Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale

Title: Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale series

Dates of creation: 1966-2017
Note: Further accruals are expected

Physical description: 1.17 m of textual records

Administrative history: The first publicized Mennonite relief sale was held in Pennsylvania in 1957. The first sale in Canada was held in May 1967 on the fairgrounds at New Hamburg, Ontario. This sale has been held on the last weekend in May ever since. The goal is to raise funds for the work of Mennonite Central Committee in Ontario and around the world. 

The centrepiece of the sale has always been the auction of quilts made primarily by Ontario Mennonite women. The sale of food, much of it traditional Mennonite fare, has always accompanied the event. Over the years other fundraising activities have been added such as the auction of non-quilt items, the Self Help Crafts (Ten Thousand Villages) tent, the MCC thrift shop tent, the plant sale, the Penny Power booth, etc. A promotional dinner is held each year to defray the costs of the sale. In 1982 the Heifer Sale was added as a separate event; heifers and other donated items are auctioned in support of MCC at this springtime event first held near Guelph, and later near Listowel, Ontario. 

The Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale (OMRS) was incorporated in 1970. The OMRS board continued to organize the New Hamburg sale directly until 2005. At this point, the board was recomposed to consist of the executive committees of the New Hamburg sale and the Heifer Sale. A new committee, the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale Committee, was formed to organize that sale. The Heifer Sale committee remained unchanged.

Custodial history: This series is part of a transfer of records from Mennonite Central Committee Ontario in the early 1980s, a donation of files from J. Winfield Fretz (date unknown), a donation of posters in 2009, a donation of records from the Relief Sale committee in 2017, and a donation from John Reimer in 2023.

Scope and content: Contains correspondence, publicity materials, some financial records, photographs, ephemera, lists of volunteers and sponsors, reports and minutes of the Ontario Mennonite relief sales. The records demonstrate the significant effort on behalf of many volunteers and staff of various organizations to make the sale possible. They also document shifts over the years in terms of marketing, promotion, programing, and regulation.

Notes: Relief Sale posters are located in the map case, under XIV-3.2.
Photographs related to the Relief Sale can be located through the Mennonite Archival Image Database.
Although it has long been separately incorporated, the Relief Sale remains a series of the Mennonite Central Committee Ontario fonds where it was originally arranged and described.
Archival description created by Laureen Harder-Gissing in 2017.

File list:

Box 1. Correspondence, etc. 1967-1973

Correspondence etc., 1967-1973

Box. 2. Misc. 1966-1972

1. Secretary's notes, 1966-1972 (includes copy of the charter and by-laws, 1970, 1984)
2. Various records of donations to Relief Sales, 1968-1969
3. Various pamphlets, flyers, etc. 1973-1974, 1976-1977

Box 3. Publicity Chairman's Materials (J. Winfield Fretz), 1966-1970

1. Publicity Chairman Correspondence with MCC (Akron) and other relief sales, 1966-1967
2. Publicity Chairman materials, samples, etc., 1967-1970
3. Publicity Chairman's correspondence, records, re 1970 sale
4. Publicity Chairman's correspondence, records, re 1969 sale
5. Publicity chairman's materials, correspondence, re 1968 sale
6. Correspondence, publicity concerning first Ontario sale, 1966-67
7. Executive Committee Minutes, 1966-1969

Box 4. Correspondence, Publicity, etc., 1967-

1. Photographs and Negatives
2. Publicity Folders (brochures and postcards), undated, 1967-1980, 1983, 1990, 1996-2007, 2011, 2014, 2016
3. Clippings File, 1967-1976
4. Publicity chairman's correspondence, records, 1974-1975
5. Publicity, 1971-1973; Minutes, 1973-1975. (J. W. Fretz files)
6. Engravers' plates
7. Correspondence re: Relief Sale Cookbook, 1973-1974
   Note: Also includes memories of the cookbook's publication by Gladys Brubacher, 2013. See also XIV-3.2.9/11.

