Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

Digitized Online Resources - Now, Full-length Books

There are several kinds of ways that one can place information about rich data resources (essentially what archivists call "finding aids") online. 

• Indexes are the quickest approach.  For genealogists, indexes that include surnames are critical.  When they have additional details such as birth or death date, geographic location of birth and death, names of spouse, children or parents - all make them increasingly useful.  cemetery indexes are a good example. 
  
  With the index that includes an individual of interest, it's just a matter of tracking down the document that is being indexed - to get the richness that can be so helpful.
  
  See MHSA's Name Index to B. H. Unruh's book, Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert.
  
• Transcriptions are much more work and tend to eliminate the need for genealogists to track down the original document.  Transcriptions are distinguished from indexes in that they capture much more - if not all - of the content of a document.
  
  See MHSA's transcription of Peter Riediger's 1872 immigration to Canada journal entries.
  
• Extractions, in fact, are much more common.  These are more than indexes and less than transcriptions.  They are the transciption of limited content from an original document - the genealogical-relevant contents from the are accounts
  
  An example of this can be found on MHSA's website for Children Vaccinated Against Smallpox, Chortitza Colony in South Russia, 1809.
• Digitized Books - In recent years, there are more and more genealogically-rich projects of a fourth approach - the digitized book.  Not only are the scanned and placed online, sometimes they are fully searchable.
  
  The most important for my own research has been Peter D. Zacharias' 1976 local history for Reinland, Manitoba. Reinland: An Experience in Community. But, there are many many such books online.  Increasingly there are ones with content relevant to Mennonite family history.
• Others just recently found online are:
  
  Gerbrandt, Henry J. (1970). Adventure in Faith: the Background in Europe and the Development in Canada of the Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Manitoba. Altona, MB: DW Friesen & Sons.
  
  Derksen, Seymor A. (1980). My Father's House. Langham, SK: Author.
  
  Epp-Tiessen, Esther. (n.d.). Altona: The Story of a Prairie Town. Altona, MB: DW Friesen & Sons.
  
  Friesen, Rhinehart, Friesen. (1988). A Mennonite Odyssey. Winnipeg: Hyperion Press, 1988.
  
  Zacharias, Peter D. (1976). Reinland: An Experience in Community. Winkler, MB: Reinland Centennial Committee.

For links to all of these kinds of projects for your research, see the Mennonite Genealogical Data Index for links to projects being placed online from all over.  MHSA's own work in this area can be found as linksfrom our MHSA Projects page.

In kinship,
Judii

How can an Archives help you?

This is a quick posting -- too many long winded ones from me until now!

Visit a great introduction to archives (turn on your speakers and sit back to watch) prepared by the Alberta Archives Society.

In kinship,
Judii 

MHSA Annual General Meeting

Yeah, I know.  Meetings aren't your "thing".

But, without attending the MHSA AGM (complete details) on May 4-5 in Edmonton, you won't have a chance to visit with your travelling Mennonite history friends, you won't have an opportunity to help set the direction of the organization, and won't have the ability to put your two bits' worth of opinion into the budget size and composition.

And of course, there are the associated workshop sessions. And the book (Bergthal Gemeinde Buch, Hard Passages, etc.) and CD (GRANDMA, Low German, etc.) buying opportunities.

Workshop Session 1 - DNA for Genealogy

This year, Glenn Penner, professor of chemistry at University of Guelph will be giving our keynote presentation on Friday night - about the Mennonite DNA Project that he helped to establish.  If you ever wanted to know what DNA analysis is all about for genealogy, this is your opportunity to ask questions.  It will also be an opportunity to participate since he'll be bringing swab test kits with him.

Workshop Session 2 - West Prussian Mennonite Genealogical Sources

On Saturday afternoon, Glenn Penner will be giving a talk about some of the earliest souces for Mennonite genealogical work - West Prussian sources

Workshop Session 3 - GRANDMA & Brothers' Keeper
I'll also be giving a talk on Saturday afternoon on the use of GRANDMA, specifically how you can get the most out of it when you use Brothers' Keeper software to examine the data.  Bring your confusion, your questions and your challenges.

MHSA Budget

For starters, here are pie charts of our revenue and expenses for 2006 (click on the thumbnail to see a larger/clearer version):

Our projected revenue for 2007 is $9,300 with the vast majority of it coming from donations.  Book sales will help, but we will have the book publishing costs in 2007, so the real rewards from that will be likely be found in 2008.

Our projected expenses for 2007 are for $18,515 with the largest expenditures for equipment (we need one or two new computers and additional shelving), and Rent/Insurance/Utilities.

Hope you can join us - location and times are found at (MHSA AGM).

In kinship,
Judii

Canadian Board of Colonization Records

The Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization index on the MHSA website is new and improved - after a GREAT DEAL of work by Al Rempel and myself.

The last version had many typos in it and hundreds of of missing household heads.  So if you looked and could not find someone, this is the time to look again. 

Because of increasing concerns with protecting privacy and minimizing the risk of identity theft, we have removed the record images from the website.  But, this doesn't inhibit us from making individual records available to specific researchers.

Because we have spent so much time organizing not only the index but the images as well, and it takes time to retrieve them - the board has given us direction to collect a $10 search fee for every successful record that we find and deliver by e-mail attachment. 

If you come to the MHSA and do your own searching (we'll give you tips), there will only be photocopying charges (.25/sheet).

Now - if you're still stymied by the index.  You just KNOW your family arrived in Canada between 1923-30, we have other indexing tools that are still in development that allow me to dig deeper than the online index.  Let me know who you're looking for and we may be able to find that wife, daughter, son, or great grand uncle who came with an unknown household head. 

In kinship,
Judii