Village News

This is the time of year when charities examine the trajectory of their bottom line and begin reminding supporters that the end of the calendar year is approaching.

In last week’s article I began a virtual “tour” of some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a curator through visiting other museums.

Earlier this month I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the home of good friends of mine. At the dinner was a fellow curator, in charge of the Fort Garry Horse Museum and Archives in the Minto Armoury and the Air Force Heritage Museum and Air Park, both in Winnipeg.

If you are not planning to hear the singing pirates at the SRSS this Saturday night, Oct 20, please come over to Mennonite Heritage Village at 7:00 PM for an evening of lectures and an old-fashioned slide show!

Most of the donors from whom Mennonite Heritage Village receives artefacts have personal connections to the items they bring to us.

The summer season at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) is often thought of as our “busy” season, and rightly so.

After years of dreaming, research, fundraising, and project management, Mennonite Heritage Village has been recognized by the Association of Manitoba Museums with an Award of Excellence for the Waldheim House restoration project.

There are treasures to be found among possessions and antiques we inherit. Although many items owned by my parents (Annie and Almon Reimer) went to the local MCC Thrift Store, the things built by my dad and the antiques were shared among us.

If we had a dollar for every time someone has asked a Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) staff person, “So what are you doing now that the museum is closed?” we would have accumulated a significant donation by now.

On January 18, 1884, Jakob Wall was granted 160 acres of farm land by the Canadian government. Ten years earlier the first Mennonites in Manitoba had begun to establish homes and farms on land given to them by the Canadian government.