Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives
Explore the history of Mennonites through materials found in the Mennonite Heritage Archives. Using interviews, objects, and documents, this podcast dives 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.
Episodes
C. C. Penner
Send us Fan MailBy the time C. C. Penner managed to get out of Soviet Russia in 1949, he’d lost track of his wife and family, and had to leave them behind. Eleven years later, he schemed a plan to meet Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, in New York City in 1960 to appeal for the reunification of his family. This is his story.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stori
David Toews
Send us Fan MailWe’re delighted to launch our fall season with the story of David Toews, one of the most influential Mennonite leaders in 20th century Canada. He became so well-known across the Prairies and in Ottawa, that Prime Minister William Lyon Mckenzie King invited Toews and his wife to dinner. Some called Toews the Mennonite Moses after the Hebrew prophet who led his people out of slavery
SUMMER REWIND: First Harvest in Canada 1876
Send us Fan MailFor our last rewind of Summer 2026, we bring you a special feature from Thanksgiving 2025! Mennonite history enthusiast Gerhard Ens first recorded this fictional account of the first harvest by Mennonites in Canada (1876) on audio tape in the Low German language. The story, told through the eyes of an impatient 10-year-old Henry, has now been translated into English and adapted for
SUMMER REWIND: The Disappeared Beaver Mennonite Church
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a story about the Beaverlodge Mennonite Church, a little known congregation that formed in the late 1920s and disappeared from the landscape of Peace River country in northern Alberta some 15-ish years later. Guest Doug Klassen, Executive Minister of the Mennonite Church Canada, shares about his little-known family connection to the church, and we capture his re
SUMMER REWIND: From Russia with Woe (Part 2)
Send us Fan Mail During Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered parts of his story with help from the Gulag History Museum of Repressions in Moscow. Mar
SUMMER REWIND: From Russia with Woe (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring back 'From Russia with Woe', part one of a two part series. During Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered par
SUMMER REWIND: Trapped in Icy Waters
Send us Fan MailToday in the rewind episode, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the chilly tale about a group of Mennonites whose ship became trapped in icy Lake Superior in the spring of 1876. A journey that was meant to take five days turned into a 15 day ordeal. They ran out of food, and almost out of coal to power the steam ship. Their story is pieced together from letters and journals of the tra
SUMMER REWIND: A Short History of House Barns with Roland Sawatsky
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring back 'A Short History of House Barns'! Join me and Roland Sawatsky, curator at the Manitoba Museum and past curator at the Mennonite Village Museum in Steinbach, as we reveal that a house barn is (!SPOILER ALERT!) “a barn connected to a house,” how far back we can trace the history of these structures, what a GANK is — and oh, so much more. While we might
SUMMER REWIND: Smallpox and the Mennonite Experience
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring back Episode 48, Smallpox and the Mennonite Experience. According to historians, the smallpox virus has been circulating among humans for about 3,000 years. In this episode, we unpack the involvement of Russian Empress Catherine the Great and her vaccine cause, and share Mennonite encounters with smallpox and vaccinations as they lived and travelled across Europe, R
SUMMER REWIND: Aunt Ollie Part 1: Children’s Party
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we take you back to the nostalgic days of Aunt Olly Penner, beloved radio personality and host of the show, Children’s Party. Olly Penner graced the microphones of CFAM for a 28-year long career.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 Archive
SUMMER REWIND: The Mobility of Peter Dyck
Send us Fan MailIn today’s episode, we learn about Peter P. Dyck. He was a familiar sight around Carman from the 1940’s to his death in 1970 – a man that refused to stay still despite the loss of his mobility after a tragic accident. While he spent much of his life in the hospital in Carman, Manitoba, his resilience and ingenuity were an inspiration to many.Original Air Date: January 19, 2025Suppo
The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes
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 N
Mennonites and Nationalism (Part 2)
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.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 H
Mennonites and Nationalism (Part 1)
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!Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or
Looking for Peter Hampton
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.Support the showYour donations help preserve
Laureen Harder-Gissing on Family Secrets
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. 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 M
Adina Janzen
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
Interview with Dr. Mark Jantzen (Part 2)
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.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 Mennon
Interview with Dr. Mark Jantzen (Part 1)
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 l
Samuel McRoberts and his Paraguay photo collection
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 fin
Laureen Harder Gissing and the Mennonite Archives of Ontario
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
Journey to Burns Lake
Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the story of a provincial government experiment to resettle a group of Manitoba Mennonites near Burns Lake, B.C. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hear about their journey to B.C., and the challenges they faced when they got there.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204
