InMagic

After participating in a three day workshop with the BC archives adviser as the director in November of 2005, eight volunteers embarked on a monumental assignment that likely would take a minimum of five years to complete. This huge task was to bring the holdings of our MHS archives up to the standards set out by the Canadian Council of Archives.

The first step in this undertaking was to formalize a gift agreement and secure ownership of all donated materials. All items were then accessioned and given a sequential number reflecting the year when they were donated.

The next step was to separate archival from non-archival materials. Archival materials, such as textual records, are grouped basically into institutions, societies and personal papers. Published items, such as books and periodicals, classified as non-archival materials were separated from textual materials and housed elsewhere.

Newspaper clippings were photocopied and added to the biographical and subject divisions in our vertical files.

We began the process of appraising, arranging and describing our fonds (records) starting with our church and school records. This is very labour intensive work, so we have added seven new volunteers to the original eight that we started with. The records are arranged chronologically into series such as minutes, correspondence, reports, financial records etc. This description will make it possible to access the information after it has been entered into our InMagic software.

In our institution division, we have completed almost all of our churches and schools. The two large church conferences are being arranged and described this year. In our societies group, we have begun the Mennonite Historical Society fonds, the Golden Age Society fonds and the MCC fonds. The MCC records consist of 50 boxes and will take a number of years to complete. In the personal papers or manuscript group, we have begun P. R.Toews fonds and the G. I. Peters papers.

Approximately 400 photographs have been arranged and described according to the new standard and are ready to be entered into the InMagic program.

Erica Suderman

Friends of the Mennonite Center

The Mennonite Centre in Ukraine is a former Mennonite girls school located in the village of Molochansk - formerly known as Halbstadt. This school, built at the turn of the last century, was restored in 2001 and now serves as a place where the hopes and dreams of Ukrainians meet the generosity of North American Mennonites. Seniors come to this Centre twice a week for lunch, medical clinics are held here twice a week, the Kutuzovka Mennonite Church has Bible Study and children's programs at the Centre, children from the neighbouring kindergarten classes come to learn computer skills, and people in financial, medical and emotional need come to visit and seek assistance. The Centre serves as a beacon of hope for the community and a reminder of the contributions of Mennonites to Southern Ukraine.

The Mennonite Historical Society has been supportive of the ongoing work in keeping the Mennonite story in Ukraine alive. Articles from Ukraine are published in our newsletter and funds are provided for archival research. Volunteers in our Abbotsford office file and catalogue documents from Ukraine, and banquet speakers remind BC Mennonites of the lives of their parents and grandparents in Southern Russia. Our work as a historical society and the work at the Mennonite Centre compliment each other, and together we can continue to keep the vision and prayers of our parents alive. This writer, his wife, and many others have spent the last two summers as volunteers at the Center and have been richly blessed by the experience.

Ben Stobbe