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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!

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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.

Your donations help preserve and share stories like this one! Make a gift here or call 204.560.1998.

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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/

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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 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/

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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 Mennonite Heritage Archives website - https://www.mharchives.ca/

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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 Between. Bergen grew up in Niverville, Manitoba, and today crafts his prose from his home base in Winnipeg.

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/

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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 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/

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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.