Episode 70 with Andrew Unger
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you an interview with author and satirist Andrew Unger about his book Once Removed. The novel’s main character, Timothy Heppner, is determined to preserve the heritage in his small Manitoba town, but is at odds with the town’s pro-development mayor. Andrew talks about how fiction and historical fact can work together, the place of humour in his story telling, and hi
Tragedy at Vanderhoof
Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck shares the tragic tale of a group of Mennonites who in 1918, moved from Manitoba to Vanderhoof, British Columbia. They had high hopes of owning land and establishing prosperous farms. For at least one family, their dreams were dashed. Listen to Tragedy at Vanderhoof to find out what happened to these unfortunate souls.Support the showYour donations help
David Bergen, novelist
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring your listeners an interview with nationally acclaimed writer David Bergen about his novel Away from the Dead, a fictional account of victims and their relationships during the historical events that led to the complex and multi-layered conflict of the Ukrainian revolution in the late 1910s. Bergen has written more than a dozen books, many of which feature Mennonite
The Disappeared Beaver Lodge Mennonite Church
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a story about the Beaverlodge Mennonite Church, a little known congregation that formed in the late 1920s and disappeared from the landscape of Peace River country in northern Alberta some 15-ish years later. Guest Doug Klassen, Executive Minister of the Mennonite Church Canada, shares about his little-known family connection to the church, and we capture his re
Elmer Hildebrand (Part 2)
Send us Fan MailIn part two of this two-part series, Elmer answers questions about his personal interest in Mennonite history, and how he came to move and restore an old house barn that now resides in the village of Neubergthal.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 Archive
Elmer Hildebrand (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailMarch 4 marks 69 years since Golden West Radio CEO Elmer Hildebrand first walked through the doors of the brand new CFAM radio station in Altona in 1957. We cover a lot of ground in this 2-part conversation. In Part 1, Elmer shares how Golden West Radio got its start. When he arrived at work for his first day, the building’s construction was still in progress, so he helped lay tile
Meet historian Dr. Aileen Friesen (Part 2)
Send us Fan MailToday, we carry on with our 2-part series featuring historian Dr. Aileen Friesen. In this episode, Aileen shares concerns about the endangered state of historical Mennonite documents in Ukrainian archives as the Russian invasion and war drags on.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 visit
Meet historian Dr. Aileen Friesen (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you part 1 of a 2-part series featuring an interview with Dr. Aileen Friesen. Aileen wears more hats than a Caps R Us store can hold. She is a professor, a published author, a researcher, editor of Preservings magazine, executive director of the D.F. Plett Foundation, and co-chair of the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies, to name just a few activities in wh
From Russia with Woe (Part 2)
Send us Fan MailDuring Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered parts of his story with help from the Gulag History Museum of Repressions in Moscow. Mari
From Russia with Woe (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you ‘From Russia with Woe’, part one of a two part series. During Stalin’s Reign of Terror the 1930s, Jacob Petrovich Janzen was one of many Mennonites swept up into forced labour camps called Special Settlements, and then the more severe form of the camps called the Gulag. More than 80 years later, his great-grandaughter, Maria Lotsmanova, discovered parts of his s
Trapped in Icy Waters
Send us Fan MailToday, guest host Sara Dyck brings you the chilly tale about a group of Mennonites whose ship became trapped in icy Lake Superior in the spring of 1876. A journey that was meant to take five days turned into a 15 day ordeal. They ran out of food, and almost out of coal to power the steam ship. Their story is pieced together from letters and journals of the travellers who did – even
The Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen (Part 2)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 2 of the Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen. In Part 2, we return to the story of Jacob Hoemsen, as he rejects his pacifist upbringing to serve in the controversial Mennonite Self Defence League to protect Mennonite colonists from various paramilitary groups during the War of Ukrainian Independence. Later, a close call with Soviet authorities for whom he
The Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 1 of The Life and Adventures of Jacob Hoemsen. In Part 1, Jacob Hoemsen was raised as a pacifist, pursued education in Germany, and completed his mandatory non-combatant role in the Russian government’s Forestry Service. During WWI, Jacob served as a medic, eventually joining the elite Flying Column at the battlefront.Support the showYour donations help pr
Anna Thiessen, Nurse and Midwife in Paraguay
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring listeners the story of Manitoba born and raised nurse and midwife, Anna Thiessen. For years, she was the only trained medical practitioner in Colonia Sommerfeld, Paraguay. Anna helped an estimated 1,000 mothers deliver their babies.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 vis
REWIND: The Brommtopp
Send us Fan MailIn this REWIND episode, host Dan Dyck explores the Mennonite holiday tradition called brommtopp, named for the strange musical instrument used, which can be translated as "rumbling top". This tradition was brought to Imperial Russia from Prussia, and continued in Manitoba into the 1950's. Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one!
