MHSBC Future Events
Important MHSBC Events planned for 2026
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Message from Ben Nobbs-Thiessen Chair in Mennonite Studies & Co-director of CTMS (Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies at The University of Winnipeg)
Call for Papers: Long-Distance Relationships: Communication and the Mennonite Diaspora
CTMS invites submissions for our next conference, to be held at the University of Winnipeg on October 23 and 24, 2026. This year our conference will consider how Mennonites
(along with other Anabaptists) have met the persistent challenge of communication within an increasingly dispersed global community. Even as communication across
great distances was often difficult, the imperative to speak across borders became particularly pronounced when it was connected to prospects for new settlement
ventures, the extension of mutual aid during war and revolution, or the affective bonds between family members.
For the full Call for Papers, please visit our website.
From letter-writing to the printing of pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, and bulletins, to the use of rural party lines, cell phones and WhatsApp, radio, TV, email,
and social media, we invite conference applicants to propose papers that foreground the historical questions raised by the adoption of varied forms of
communications technology by Anabaptists over the last five hundred years. We also welcome a limited number of papers that may offer points of comparison by
considering how other migrant or faith-based communities have embraced, rejected, or employed these means of connection.
Please send individual paper or panel submissions to the Chair in Mennonite Studies by May 1, 2026, at b.nobbs-thiessen@uwinnipeg.ca. This should include a
short abstract of no more than 200 words and a CV.
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Messages from Ben Nobbs-Thiessen Chair in Mennonite Studies & Co-director of CTMS at the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies at The University of Winnipeg
Are you working on a Mennonite history project that needs financial support? Do you know someone who is? The Plett Foundation may be able to help!
Twice a year, the Plett Foundation awards grants to support research and publications. The next grant application deadline is March 15.
Research grants cover expenses like travel and accommodation for research trips. Publication grants may be used for the production of books, documentaries,
and exhibits. To qualify, projects must be related to the history of the Mennonites who migrated to Canada from Russia in the 1870s, their descendants,
or their ancestors.
For more information and to apply, visit our website.
Recent Grant Recipients:
Bruce Wiebe ($4,520) – For travel to Mexico to research Mennonite land purchases of 1921/1922 and to support the Gemeindearchive der Kolonie Manitoba, Mexico.
Abigail Carl-Klassen ($15,000) – For production, publication, and promotion of a book of vignettes drawn from her Rebels, Exiles, and Bridge Builders Oral History Project.
The Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society ($7,784) – For production and publication of the book Fürstenland: A Mennonite History, by Arnold Neufeldt-Fast.
Margaret Wiens ($1,500) – For research for the book Marsh Island, the history of a Mennonite family, by Margaret Wiens and Mary Wiens.
Pandora Press ($4,500) – For production and publication of three books in Pandora Press’s Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies series.
Chris Huebner ($4,443) – For travel to Amsterdam and two months’ accommodation in support of his “In the Book of Martyrs” research project.
Katherine Hill ($5,000) – For travel and accommodation for research and photography in Poland, Germany, Canada, the United States, and Mexico for her
book project “Lost and Living Pasts: Archives, Objects, and Images of Mennonite Belonging."
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I'm pleased to share that the video recordings of our recent conference, "Subjects, Settlers, Citizens: The 1870s Mennonites in Historical Context," are now
available on our YouTube channel.
The conference was a stimulating two days, with twenty-three excellent presentations, a keynote address by Elder
Dave Scott, and a premiere screening of
Where the Cottonwoods Grow.
(You won't find the film on our YouTube channel, but see the website of the
Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society for further screenings .)
It's always good to see and interact with the large community of interested individuals who
come out for our Mennonite studies events!
Next year's conference, titled "Global Mennonites and the Justice System since 1525: Martyrs, Perpetrators, Enforcers, and Advocates," will be held October 3 and 4, 2025.
Stay tuned for more information about this and other happenings at CTMS!
— Ben Nobbs-Thiessen
Chair in Mennonite Studies & co-director of CTMS
Revisit Our Conference Schedule: Conference Schedule.
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