Those researching Mennonite history frequently have cause to consult primary sources such as the weekly paper Die Mennonitische Rundschau. Indeed, even Buller Time has uncovered items of historical interest and importance within this serial publication. For example, earlier we were able to correct the Buller Family Record concerning David Buller’s death by drawing upon letters published in Die Mennonitische Rundschau (see here, here, and here).
The point of this post is not, however, to examine a particular story or letter from this valuable resource; rather, this post seeks to alert readers that nearly the entire run of Die Mennonitische Rundschau is now available for anyone to view on the Archive.org website. Issues from 1880 through 1993 have been added from a Serials in Microform collection, supplemented by scans of some issues from that date forward to 2006. In all, 5,490 issues are available for amateur and professional historians to view and download.
But that’s not all. Die Mennonitische Rundschau was preceded by the monthly publication known as Der Nebraska Ansiedler, and all three years of its output (twenty-five issues across 1878–1880) are likewise available at Archive.org.
The easiest way to access Die Mennonitische Rundschau is to go here, then click on the More link at the bottom of the Year column that you will find on the left. In the popup box that appears, select the year you wish to view. When you locate the issue that you want to consult, simply click on the cover, which will take you to the the entire issue.
In addition to viewing the issue in a page-flip format, you can download a PDF or other file format of the entire issue (see the Download Options column on the right side of the page).
To access the issues of Der Nebraska Ansiedler, begin here and follow the same process as described above.
Future posts will explore other print resources available from Archive.org, as well as draw from the site’s archive of Die Mennonitische Rundschau.