First Christmas in Canada, 1926
Send us Fan MailToday, we have a nostalgic retelling in English of the story Christmas 1926 by beloved Low German story teller Gerhard Ens. Told through the eyes of 10-year-old Hauns, Gerhard imagines a fictional account of what it might have been like for Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union to celebrate their first Christmas in Canada. We are grateful for the extra time Golden West has grant
Festive Foods and Folkways from the Mennonite Tradition
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we bring you an episode with the excessively alliterative of Festive Foods and Folkways from the Mennonite Tradition. This instalment is based on a two-volume book series by Norma Jost Voth. She interviewed about 60 elder women who brought their Christmas traditions and celebrations from Russia to North America. Tune in to hear about Norma’s work, and listen to sho
Patrick Friesen, Menno Colony, Paraguay
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we’re delighted to bring you an interview with Patrick Friesen, a third generation Mennonite from Paraguay. His great-grandfather, C.F. Friesen, was one of the early leaders and teachers in Paraguay. Patrick shares about the historical migration from Manitoba, paints a picture of the Menno Colony today — and issues an invitation in English and Low German to visit h
The Cast-off Child
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a story that’s about as close to a Whodunnit Mystery as Mennonite history gets. It’s a story about a baby, a pig pen, and ongoing attempts to get rid of the child — even as he grows up. To learn more, tune in to Episode 53 of Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here
A Short History of House Barns with Roland Sawatsky
Send us Fan MailAfter a few consecutive episodes that leaned into some darker stories in Mennonite history, we’re pleased to bring you something on the lighter side.To air on Sunday, Nov. 30 we bring you… (drumroll )… A Short History of House Barns! Join me and Roland Sawatsky, curator at the Manitoba Museum and past curator at the Mennonite Village Museum in Steinbach, as we reveal that a house b
Who Was Nestor Makhno? (Part 3)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 3, the final instalment of our series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary leader during the civil uprisings of the late 1910s. In Part 3, Sean Patterson brings us insights into the role that wealth and ethnicity played in the movement named for Makhno, and draw some conclusions about what Mennonites today can and should take away from this
Who Was Nestor Makhno? (Part 2)
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you Part 2 of a 3-part series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary during the civil uprisings of the late 1910s. Part 2 focuses on the terrible Eichenfeld Massacre on Nov. 8, 1919, when well over 100 Mennonites were executed by Nestor Makhno's men. More Mennonites were murdered in surrounding villages. Did Nestor Makhno attend these events? Why
Who was Nestor Makhno? (Part 1)
Send us Fan MailToday, we start a three part series on Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary during the Ukrainian Revolution in the late 1910s. Makhno was reviled by some, and praised by others. He commanded 100,000 troupes, bands of whom pillaged Mennonite villages, executed Mennonite landowners, and raped and killed Mennonite women. The Makhno name still strikes horror in some Menno
Smallpox and the Mennonite Experience
Send us Fan MailToday, we we present you with the story of Smallpox and the Mennonite Experience. According to historians, the smallpox virus has been circulating among humans for about 3,000 years. In this episode, we unpack the involvement of Russian Empress Catherine the Great and her vaccine cause, and share Mennonite encounters with smallpox and vaccinations as they lived and travelled across
Andrew Unger Part 2
