October 1983 · Vol. 12 No. 4 · p. 41
Historical Endnotes
ZIONSBOTE INDEX AVAILABLE
The Zionsbote was an official publication of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren churches from 1884-1964. During its years it was widely read in North and South America and in Russia. The Historical Commission in collaboration with the General Conference Center in Fresno is indexing the entire 80 years of publication. Volume II of the index, covering 1920-1940, has been published and is available from Kindred Press; 1884-1920 and 1940-1964 respectively, will be forthcoming. Indexes that are included are author, article, subject, scripture text, obituaries, weddings and anniversaries and congregational and local reports. The index was prepared under the supervision of J. B. Toews, Executive Director of the Historical Commission and Rachel Hiebert, Archivist of the Fresno Center.
MORE PRUSSIAN DOCUMENTS
The Fresno Center is obtaining nearly 4500 pages of Prussian archival material. Peter Klassen, Chairman of the Center Board, has deposited 773 pages of photocopied records from the Gdansk (Danzig), Poland archives. The records are a mixture of civic records such as baptismal lists, preacher election lists, lists of villagers in Prussia in 1798, complaints against Mennonites and other items. This collection is being augmented by photocopies of Prussian materials that the Mennonite Library and Archives, Newton, Kansas and the Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen, Indiana secured after World War II. Mennonite Central Committee Pax teams in northern Poland assigned to distribute relief supplies and to assist in post-war reconstruction after the War were able to secure nearly 3700 pages of church records from fugitives. These materials, together with others the Center is hoping to secure from the Weierhof in Germany, offer substantial new resources for the interpretation and understanding of the Prussian period of Anabaptist-Mennonite history.
A NEW MENNONITE BRETHREN BIBLIOGRAPHY
A new bibliographic guide to the Mennonite Brethren Church has recently been published by the Board of Christian Literature of the General Conference (MB). Compiling the bibliography was Herb Giesbrecht, librarian at the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg. The bibliography is divided into 13 sections which include headings on published works in history, religious life, missions, imaginative and periodical literature. This bibliographic guide is an expanded and updated version of the first guide, which appeared in 1971, also compiled by Herb Giesbrecht. While that first guide comprised only 17 pages, this new guide contains some 100 pages—this in itself gives evidence of the increasing amount of published literature by Mennonite Brethren. Copies may be ordered for $7.00 each from any of the Centers for Mennonite Brethren Studies.
