©Mennonite Heritage Centre 2002
Last updated 14 April 2009

Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Title: Steinbach Mennonite Church fonds
Dates: 1942-1998
Extent: 44 cm of textual records
Extent: 1 microfilm reel

Historical note

Mennonite immigrants from Russia settled in the Steinbach area in the 1920s. They worshiped in the existing congregations there until the 1930s. In 1936 a group was formed as part of the Schönwieser Gemeinde. In 1942 they became an independent congregation and completed their own meeting house. The membership in 1943 was 55. With the Russian immigrants of the 1940s the congregation expanded to the extent that a new meeting house was needed and so was completed in 1951. The membership was 152 in 1951. With the immigration in the 1970s from South America and Mexico of grandchildren of the Bergthaler who had settled here in the 1870s and emigrated in the 1920s, an entirely new building was attached to the meeting house in 1974. In 1961 the membership stood at 230 and by 1975 it was 337. In 1989 an entirely new meeting house was completed. The membership was 454 in 1990 and 434 in 2000. The pastoral leaders of the congregation have included Isaac Warkentin (1936-1964), Wilhelm Peters (1943-1956), Peter J. Reimer (1942-1961), Franz Fröse (1950-1975), David Fast (1953-1975), Frank Isaac (1957-1975), Henry P.  Friesen (1957-1962), Peter Fehr (1970-1995), Abe Neufeld (1976-1992), Paul Dyck (1989-2000), Norm Voth (2000-2001), Gary Martens (2001-    ).

Scope and content note

This fonds contains bulletins (1965-1998), congregational meeting minutes (1942-1992), church council meeting minutes (1944-1957), annual reports (1957-1992), congregational newsletters (1988-1997), directories (1965-1987, 1990), membership lists (1956-1980), constitutions (1956-1993), brief congregational histories (1941-1974), and family registers (1943-1980). The records begin with the period after the congregation became independant from the Schoenwiese group of churches and document the activities of its leaders and participants.

Finding aids

Inventory file list available.

Notes

Language

Some German.

Restrictions on access

No restrictions on access.

Other notes

Textual records were microfilmed at the Mennonite Heritage Centre in 1980. Textual records were deposited at the Mennonite Heritage Centre on a regular basis up to 1999.

Steinbach Mennonite Church fonds file list:

Volume 39

  1. Steinbach Mennonite Church building dedication (1951)
  2. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1965), directory (1965)
  3. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1966)
  4. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1967)
  5. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1968)
  6. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1969)
  7. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1970)
  8. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1972)
  9. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1973)
  10. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1974), annual reports (1974), new meeting house dedication service which includes a brief congregational history (1974), congregational meeting minutes (1974), congregational constitution ([1974])
  11. Steinbach Mennonite Church annual reports (1975), congregational meeting minutes (1975), calendar of events (1975-1976)
  12. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1976), annual reports (1976), directory (1976), newspaper clipping (1976), congregational meeting minutes (1976)
  13. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1977), annual reports (1977), pictorial directory (1977), congregational meeting minutes (1977)
  14. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1978), annual reports (1978), congregational constitution ([197-?]), congregational meeting minutes (1978), congregational office holders (1978), calendar of events (1978)

Volume 1611

  1. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1979), annual reports (1979), congregational meeting minutes (1979)
  2. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1980), annual reports (1980), congregational meeting minutes (1980)
  3. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1981), annual reports (1981), congregational meeting minutes (1981), directory (1981), congregational constitution (1981), pictorial directory (1981)
  4. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1982), annual reports (1982), congregational meeting minutes (1982)
  5. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1983), congregational meeting minutes (1983)
  6. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1984), annual reports (1984), congregational meeting minutes (1984)

Volume 2966

  1. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1985), annual reports (1985), congregational meeting minutes (1985), architectural sketches for meeting house expansion (1986)
  2. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1986), annual reports (1986), congregational meeting minutes (1986)
  3. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1987), annual reports (1987), congregational meeting minutes (1987), directory (1987)
  4. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1988), annual reports (1988), congregational meeting minutes (1988), congregational newsletters (1988)
  5. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1989), annual reports (1988), congregational meeting minutes (1988), congregational newsletters (1988)
  6. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1989), annual reports (1989), congregational meeting minutes (1989), congregational newsletters (1989)

Volume 4019

  1. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1990), annual reports (1990), congregational meeting minutes (1990), congregational newsletters (1990), family picture album (1990) 
  2. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1991), annual reports (1991), congregational meeting minutes (1991), congregational newsletters (1991)
  3. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1992), annual reports (1992), congregational meeting minutes (1992), congregational newsletters (1992), congregational constitution (1993)
  4. Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1993), congregational newsletters (1993)

Volume 4295

1.  Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1994) , congregational newsletters (1994)
2.   Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1995), congregational newsletters (1995)
3.  Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1996), congregational newsletters (1996)
4.  Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1997), congregational newsletters (1997)
5.  Steinbach Mennonite Church bulletins (1998), directory (2001)
6.  Steinbach Mennonite Church trustees meeting minutes (1991-1993)
7.  Steinbach Mennonite Church congregational meeting minutes (1942-1956), a brief congregational history (1941) 8.  Steinbach Mennonite Church council meeting minutes (1944-1957)
Microfilm

Microfilm No. 201 (MHC Project No. 48)

  1. Church membership registers
    1. Membership lists. - 1956-1980.
    2. Family registers. - 1943-1980.
  2. History of the church
    1. Dedication bulletin. - 1974.
    2. Yearbooks. - 1968-1977.
    3. Term paper by Helen Hildebrand - History of Steinbach Mennonite Church. - 1965
    4. "The Churches of Steinbach" by Anne Marie Warkentin, pp.13-16. - [196-?].
  3. Minutes
    1. Congregational meetings. - 1942-1974.
    2. Church council meetings. - 1944-1980.
  4. Annual reports. - 1957-1980.
  5. Constitutions. - 1956-1974.
  6. Miscellaneous
    1. Chart, re: Organization of Church. - [197-?].
    2. Finance committee meeting minutes. - 1972.
    3. Letter, re: Incorporation of church. - 1972.
    4. Bruderschaft meeting minutes. - [197-?].
    5. Predigerliste. - [19-].
    6. P. J. Reimer folder, re: Building of church, financial, and format for baptismal and marriage services, etc. - 1945-1960.
    7. Chuch office holders list. - 1945-1960.