Send us Fan MailToday, we deliver Part 2 of our conversation with Mennonite author and satirist Andrew Unger, in which we ask how the Low German language influences satire, what makes satire funny – or not, and whether popular media has changed what Mennonite people find funny.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.Find o
Andrew Unger Part 1
Send us Fan MailToday we bring you Part 1 of a two-part chat with Andrew Unger. He is the author and creator of The Unger Review, a satirical web site that gently and humorously skewers Mennonite faith and culture. Andrew tells me how his sense of humour developed, the little known influence of satire on early Anabaptists, the benefits of laughing about Mennonite Tupperware, and how his humour is
First Harvest in Canada 1876
Send us Fan MailToday we bring you a special feature for Thanksgiving weekend!Mennonite history enthusiast Gerhard Ens first recorded this fictional account of the first harvest by Mennonites in Canada (1876) on audio tape in the Low German language. The story, told through the eyes of an impatient 10-year-old Henry, has now been translated into English and adapted for radio by the Tales team. We
Susana Miller
Send us Fan MailToday, we present the life story of the inspiring and resilient Susana Miller. Despite multiple family tragedies and hard times, Susana managed to rise above it all, and find joy in her 101 years of living.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 webs
Statistics and Scripture
Send us Fan MailToday, we bring you a 100-year-old story about a government tactic that was used as recently 2010. During World War I, the federal government ordered all Canadian citizens to register. They needed to know how many recruits they could rely on should the war drag on. Based on their principles and values, some Mennonites in southern Manitoba refused to register. Even threats of fines
Change and Mennonite Migration among Latin American Mennonites
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we bring you an interview with Ben Nobbs-Thiessen. He studies the history of Mennonite migration at the University of Winnipeg. We talk about his visits and research among Mennonites in Bolivia, what change looks like in that context, and what we in Canada can learn from Mennonite migrations to Latin America.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share st
Erin Koop Unger on Mennotoba
Send us Fan MailYou’ll want to tune in to this delightful conversation with Erin Koop Unger, who writes for the Mennotoba blog about local Mennonite and Manitoba history. We learn about a discovery she made while researching her own family background, and we find out how many wood ticks she gets while out exploring abandoned cemeteries.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories
Writer, Inventor, Farmer: The Story of Peter J. Klassen
Send us Fan MailPeter J. Klassen (1889-1953) was one of many educated Mennonites who migrated to Canada and took up farming out of necessity. After fleeing from the Soviet Union in 1925, him and his wife Elisabet (Liese), built a life on the prairies of Saskatchewan near the community of Herschel. They eventually retired to Yarrow, British Columbia. Throughout his life, he read and wrote extensive
SUMMER REWIND: Tales of Land and Water: Indigenous-Mennonite Relations on the West Reserve
Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down to discuss the research of PhD student Jonathan Hildebrand. Jonathan is exploring Indigenous-Mennonite relations through his research of land and waterways on the historical West Reserve in southern Manitoba. He is based at the University of Manitoba and is originally from Altona, Manitoba. Previously he worked for nearly a decade as an urban planner in the
SUMMER REWIND: The Steinbach Pietenpol Airplane
Send us Fan MailIn our second part on Steinbach engineer Klaas W. Brandt, we learn about how he helped two budding entrepreneurs and pilots build Steinbach’s first airplane in the early 1930s. 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.