Box 5. Misc. Publicity, etc., 1977-

Miscellaneous Publicity, Minutes, etc., 1977, 1978
Note: Relief Sale oversize posters are located in map case: [19--] (placemat), 1991 (quilt exhibition), 2001, 2006, 2009 (fundraising concert) 2011, 2012. 2019.
Brochures from other Mennonite relief sales

Box 6. Heifer Sale

1. Minutes and correspondence, 1981-2006
2. Sale catalogues, 1982-1987
3. News clippings, 1982-1985

Box 7. Programs

1979-1980, 1982-2019, 2022

Box 8.

1. Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale Board
   1. Annual meeting minutes, 2000-2007, 2009
   2. Board of Directors lists, 1978/1979-1980/1981, 1990/1991, 1997/1998, 1999/2000-2000/2001, 2002/2003-2008/2009
   3. Board minutes, 1977-1982, 1986, 1987, 1994-2009
   4. Board executive minutes, 2002-Mar 2010
2. Correspondence
   1. General correspondence, 1967, 1979-1981, 1983-1984, 1986, 1994-1996, 1998-2008, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2020-2021
   2. Correspondence re charitable receipts, 1967, 1979-1980, 1982, 1984, 1989
   3. Project conveners correspondence, 1979, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998-2011
3. Financial
   1. Financial statements, 1976-1994, 1996-1997, 1999, 2001-2005, 2007-2011
   2. Sales summaries (projects), 1976, 1979-2012
   3. Sales summaries (quilt auction), 1974, 1976-1995, 1999, 2001-2008

Box 9.

1. Promotion
   1. Promotion dinner, (undated), 1967-1974, 1980-1981, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1998-2006, 2008, 2014, 2015
   2. Promotion correspondence, 1968, 1979, [199-]-2004, 2009, 2011
   3. Presentations, 2003, 2011
   4. Promotion correspondence and reports, 1997, 2002, 2010-2012
   5. News releases, 1979-1983, 1990-1992, 1999, 2000-2001, 2003, 2009, 2012
   6. Grants and awards
   Celebrate Ontario, 2009; Event of the Year award application, 2010; Volunteer of the Year Ron Zehr (Festivals and Events Ontario), 2011.
2. Quilts
   1. Quilt committees correspondence, 1999-2006, 2008-2009
   2. Quilt files (Katherine V. Snyder), 1979-2003
   Note: Contains materials related to the Relief Sale quilt auction, quilt marketing, and quilt exhibits
   3. Quilt monographs
   Kaleidoscope of Nations: The Story of a Group Quilt, 2003; Scrappy Split Nine Patch Quilt, 2006; Heirlooms for the Future, 1977; Quilt-as-you-go Stash Busters!, 2010.
   4. Featured quilt information: Grandma's Tulip Garden (Canadian Living quilt), 1980; Puzzle Sampler, 1996; Album Quilt, 2000; Centennial Quilt, 1967 and 2001; All in a Day's Work, 2001; Postcard Quilt, 2009; Cover quilt (group quilt), 2016
3. Penny Power, 1995-2008
4. Mennofolk at the Relief Sale, 2005-2006
5. Relief Sale and the Environment, 1990, 1995-1996
6. North American Mennonite Relief Sale Board, 1985, 1997, 2004, 2009
7. Fall Relief Sale, 1984-1988
8. "More with less" at the Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale, 1968, 1981
   Note: Contains a discussion of the ethics of relief sales in an age of consumerism
9. Knowles, Paul, ed. Piecemakers: The Story of the Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale and Quilt Auction, 2004
   Note: File also includes a brief history prepared for regional meetings (1995) and a quilt auction timeline (2001)
10. "Passing on the Comfort: The War, the Quilts and the Women Who Made the Difference" exhibit, 2005
    A traveling exhibit from MCC featuring 18 quilts made by North American women and sent to the Netherlands following the Second World War.
11. Realia
    "Relief sale volunteers make a difference!" cloth bag
    "Relief sale volunteer" button
    "Mennonite Relief Sale Cookbook," 1973. Two copies of the looseleaf book bound in fabric covers.
    Bidding card
    Cotton gloves for handling quilts
12. Thirft shops tent, 2000-2003