Mennonite Heritage Archives
610 Shaftesbury Blvd. R3P 0M4 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

VOLENDAM: A REFUGEE STORY is an award winning new documentary using archival footage and personal interviews. Order from https://www.commonword.ca/ResourceView/82/22163 or by emailing [email protected]. The documentary tells the story of the Russian Mennonite refugees who fled west with the retreating German Army during World War Two, desperate to escape the horror of Stalin’s Soviet Union. With nowhere to go they would end up stranded in refugee camps throughout Holland a...nd Germany in an unfolding two-year saga. Eventually, a risky plan, involving the American Military, multiple governments, aid organizations and the Queen of the Netherlands would come together. It all would hinge on an old transport ship called Volendam Told through personal interviews, reenactments and never before seen archival footage, production began in 2018 and included travel to the Volendam and Neuland Colonies in Paraguay. Produced by Refuge 31 Films and directed by Andrew Wall. See more

In the article Hindsight 2020: How archivists work to remember a year most would rather forget, Anthony Wilson-Smith, president and CEO of Historica Canada, said about documenting of life during COVID, what people will want to know decades from now is how did you feel? What was it like? Many of the other aspects of your experience -- where you moved, what you bought, your tax return, your census record -- the future historian or your descendant will be able to get at in an impersonal way, but they will not be able to see you and feel you and understand how you saw and felt unless you tell them." Consider adding a story to our COVID-19 story telling site https://aht.libraryhost.com/s/archive/page/Welcome

100 years ago - 1920 a new school was opened, named the Anna Gibson school. It was dedicated to volunteers who fraught the influenza epidemic. The flu epidemic of 1918-1919 overwhelmed health care systems in an age where insurance and universal health care had not yet been invented. In this crisis stepped volunteers who put aside their own health, safety, and finances to aid the sick and dying. People like Anna Gibson, the daughter of lumber merchant T. Gibson of Winnipeg.... Anna was a teacher who taught at LaVerendry school. Anna was one of the first people to step up and volunteer to help the sick in Winnipeg. Unfortunately she contracted the flu and after a week of illness died on November 23, 1918 at the age of 21. She was buried in the Elmwood cemetery. A new school was built in 1920 and named the Anna Gibson School in honor of the teachers who volunteered during the flu pandemic. The school overtook the existing school called the Martin school built in 1904. It was named after Fighting Joe Martin, the Ontario native who, as a Manitoba MLA, introduced legislation in 1890 to make the school system an English only and protestant system angering French speakers and Catholics. The Anna Gibson school was used as a training centre in WWII and then sold to the Mennonite Brethren Church the new Mennonite Brethren Bible College begun in 1944. The Anna Gibson school was renamed after the school’s first president A.H. Unruh a driving force in the church community who was part founding three schools of higher learning. In 2000 the school joined Canadian Mennonite Bible College to become Canadian Mennonite University and relocated to 500 Shaftesbury Blvd. The red brick building was taken down around 2006. Thankfully not everything was tossed, but all that is left is an ornamental roof piece, a brick arch, and a stone bench on the north east corner of Talbot avenue and Route 42. An appropriate plaque should be added but which history should be told? Anna Gibson photo from The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 1918-11-25 (Page 1) . Photo of memorial arch by Conrad Stoesz May 2, 2020. Photo of A.H, Unruh building from Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Wpg

Christmas is coming and MHA is here to help with your stocking stuffers! Give the gift of a yearly subscription to the Mennonite Historian or the film Volendam: A Refugee Story. Place an order by emailing [email protected] or online at CommonWord.ca. Please note that shipped packages may take up to 3 weeks to arrive.

Join our friends at the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Abbotsford, BC for week 3 of TourMagination's "The Anabaptist Story Lives on: Virtual Museum & Archive Tour ROUND 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch Director Richard D. Thiessen will be telling the story of "The MCC and Fordson Tractor." It will be a good event!

Memorial Sunday is a time to remember loved ones who have gone before us. It is a ritual that can help the grieving journey. Let's also remember the lives that barely had a chance to start. This video was taken in the Coaldale Mennonite Cemetery (Coaldale, Alberta). A whole row of headstones marking the graves of infants. Memorial Sunday is often held on the last Sunday before the start of Advent. #memories #memorialsunday #totensonntag #coaldale #cemetery #mennonitehistory #mennoniteheritagearchives

We are currently closed to the public. Please contact staff by phone or email with any questions, concerns, or inquiries. Phone: 204-560-1998... Email: [email protected] See more

Check out our new video where archivist Conrad Stoesz reveals a secret code, the most important document, interviews a film producer, and talks about the importance of context. Don't forget to financially support your community archives.

Join archivist Conrad Stoesz of the Mennonite Heritage Archives as he kicks off Part 2 of "The Anabaptist Story Lives On: Virtual Museum & Archive Tour!" On November 3, at 7 PM CT. Free event via zoom, register here https://www.tourmagination.com/vtour-2/ #mennonitehistory #archives #mennoniteheritagearchives #storytelling