Brush a piece of napped fabric "against the grain" and different colours and patterns will appear. Historians talk about reading a document against the grain to consider how history may appear from differing perspectives.
This exhibit featured documents from the Mennonite Archives of Ontario that invited viewers to practice reading histories of Indigenous and Mennonite encounter against the grain. These included newspapers, maps, and documents from Mennonite involvement in Indigenous communities. Settler narratives and land grants were also displayed. Alongside the archival materials, Indigenous voices and sources invited the viewer to further reading.
The exhibit ran from May 2022 to April 2024. Its opening corresponded with the conference "Indigenous Mennonite Encounters in Time and Place" held from May 12-15, 2022. Thank you and Miigwech to the conference planning committee and Mary Jane Logan McCallum for conversations that helped shape this exhibit.