COLUMN: Village News – Mennonite history across Canada

From Jan. 22 to Jan. 24, the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada (MHSC) met for their annual meetings in Winnipeg. Our museum, Mennonite Heritage Village, is privileged to be part of this organization, which includes six provincial Mennonite historical societies, five Mennonite church conferences, several post-secondary Mennonite institutes, a few archival groups and two Mennonite museums.

Together, these organizations promote the collecting and organizing of Mennonite stories and documents in Canada. They encourage research about various diverse topics that relate to Mennonite activities both historically and contemporarily. The society was begun in the 1960s to create a history of Mennonites in Canada book series, Mennonites in Canada. There are three volumes covering 1786 to 1920, 1920 to 1949, and 1939 to 1970, with a fourth volume currently being written to cover the years 1970 to 2000.

MHSC also contributes to online Mennonite content on the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) site, and it manages the Mennonite Archival Information Database (MAID), which stores digital photos of Mennonites and their activities. There are also ongoing genealogy projects and academic conferences that continue to promote research of people and topics relevant to Mennonites in Canada.

Mennonite Heritage Village has contributed directly to the work of this organization recently. In 2022, MHV produced a travelling exhibit called Leaving Canada: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico, which was displayed across Canada in dozens of communities. The year 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of Mennonites leaving Manitoba and Saskatchewan for Mexico and Paraguay. They left their established homes and farms because of new provincial laws requiring children to attend government schools even though the federal government had promised them the freedom to educate their children. The government enforced the new laws with fines, jail time, and confiscation of property.

Our museum also hosted a worship service as part of the 2023 Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour. This was a cross-country train tour to commemorate the 21,000 Mennonites who left the Soviet Union between 1923 and 1930 to settle in Canada.

There are many benefits to our participation in this national society. We are inspired by the accomplishments of other Mennonite organizations as they share their public event ideas and report on their progress in cataloguing donated items. Like the travelling exhibit that MHV created for display at other locations, we also benefit from the projects that others have completed, and we are given an opportunity to share their exhibits, books and films with our guests at Mennonite Heritage Village. We expect that the excellent work that was shared at the annual meetings will be brought to MHV in the coming months.

MHV connects with our local community on a daily basis, but it is important that we also meet with other Mennonite history institutions occasionally to share ideas and to be inspired to continue to tell stories that relate to Mennonites in southern Manitoba.

Upcoming events

Feb. 7 – 9:30 a.m to 12 p.m. – Writer’s Workshop – Join Erin Koop-Unger, MaryLou Driedger and Andrew Unger, on Saturday morning, Feb. 7, 9:30 a.m. to noon as MHV Village Books and Gifts presents our second in a series of writer’s workshops, called “Storied Places”.

Feb. 14 – 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. – Winter Carnival – Join MHV for our Winter Carnival! Enjoy a day filled with indoor and outdoor activities, a hot food canteen, and pioneer demonstrations & interpretation. Celebrate the winter season with classic Canadian activities like a bonfire, Crokicurl, skating, and snowshoeing!

For more information, visit www.mhv.ca.