
Hosted by Mennonite Heritage Archives · EN
Explore the history of Mennonites through materials found in the Mennonite Heritage Archives. Using interviews, object, and documents, this podcast will dive into stories inspiring, tragic, strange, and beautiful. As varied as the lives of the people and organizations whose materials are housed in the Mennonite Heritage Archives, this weekly podcast aims to educate and inspire greater interest in Mennonite history.

Send us Fan MailIf The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes were a person, it would be eligible for Old Age Security this year. Not bad for a book whose roots date back to a group of women who volunteered to feed 3,000 people attending a church conference in Steinbach over 65 years ago. Guest host Sara Dyck brings you the history of the book, and archivist Conrad Stoesz learns that if he wants to bring News Years Cookies — or Portzelky — to a party, he needs to start cooking earlier in the day!Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn Part 2, Mark Jantzen unpacks major historical events that influenced the Mennonite view of patriotism and nationalism, and the role that faith played in their understanding of how to relate to the state and the state church.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailIn Part 1, guest Dr. Mark Jantzen of Bethel College in Kansas shares what he’s learned about the history of Mennonite’s and their various understandings of national identity. Is it language, homeland, culture, ethnic background, or something else that they claim? Listen in and find out!Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, join host Sara Dyck as she shares the story of researcher and writer Helene Warkentin’s quest to learn about Peter Hampton. Born Peter Paetkau in Russia, Hampton spent his younger years in Grunthal, Manitoba, eventually ending up in Ohio. Though he changed his surname, interest in his Mennonite story stayed with him for a lifetime.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we have an interview with Laureen Harder-Gissing from the Mennonite Archives of Ontario. Laureen has studied family secrets, their connection to church life and family genealogies, and how secrets are handled at a public archive. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the compelling life story of Adina Janzen, who survived the dark Soviet era in Russia. In 1934, her father was taken by Soviet authorities. They instantly lost the family breadwinner. At one point, a starving Adina turned to eating chalk! Her story is a heartrending yet hope-laden tale of living on three different continents and finding light in dark places.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, In Part 2, Dr. Jantzen reveals how Prussian rulers targeted Mennonite women, which eventually provoked a mass migration of Mennonites out of Prussia.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you an interview with Bethel College professor Dr. Mark Jantzen, who studies the little known history of Mennonites who lived in Prussia from the 1530s to the late 1700s. In this episode, we learn that Mennonites lived in mixed villages instead of colonies, like they later did, how they acquired land in the vast region of Prussia, and the political complexities of living under a system with several power centres.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you the story of Samuel McRoberts, the American lawyer and banker whose deeply religious wife Harriet persuaded McRoberts to negotiate and facilitate a mass re-settlement of Canadian Mennonites to Paraguay in the 1920s. Did the hymns the Mennonite delegation sang for the McRoberts play a role in Samuel’s decision to help the Mennonites? You’ll have to tune in to find out!Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.

Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a conversation with archivist Laureen Harder Gissing. When Laureen was 13 years old, her grandmother gifted her with a cheque for $13.00. That gift inspired a life long interest in her family’s history, and the bigger picture of Mennonite history. Today Laureen is the archivist at the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, which holds collections from all over the world – including records from non-European Mennonites, and documents dating as far back as 1520.Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find out more by visiting the Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/ Follow the Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.