Mennonite Historical Society

of British Columbia

List of Major Holdings

Special Collections

• John B. Toews library of historical materials

• Mennonite Central Committee of B.C. files

• Mennonites Church BC files

• M.B. Board of Church Extension files (B.C.)

Bible School files

• Periodicals: Mennonitsche Rundschau, Der Bote, M.B. Herald, The Mennonite, Zionsbote and various other Mennonite publications - past and present

• Photographs: Bible Schools, Conferences, also a large collection of enlarged photographs of Mennonites in Prussia, Russia, Canada, U.S.A., S. America, and Mexico, as well as many old original photographs

Oral histories (on tape)

• Yearbooks - conference yearbooks of both COM/BC and M.B. Conference of B.C., as well as School yearbooks

• Music - Mennonite musicians and groups in B.C. Cassettes, recordings and reel to reel recordings.

• Special Collections includes files on persons in ministry, constitutions and statements of faith, Selbtschutz, MHS of BC, Vancouver Maedchenheims, Clearbrook Golden Age Society. In addition we have a collection of Bibles and old books including devotional, catechisms, and songbooks.

Items of special interest to genealogists:
Over 100 family histories and genealogies

• 170 individual history files listed alphabetically by individual names

• Obituaries- 53 Obituaries collected by G.I. Peters and a large collection clipped from the Mennonitische Rundschau

• Family Registers of 249 families who reside in B.C.

• Peter J. Braun - Russian Mennonite Archive (Odessa) 1803-1920 microfilms - includes an 1835 Census of the Molotschna Colony

• St. Petersburg Archives on microfilms

• Zaporoshje Regional Archives - microfilms

• GRANDMA Volume II - Genealogical Resgistry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry - includes 267,864 names, 75,296 families. Maps of South Russia & Prussia. Ship List indexes 1892-1904

Reference books:

• Mennonite Historical Atlas by Schroeder/Huebert

• From Prussia to Russia - 300 years - by B.H. Unruh in German titled " Die niderlaeudisch - niederdeutschen Hintergruednde der mennonitischen Ostwouderungen in 16, 18. Aund 19. Jahrbundert."

• The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, (1789-1910) by Peter M. Friesen

• The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the Years 1763-1862 by Karl Stumpp

• Bergthal Gemeinde Buch - 1843-1876 - edited by John Dyck. Includes passenger lists, 1881 Federal Census Data and other information

• Reinlaender Gemeinde Buch - 1880-1903 - edited by John Dyck and William Harms

• 1880 Village Census of the Mennonite West.

• The Mennonite Encyclopaedia (4 volumes)

• Our library contains Mennonite History books, histories of specific Mennonite villages in Russia, biographies and other books of interest to the people with Mennonite Heritage.