125^th Manitoba Mennonite Anniversary

West Reserve 125th Anniversary Plans

Communities on the former West Reserve of southern Manitoba are now going into high gear on anniversary planning for the year 2000. Hoeppner, Bergen and Wiebe family clans have already made reunion plans for the summer at Steinbach (also Waldheim village?), Gretna, and Otterburne respectively. Neubergthal has placed a community reunion for July 1 on the calendar. Altona and Winkler have both created new heritage societies, and Plum Coulee has recently upgraded its museum. The village of Chortitz celebrated this July, and Reinland placed a new heritage plaque in the village - more about that later.

But there will be even more, it seems. A group of eighteen community reps of the area met at the Winkler Senior Centre in Winkler on October 27 to discern what 'more' might mean. It was noted early on that a special anniversary photo exhibit was scheduled to open on 12 November 1999 (see report below), and that both Plum Coulee and Winkler were looking at centennial celebrations a few years down the road.

The group felt excitement about the idea of doing a "landing reenactment" recalling the first Mennonites coming an July 14,1875 - like the Forks celebration this past summer on August 1.Two other ideas which emerged fairly quickly were a) the publication of a West Reserve historical info insert in local papers which would be similar to the one done an July 24 in the Winnipeg Free Press, b) erecting a memorial for the late Ältester Johann Wiebe of the [former] Reinländer Mennonitengemeinde - to be placed perhaps in Rosengart or Reinland village, both intimately connected with Wiebe's life and work.

A report from the Historic Sites and Monuments Committee suggested that series of other projects were already in the planning stages under that umbrella. Striking a new "central"committee did not sees like a priority for this group. A centralized web page for setting up running calendar of events was proposed, however. All persons present at the meeting will receive minutes, and another meeting is to be called when deemed necessary.

Mennonite art show "kicks off"

by Elmer Heinrichs

An exhibition titled "A Celebration of Mennonite Art", hosted by the Pembina Hills Arts Council was opened Friday, November 12 at the Pembina Hills Gift Shop and Gallery.

This year marked the 125th anniversary of the arrival of Mennonites in Manitoba. The exhibition, in Morden, from Nov. 5 to 27, showcases a variety of different art forms spanning one and a quarter centuries of creativity by Mennonites who settled in the region. On display are photos, toys, quilts, embroidery, painting, furniture and more. The exhibit on show now features early scenes from life in the West Reserve, a photo collection from Mennonite Heritage Centre, as well as special aspects of two communities, Reinland and Neubergthal.

Special credit for the Reinland photographs was given to Henry G. Ens, retired teacher and an active photographer. Frieda Esau Klippenstein as well as Otto Hamm, and Jake Hamm were thanked for making the Neubergthal photos available for the exhibit.

The Neubergthal photos have an interesting history. Capturing images of early life in Neubergthal was both business and hobby of one of the villagers, Peter Gerhard Hamm, 1883-1965, whose father Gerhard was one of the village founders in the 1870s. Between his main livelihood - first as a village school teacher, then as a farmer - Peter carried on most of his photography from the turn of the century to the 1930s. Some 460 of Mr. Hamm's photographs, in the form of glass and film negatives, have recently been recovered from a long, undisturbed storage in the barn of Peter's son, Jake. Ten of these images are portrayed here. Portraits, weddings, funerals and family gatherings are well represented in the P.G. Hamm collection, but the images also give a glimpse of the less formal events - the unposed work and play of daily village life.

1874 Revisited Symposium

To commemorate again the 125^th anniversary of the first arrival of Russian Mennonites in Manitoba, the Society and the Chair for Mennonite Studies, University of Winnipeg, sponsored a symposium on 1 & 2 October 1999. The purpose was to have various subjects covered of different aspects of the immigration and its effect to this day.

The keynote address on Friday evening was given by Dr. John Warkentin, a retired geographer from York University, Toronto. He discussed the geographic setting of the Mennonites in Manitoba and how it had changed in the last 125 years. This included the progress in historiography among historians of this time period.

Many different subjects were covered on Saturday. Dr. Lawrence Klippenstein discussed the history of the Mennonites in Russia and the reasons for their emigration. Delbert Plett, Q.C., discussed the history of the Mennonites here in Manitoba and the economic influences they have had over more than a century.

The culture of Mennonites has changed a great deal in Manitoba. Dr. Wes Berg illustrated the changes in music with samples of styles of hymns and other type of music. Dr. Jack Thiessen illustrated the changes in language. He especially highlighted the development of the Low German dialect peculiar to Mennonites in their isolated communities.

Esther Epp-Thiessen looked at the 1870s migration through the eyes of five women as portrayed in their diaries and memoirs. Their words showed how hard they worked without sharing equally in the partnership.

Jake Peters gave some detailed accounts of the coming of the Fürstenland Colony people to Manitoba and how they had changed here. Frieda Klippenstein gave an illustrated account of a collection of glass negatives which have been discovered intact in Neubergthal (see sample on p.5 and article above).

Many of the papers presented will be published in an upcoming issue of Journal of Mennonite Studies. It was a symposium rich in new facts and perspectives on the lives and contributions of Mennonites in Manitoba.