Tales from the Mennonite Heritage Archives

Episoder

• SUMMER REWIND:Aunt Ollie Part 1: Children’s Party 14.07.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail In 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 show Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram...
• SUMMER REWIND: The Mobility of Peter Dyck 06.07.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail In 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, 2025 Support the show Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or...
• The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes 29.06.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail If 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 News Years Cookies — or Portzelky — to a party, he needs to start cooking earlier in the day! You...
• Mennonites and Nationalism (Part 2) 22.06.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail In 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. Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram a...
• Mennonites and Nationalism (Part 1) 15.06.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail In 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! Your 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...
• Looking for Peter Hampton 08.06.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998. Find out more by visiting the Mennoni...
• Laureen Harder-Gissing on Family Secrets 01.06.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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. Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Archives...
• Adina Janzen 25.05.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 in dark places. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here o...
• Interview with Dr. Mark Jantzen (Part 2) 18.05.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, In Part 2, Dr. Jantzen reveals how Prussian rulers targeted Mennonite women, which eventually provoked a mass migration of Mennonites out of Prussia. Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.
• Interview with Dr. Mark Jantzen (Part 1) 11.05.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 living under a system with several power centres. Support the show Your donations help pres...
• Samuel McRoberts and his Paraguay photo collection 04.05.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 find out! Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 20...
• Laureen Harder Gissing and the Mennonite Archives of Ontario 27.04.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 – including records from non-European Mennonites, and documents dating as far back as 1520. You...
• Journey to Burns Lake 20.04.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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. Your 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/ Fo...
• Episode 70 with Andrew Unger 13.04.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 his ancestor Abram, whose nickname was “Lazy” Reimer. Your donations help preserve and share stori...
• Tragedy at Vanderhoof 06.04.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998. Find out more by visiting the...
• David Bergen, novelist 30.03.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 backdrops. He is the recipient of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his 2005 novel The Time in Bet...
• The Disappeared Beaver Lodge Mennonite Church 24.03.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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 reaction when a surprise visitor shows Doug church records containing names of his ancestors. Your...
• Elmer Hildebrand (Part 2) 16.03.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail In 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. Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Archives on Instagram and Facebook.
• Elmer Hildebrand (Part 1) 09.03.2026 14min

  Send us Fan Mail March 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 tiles to finish up the floor. Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a g...
• Meet historian Dr. Aileen Friesen (Part 2) 02.03.2026 15min

  Send us Fan Mail Today, 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. Your 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 Mennonite Heritage Arch...