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David K. Jantzi
David K. Jantzi came from an Old Order Amish family. He felt obligated to become a conscientious objector during the Second World War because “the church required it.” In his second year of alternative service, his personal attitude changed, as he realized that “non-resistance is much deeper than not going to war.” A cabinet maker…
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Gift for the Queen
Fifty years ago, in June 1973, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Waterloo region. What gift could she be given to represent the area? These two bronze figures of an Old Order couple by Waterloo artist Renie Ellis were chosen. At the time, Mennonites constituted about 10 percent of the area’s population. For more historical photos…
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Peter J. Dyck
Peter J. Dyck was recognized with an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo on Oct. 18, 1974. Dyck was born in 1914 and immigrated with his family to a farm near Laird, Saskatchewan, in 1927. During World War II, he and his wife, Elfrieda were part of the MCC work in Europe helping refugees…
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Bernhard Schellenberg
In 2023, the Mennonite Heritage Archives celebrates 90 years of service to the Mennonite community. It can trace its roots to the Conference of Mennonites in Canada’s annual sessions held June 26-28, 1933, in Gnadenthal (near Plum Coulee, Man.), when Bernhard Schellenberg (1879-1966) was appointed archivist. Schellenberg advocated for the creation of the archive, citing…
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Henry Gerbrandt, missionary to Mexico
Henry Gerbrandt (far right) in Mexico ca. 1947. Henry and Susan Gerbrandt began their mission work with the fledgling Mennonite Pioneer Mission, arriving in northern Mexico on Dec. 21, 1945. Because money was scarce, their first Christmas dinner was macaroni and salt. The work was very trying. Not only did they have to build a…
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Pauingassi Trading Post
This picture is of the Pauingassi Trading Post, located 276 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and 16 km from the Manitoba and Ontario border. Mission worker Henry Neufeld brought a request from community elders for a store focused on community well-being, as well as economic viability to the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, and a partnership…
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CMC Yearbooks
The Konferenz der Mennoniten in Canada—now Mennonite Church Canada—was formed in 1902. In 1928, the conference started publishing an official Jahrbuch (yearbook) which documented proceedings and decisions at the annual gatherings. Starting in 1946, an increasing an amount of Jahrbuch content appeared in English, rather than German. In 1965, the Jahrbuch become the Yearbook, though…
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Kazakhstan
There is a lot to take in on this photomontage of the Mennonite Brethren Church Choir from Badamsha, Kazakhstan—in Soviet parlance, a “closed city”—in 1971. Individual portraits of choir members, identified by first initial and last name, are grouped around an image of a modest building, presumably the “prayer house,” they had just received permission…
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Zollikon church
For a few brief months in spring 1525, the first Anabaptist congregation flickered to life in this house in Zollikon, a village on the edge of Zurich, Switzerland. According to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, the group attempted to become a “free church,” administering communion, preaching, discipline and baptism on their own without reliance…
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Vernon Ratzlaff in Eqypt
Vern Ratzlaff, centre, worked much of his life within Mennonite institutions in western Canada and internationally, serving as a church pastor, Bible school teacher and radio preacher. From 1982 to 1987, Vern and his wife Helen served as Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) country representatives in Egypt. Bishop Athanasios of the Beni Suef diocese, second from…