SUMMER REWIND: Flower Annie
Send us Fan MailMany small communities have a person that everyone knows, who doesn't quite fit the standard mold, but has become a part of the fabric of the place. In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores the story of 'Flower Annie' of Winkler, Manitoba. 'Flower Annie' was born Anna Neufeld in 1909 and earned her nickname and living by selling paper flowers around town. De
SUMMER REWIND - Prosperity Ever – Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s
Send us Fan MailSummer Rewind - Author Ralph Friesen sits down with Dan Dyck to discuss his recently published book Prosperity Ever – Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s. Published by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, this book looks at the history of this community, primarily Mennonite, and how it weathered the Great Depression better than other communities in Manitoba at the time.Y
SUMMER REWIND - An Introduction to the Mennonite Heritage Archives
Send us Fan MailSummer Rewind - In today's episode, host Dan Dyck sits down with archivist of the Mennonite Heritage Archives Conrad Stoesz to discuss their mutual love of Mennonite history, where the Mennonite Heritage Archives originated, and what archives can offer us today.Support the showYour donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.F
North End Girls: Anna Thiessen and the Mary Martha Home
Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck presents the life story of Anna Thiessen (1892-1977). While Anna had dreamt of working in India, her life would lead her to Winnipeg. Here she provided support to young women entering the workforce as matron of Mary Martha Home. This was a place for Mennonite girls to live and build community while they supported their far-flung families through work as domestic help.
The Art of Marta Goertzen-Armin
Send us Fan Mail Host Dan Dyck presents the life of artist Marta Armin (born Goertzen, 1923-2009). Marta was born into a large family in the village of Chortitz, Manitoba. Her creativity was noted throughout her life, but following a series of major shifts starting at 60, her artistic life bloomed. Part of this growth included a series of works reminiscing on her childhood in southern Manitoba - 6
Identity, GLAM, and Post-Its*
Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck chats with Mennonite Heritage Archive (MHA) administrator Graeme Unrau about his work in the world of GLAM*, Mennonite identity and the stories we tell about ourselves. Graeme also highlights some of his favourite collections at the MHA and the inspiration he has found in the people he meets and works with at the archives.*GLAM is an acronym for galleries, libraries,
A Conversation with Author David Elias
Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down with author David Elias. David discusses ancestor and noted Mennonite diarist Peter A. Elias, growing up in southern Manitoba, and his upcoming book Into the d/Ark. Peter wrote extensively and honestly about pioneering in Manitoba, and his personal struggles with the church after arriving in Canada in the early 1870s.This interview was recorded while David w
Homecoming: 150 Years of Chortitz
Send us Fan MailChortitz is a village in Southern Manitoba that traces its beginnings back 150 years to the arrival of Mennonites on the 'East Reserve' in 1874. Host Dan Dyck sits down with local Abe Penner, whose family has roots there going back to 1903, and Jason Janzen, anniversary organizer, to discuss the Mennonite presence in the area and how they plan to celebrate their 150th ann
Homecoming: 150 Years of Reinland-Rosengart
Send us Fan MailJoin host Dan Dyck as he sits down with Lyle Thiessen to learn more about the history of the Reinland - Rosengart area of southern Manitoba and their upcoming 150th anniversary celebration. 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://ww
Maria Kroeker Neufeld: Letters Across a Divide
Send us Fan Mail In 1926, Maria Kroeker Neufeld (1870-1950) and her husband Johann Neufeld (1869-1950), along with three of her seven children, were part of a group of Mennonites that moved from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Paraguay. Prompted by a desire for greater autonomy from provincial education legislation and fears of integration, their story is one of a family divided by continents and con
Tales of Land and Water: Indigenous-Mennonite Relations on the West Reserve
Send us Fan MailHost Dan Dyck sits down to discuss the research of PhD student Jonathan Hildebrand. Jonathan is exploring Indigenous-Mennonite relations through his research of land and waterways on the historical West Reserve in southern Manitoba. He is based at the University of Manitoba and is originally from Altona, Manitoba. Previously he worked for nearly a decade as an urban planner in the
Isaiah Letkeman: The Mennonite Game - Celebrity Edition
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, host Dan Dyck continues his exploration of the folks that work at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (MHA). He previously spoke with Conrad and Sara about their work the the MHA, and today you’re going to hear from Isaiah, archival assistant at the MHA. Isaiah is in the business program at Canadian Mennonite University. Studying accounting while working at a historica
