13/17    The Universal Students Expense Book, 1924-25
13/18    The Universal Household Expense Book, 1926-27
13/19    Sermon Notes, 1920's
13/20    Sermon Notes, Relief Series

13/21    Sermon Notes, 1940's ( packets)
13/22    Miscellaneous, notes, booklets etc.
13/23    Article "The World's Need For The Message: Physical Need" 1953
13/24    Pages of photos, including Hesston College (Legal size, found on side of box)

13/25    M.A. Thesis, University of Nebraska, 1925 (Manuscript transferred and available from Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College).  Title is: "Migration due to nonresistant principles: with especial reference to the Mennonites," 159 pages.  Includes Anabaptist history, and emigration and immigration of Mennonites and Hutterian Brethren in Europe, Russia, United States and Canada.

Mennonite Central Committee Relief
Monterey Mennonite Church, Bird-in-Hand, Pa.        Box 10
Ohio and Eastern Mennonite Conference            Box 11, folders 7 and 8

November 7, 2006 / Updated and posted on the web by Dennis Stoesz
File "HM1-354 J N and Edna (Miller) Byler.doc"
Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen, 1700 S. Main St., Goshen, Indiana 46526

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