Anna Thiessen, Winnipeg missionary

A Moment from Yesterday

September 9, 2015 | Viewpoints | Volume 19 Issue 18
Conrad Stoesz | Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies
<p>Photo from Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies/Mennonite Archival Image Database</p>

Missionary to the city of Winnipeg, Anna Thiessen, is seated with some girls she worked with in 1919. Rural life has been an important part of Mennonite life and self-understanding. The city was seen as dangerous and unhealthy and therefore shunned. Mennonite Brethren missionary Anna Thiessen was one of the first Canadian Mennonites who chose to work in the city, beginning in 1915. She helped form a church community that eventually saw a large influx of Mennonites into cities such as Winnipeg. Between 1930 and 1970, half the Canadian rural population migrated into towns and cities. Mennonites were one group that stayed on the farm the longest.

For more historical photos in the Mennonite Archival Image Database (MAID), see https://archives.mhsc.ca/

Photo from Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies/Mennonite Archival Image Database

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