Royden Loewen, ed. From the Inside Out: The Rural Worlds of Mennonite Diarists, 1863 to 1929. (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press and the Manitoba Record Society, 1999) 350 pp.

Reviewed by Adolf Ens, Professor of History and Theology, Canadian Mennonite Bible College.

This volume of source documents includes excerpts from 21 diaries by Mennonites of some 40 available to the editor. One third of the diarists included are women, and almost two-thirds are Mennonites from Russia. Most were Canadian residents, including seven Ontario Mennonites of Swiss or South German origin. Three of the men and one woman were teenagers when they wrote. The oldest woman was 63 at the time her diary excerpt begins; among the men four were at least that old, while two were in their seventies. Readers will appreciate this broad age spectrum.

Most of the excerpts cover a relatively short period of time. Eleven of them range from one to six months. All the rest, with one exception, cover about one year. However, since the number and length of diary entries vary greatly, the amount of material is not determined only by the time span covered. Thus, Cornelius W. Loewen's recordings from 1867 to 1877 take up six and a half pages, while Abraham F. Reimer requires 24 pages for a mere six months. The brevity of the time span covered by the diary selections means that one can gain a glimpse at most into the lives of the writers.

Since most of the diaries were written, as the editor confesses, "by ordinary men and women engaged in everyday farm life," perhaps the brevity of many of the selections is no great loss. When five consecutive entries of a diary give only an assessment of the weather ("a fine day") and the note "we did plough," one does not need a long selection. As a sampler of "ordinary" lives during these seven decades the selection provided serves well.

The editor has also selected a broadly representative group (as much as that is possible for a basically farming community) by merchants, ministers, and persons in transition (Russia to Canada, Canada to USA, Russia to USA via Canada).

Undoubtedly, all of the diaries included provide significant information for historians and family researchers. But in most cases one would have to have considerable background information and study the entire diary. In their excerpted form, there is great unevenness in the insights which the casual reader can hope to obtain from them. Loewen's introduction to each diarist and his comments on the context enhance the value of the excerpts. I found the selections from merchant Elias Eby, though brief, and Maria Reimer Unger among the more interesting.

A very significant and valuable feature of the book is Loewen's 20-page introduction. Its discussion of the diverse nature of diary writing and of the significance of diary material for social history is very helpful. The comment on Julian and Gregorian calendars (Preface, p. xi), however, is confusing at best.

Most of the diaries were written in German. The translations frequently appear unnecessarily wooden and literal. Although the editor reports that he wanted to reproduce the diaries as they were written, errors and all, many entries contain added comments and "corrections" in square brackets. These range from unnecessary to intrusive to irritating.

The University of Manitoba Press and Royden Loewen have rendered us a valuable service in this publication. Researchers interested in family history, local studies, social, church, or economic history have excellent source samples readily available, and a guide to find the entire extant diaries.

This was reprinted with permission from the Mennonite Historian where it appeared on p.8, Vol.XXV, No.4, December, 1999.