Frank H. Epp papers being archived

After combing through nine of Frank H. Epp’s filing cabinets (so far), Linda Huebert Hecht knows more than a little bit about this important church leader. Hired by Conrad Grebel University College in 1999, she has worked part-time archiving Epp’s extensive collection of correspondence, research notes, articles and newspaper clippings.

According to Sam Steiner, Grebel archivist, this five-year project, jointly funded by the Frank H. Epp Memorial Fund and Grebel University College, is important because of Epp’s influence on 20th century Mennonites “to be more actively engaged in the political discussions of the day.”

Linda Huebert Hecht sorting through cabinets 9 and 10 of the Frank H. Epp Collection.

“Whether one judges this to be a good or bad thing,” says Steiner, “he helped this to happen. Persons who have this kind of pivotal influence need to be preserved in their papers.”

Frank H. Epp Photo courtesy of the Centre for MB Studies

The Epp Collection is very large, consisting of 22 four-drawer filing cabinets. It includes documents from his many roles as journalist, radio speaker, ordained minister, church leader, historian, professor, college president, politician, peace activist and author, as well as his positions with Mennonite Central Committee, several non-Mennonite organizations, and many committees. He began collecting materials in the 1950s when he became founding editor of The Canadian Mennonite, and continued to do so until shortly before his death in 1986.

Nearly half finished, Huebert Hecht is currently processing cabinet number 10, on political science. Several larger sections related to Epp’s sermons, writing, speaking and travels remain to be processed.

Frank Epp’s personal correspondence, distributed throughout the cabinets, is one of the most interesting parts of the collection. According to Huebert Hecht, Epp kept copies of all the letters he sent, from simple requests for information and longer personal answers, to short notes of affirmation and concern for individual people.

The collection will eventually be open to the public, but interested researchers may be able to look at the finished sections already. Those interested in running for political office or the Mennonite response to Vietnam and the Middle East will find it useful, says Steiner; indeed “anyone interested in how Canadian Mennonites engaged society in the 1950s–1970s would likely find it useful.” The archival guide can be accessed online.

—Jennifer Konkle, Conrad Grebel University College