a restored bible from the archives on display

Grebel Fund - Library & Archives

As time passes, we forget who our neighbours are. 
Archives help us remember. 

I once answered a phone call from an older British man with a “Mennonite name.” He began quizzing me about local Mennonite genealogy. When I told him how common his name was in southwestern Ontario, he exclaimed incredulously, his voice crackling over the long-distance line, “but I thought I was the only one!”

Archives are crossroads, places for potential connection. They shelter stories of thriving communities and individuals on the margins, histories of the power brokers and the vulnerable. Each generation asks new questions of them. Sometimes they provide clear answers; other times they deepen existing mysteries. 

- Laureen Harder-Gissing, Archivist-Librarian

Your donation's impact for 2024-2025

18 Years of Mennonite Newspapers digitized
15 Archival Collections made available to the public
5 Community presentations

Support the Library and Archives

Your support for the Milton Good Library & Mennonite Archives of Ontario will make it possible to:

  • Purchase reference works or online database subscriptions
  • Curate rare Mennonitica (items pertaining to Mennonite life and heritage)
  • Support digitization projects that will make a wealth of archival resources available online

Your support for the Grebel Fund will make it possible to:

  • Offer quality academic programs
  • Nurture leadership development
  • Reach our goal of $10,000 for Library and Archive program support

This year's goal is $380,000

Your donation helps fund Library and Archives activities and programming.

Donate Online

Donate online using a Credit Card through the University of Waterloo Donation page.

  • Simply select the fund at Grebel you wish to support and fill in your details.
  • Your receipt for online donations will come from the University of Waterloo.

Questions?

To learn more about how your gift to the Library and Archives will impact services and opportunities, contact Chris Brnjas, Director of Development.
519-885-0220 x24381

Donors directly impact Library and Archive services and opportunities.

To learn more about how else your gift to the library and archives will have an impact, contact Chris Brnjas, Director of Development.
519-885-0220 x24381

Pictured left to right: Fred Martin, President Marcus Shantz, Anita Tiessen, Laureen Harder-Gissing
Wednesday, March 1, 2023

New Endowment will Fund Archives Activity

Supporting Grebel programs and capital campaigns has always been a priority for Grebel alumna Anita (Lehn) Tiessen (BA '81) and her late husband Bob Tiessen (BMath '74). In February 2023, Anita established the "Robert J Tiessen Archival Community Education Endowment Fund" in honour of Bob’s passion for Mennonite history.

Ties that Bind Sculpture - copper
Friday, September 5, 2025

Mennonite Heritage Week 2025

The year 2025 marks 500 years since a group of young radicals gathered secretly in Zürich, Switzerland. They had fallen out with city and religious officials about issues such as the baptism of children and the separation of church and state. At that meeting, two of the young adults baptized each other, marking the first adult baptism in early modern Europe and the start of the Anabaptist movement. Despite facing persecution and death, the movement spread across Europe. Anabaptists now include Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, and Brethren in Christ. The people and the religious movement have now spread around the world. 

This year, for Mennonite Heritage Week, Conrad Grebel University College has prepared a self-guided Mennonite Art Tour for visitors interested in learning about the history, culture, values, thought, and religion of Mennonites.  

Troy Osborne, Laureen Harder-Gissing, Marcus Shantz, Bert Friesen, and Kenneth Friesen, with the Mennonite wall clock
Wednesday, October 22, 2025

19th-Century Mennonite Wall Clock Finds a Home at Grebel

The Mennonite Archives of Ontario, housed at Conrad Grebel University College, is now home to a traditional Mennonite Wanduhr (wall clock), thanks to Kenneth Friesen (BSC 1997) and his father Bert. While the clock had been on loan in the Archives since 2017, the Friesens formally transferred ownership in September as 2025 marks 100 years since the arrival of some of their ancestors in Canada.