The Anabaptist Story Lives on: Virtual Museum & Archive Tour

Tuesday evenings in May & June, archivists and executive directors from Anabaptist and Mennonite museums, archives, and heritage centres across North America showed unique artifacts, photos and documents as they shared part of the Anabaptist story. Watch the presentations below. Stay tuned for a possible new virtual tour series in the fall of 2020. 

LINKS TO RECORDINGS FROM THE ANABAPTIST STORY LIVES ON VIRTUAL MUSEUM & ARCHIVE TOUR

WEEK 1: Tuesday, May 12, Below WATCH the 22-minute video presentation with Conrad Stoesz, archivist at Mennonite Heritage Archives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as he shows diaries, historic books, an intriguing doll, and tells some riveting stories. You can also watch part of the Q & A time after the presentation. 

Tuesday, May 19, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, A Church Caught in the Middle: Artifacts from the Deutsch-Kazun Mennonite Church, Richard Thiessen, Mennonite Historical Society of British Colombia/Mennonite Heritage Museum, (Abbotsford, BC).

Tuesday, May 26, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, History You Can Use: Online Resources for Anabaptist-Mennonite Research, Jon Isaak, Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, (Winnipeg, MB).

Tuesday, June 2, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, It’s been Saved, it’s Beautiful: What does it Mean Today?,Jean Kilheffer Hess, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, (Lancaster, PA).

Tuesday, June 9, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, Peggy Goertzen, Telling Our Story through Testaments and Treasures, Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Tabor College, (Hillsboro, KS).

Tuesday, June 16, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, The Mennonite Heritage Center and Its’ Wonderful Fraktur Collection, Joel Alderfer, Mennonite Heritage Center, (Harleysville, PA).

Tuesday, June 23, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, The Germans from Russia: Anabaptist Groups who Migrated to Dakota Territory in the 1870s, Marnette D. Hofer, Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (Freeman, SD).

Tuesday, June 30, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/5 PM PT, Family Trees: Why We Make Them and What They Say About Us, Laureen Harder-Gissing, Mennonite Archives of Ontario, (Waterloo, ON).

HERITAGE TOURS

For an in-depth exploration of Anabaptist heritage, consider one of TourMagination’s heritage tours in Europe, Poland, Ukraine or Romania. View upcoming Anabaptist heritage tours guided by expert tour leaders.

RESOURCES TO RESEARCH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY

VIRTUAL TOUR article in the Canadian Mennonite.

14 comments
  • 4 years ago, 2:56

    I am very interested in viewing this, however, I am not sure if I will be available at the Tuesday time indicated. Will this be available for viewing later? If so, do I still need to register?

    • 4 years ago, 3:34

      Hi Rhonda. Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, the presentations will be available for viewing later. Yes, you should register and then we can send you a link to the presentation via email.

  • 4 years ago, 3:04

    Were the archives at Tabor College in Hillsboro, KS not considered for this tour?

    • 4 years ago, 3:37

      Hi Joyce,
      We have one spot in the schedule left and we were planning to invite the archives at Tabor to fill it.Your suggestion confirms that this is important.:) This initiative was pulled together very quickly so that we could offer something to people now while they need and want it. Normally, we would plan something like this several months in advance.

    • 4 years ago, 2:40

      Is there a cost to see these presentations?

  • 4 years ago, 3:55

    What a wonderful option during these COVID-19 stay home, ay safe days… and I am glad to see this wide variety of contributors.

    Here’s a current related slogan I am using with my own personal efforts: “to be history friendly and people friendly” thus to be inviting to more folks within the younger generations.

    • 4 years ago, 8:14

      Thanks Joanne. Yes these presentations will be great for inviting people of all ages to connect with history.

  • 4 years ago, 7:02

    This is a wonderful idea! Holmes county Ohio has the 2nd largest Amish population in the world after Lancaster, PA. The archives at the Swiss Anabaptist Historical Society; the Kidron-Sonnenberg Heritage Center in Kidron, Ohio would be a great resource and also the archives at the Amish Mennonite Heritage Society in Berlin, Ohio, Marcus Yoder is the director and is very knowledgeable.

    • 4 years ago, 8:13

      Thanks for these tips Kathleen. We will have to do another tour with more centres if this one goes well.

  • 4 years ago, 4:24

    What a treasure and a wonderful presentation! Thank you for doing this. Might I suggest wearing gloves when handling the precious, old manuscripts? Kay Friesen Peters

  • 4 years ago, 9:21

    Hi Sandra,
    I am enjoying watching these presentations after the fact as I am unable to watch the live presentations on Tuesdays. Other than the first one I have not been receiving an email from you with all the links each speaker refers to. I would greatly appreciate being able to check out the links online in more detail, and would be so grateful if you could send me a list of all of them, even in one email at the end of the virtual tour would be great. Thank you so much. Looking forward to future speakers.

    • 4 years ago, 9:29

      Hi Jean,
      If you register for each of the webinars, you will receive a follow-up email each time with a link to the recording and links the organization that the presenter is from. You can sign up for the presentations on our virtual tour page at http://www.tourmagination.com/vtour

      • 4 years ago, 12:12

        I did sign up for all of the virtual tours at the beginning but to date I have only received the first follow-up email with links from the first presenter … I have not received any others. Could you please send the others? Thanks so much. I even checked my spam and did not find them there.

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