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Bearing witness: Martyr Story of Anna Jansz
Anna Jansz was born in 1510 to a well-to-do family living in the town of Briel on the island of Putten near the North Sea coastline of South Holland. Following her marriage to Arent Jansz, she and her husband accepted baptism in 1534 from Maynaart von Emden, a Münsterite Anabaptist leader who had been sent…
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Floored by historic beauty
On November 8, the “Resurfacing: Mennonite Floor Patterns” exhibit launched at the Conrad Grebel University College Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario. Guests engaged with Margruite Krahn (pictured), the Neubergthal, Manitoba, artist whose natural, hand-cut stencils showcase historic Mennonite floor patterns. Margruite’s passion for this art form began unexpectedly while renovating her historic “house barn” home, where…
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WWII Alternative service camp
These men visited an alternative service camp in 1942. From left: D.P. Reimer (EMC, Steinbach), Jacob F. Barkman (Holdeman minister, Manitoba), David Schulz (Bergthaler bishop, Manitoba) and George DeFehr (Holdeman minister, Alberta). During WWII, Schulz supported men applying for conscientious objector status, advocating for those whose applications were denied. When the workload was too much,…
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Wanner Mennonite Church
This photograph shows Wanner Mennonite Church at worship in July 1950. In the mid-20th century, it was a new pattern for many Ontario Mennonite congregations to have men and women sitting together in a worship service rather than men on one side and women on the other. What is your congregation’s “social geography?” Who sits…
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David Klassen
David Klassen of Rosenfeld, Manitoba, age 83, poses for an informal portrait at a family reunion. The photo is from a 1955 article in The Canadian Mennonite, which frequently published articles about family reunions and wedding anniversaries as matters of wider interest to the Mennonite community. The articles contained such details as the family’s history…
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The founding of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada
This photo depicts the founding of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada in 1902 at Tiefengrund, Sask. The men in this photo include (back row, l to r): David Epp, Laird, Sask.; Johann Dueck, Eigenheim, Sask; Heinrich Warkentin, Laird, Sask.; David Toews, Eigenheim, Sask.; Gerhard Epp, Eigenheim, Sask.; (front row, l to r): Benjamin Ewert,…
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A blended family
In December 1924, this family was starting a new life in more ways than one. Katharina (Enns Rempel) and Jacob P. Braun, both widowed, separately emigrated from the Soviet Union to Ontario. A few weeks after their arrival, they were married in the Waterloo region. Here the newly blended family prepares to move from the…
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Art gallery nurtures connections with the past
An art gallery lines the hallway between the sanctuary and the auditorium of the Niagara United Mennonite Church near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The art hanging there reminds viewers of God’s guidance through difficult times, including separation, loss and escape. When the Russlaender centenary train trip stopped in Ontario in early July, about half of the participants…
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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…