Murder in Old Altona: Part 2
Send us Fan MailIn our previous episode, host Dan Dyck tried to understand why Heinrich J. Toews would have committed the violent acts that ended in the death of a student and, ultimately, his own death months later. In this episode, Dan sits down with Ken Loewen, the grandson of shooting survivor Susanna Loewen (Rempel), and keeper of a grim memento that has been passed down in the family. Throug
Murder in Old Altona: Part 1
Send us Fan MailHow does a teacher that professes to care for his students and profession become the perpetrator of a school shooting? In this episode, Dan Dyck presents the first of two episodes on the Altona school shooting of 1902 that ultimately claimed the life of one student and the perpetrator Heinrich J. Toews. In it, we learn about the shooting itself, as well as the life and state of min
Helena F. Reimer: Nurse, Administrator, Adventurer
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, host Dan Dyck gives us a glimpse at the incredible life and service of Helen Friesen Reimer (1905-1993). Helen started her professional life as a rural school teacher, where seeing the need, she was inspired to become a nurse. This was the start of an adventurous life that would see her take roles in nursing and medical administration around the world, working for
Sara Dyck: Problems from the Past
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, host Dan Dyck continues a conversation with Sara Dyck that was started a few episodes back with the episode on Dr. Helen Martens, the first known Mennonite woman with a PhD. Sara discusses what pulled her to working at the archives, what she finds rewarding, and what the archives did when they became the unexpected recipients of 300 Amish romance novels.Support the
Mennonite Circle Games
Send us Fan MailMennonites don't dance, or do they? Can a dance by any other name still be as fun? In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores Mennonite "circle games" with the help of Werner Ens, someone who has devoted a lot of time to recording and researching these traditions, as well as ethnomusicologists Doreen Klassen and Judith Klassen. Circle games were once a popular social ac
Behind the Scenes at the Mennonite Heritage Archives
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, host Dan Dyck is taken on a tour through the Mennonite Heritage Archives with archivist Conrad Stoesz to learn more about the day to day operations at the archives. Conrad also share some stories about the materials at the archives, how they came to be there, and some of the interesting ways that they have been accessed over time. Support the showYour donations hel
The Jacob Klaassen Diaries
Send us Fan MailToday, host Dan Dyck shines the Tales spotlight on Jacob Klaassen and his journals about life on the Canadian prairies from 1919 to 1947. Jake took a circuitous route to Saskatchewan, travelling via Central Asia and the United States, before arriving in Canada in 1918 from Oklahoma. Dan talked with two of Klaassen's great granddaughters, sisters Carole and Marjorie Jantzen, fo
Dr. Helen Martens: A Woman of Music
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Dan sits down with Sara, a history student and archives employee, to discuss Dr. Helen Martens, the first known Mennonite woman to achieve a PhD in Music. Sara spent considerable time organizing the Helen Martens collection and is well acquainted with Dr. Martens through her materials at the archives. Helen Martens was born in 1928, in Russia and travelled with he
The Lasting Impact of the Trek to Central Asia
Send us Fan MailIn our previous episode, host Dan Dyck shared the story of the Mennonite trek to Central Asia that took place in the early 1880s. Researching and writing that for story raised many questions. In today's episode, Dan sits down with a Mennonite historian John Sharp. John has spent a lot of time in Central Asia exploring the Mennonite presence there, and he helps dig deeper into
The Trek to Central Asia
Send us Fan MailIn the early 1880s, hundreds of Mennonites trekked from Russia to Central Asia. It was a grueling, 3000-kilometre journey. Until recently, the spotlight of this story focused on Claas Epp Jr. as the leader of the quest. In this episode, host Dan Dyck explores history of Claas Epp Jr., the colourful and complicated motivations for the migration, and what happened in the aftermath of
Abraham B. Hiebert, Medicine by Correspondence
Send us Fan MailIn Episode 17 we learned about the actions against Katharina Thiessen by the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons. Today's subject was another recipient of those fines. Abraham B. Hiebert was a man who practiced medicine by correspondence. Through letters and packages, Abraham diagnosed, and offered treatments to his patients. In today's episode, host Dan Dyck expl
Johannes Klaassen: The Cost of Conscience
Send us Fan MailJohannes Klaassen, or John as we’ll call him in today’s story, firmly stood with his conscience and he paid for that decision with his life. In this episode, host Dan Dyck tells the story of John, a conscientious objector from Oklahoma that died in prison after refusing to don a military uniform. Here is his story, as told through the diary of his father, Michael Klaassen. Support
