Communicating Community: Russian and Canadian Mennonite Correspondence, 1850–1900

Journals and diaries have been recognized as tools used by individuals and communities to sustain narratives, make sense of life events, and strengthen community. Correspondence created in nineteenth-century Russian and Canadian Mennonite communities was used for these same purposes. Mennonites wrote letters to transplant and strengthen community beliefs and values across a growing diaspora. Their correspondence was shaped by the nineteenth-century context and particularly by challenges to the Mennonites' beliefs, values, and way of life during this period. It is essential to consider the context in which these records were created to understand the records themselves.