The University of Winnipeg’s German-Canadian Studies program is setting up an archive of German-Canadian documents that will be hosted by University of Winnipeg Archives. These archival documents help tell our shared history.
To help build the collection they are calling for collections of personal papers, diaries, photographs and letters of immigration stories.
“The University Archives is pleased to be working with German-Canadian Studies on this important initiative,” said Brett Lougheed, Director of the University of Winnipeg Archives.
“Many German-Canadians lived harrowing immigration experiences only to go on to make many important contributions to Manitoban society. It is important that the stories of these German-Canadian immigrants, as reflected in the personal records of these individuals and related associations, are preserved for future generations,” he said. “By creating this archive at the University, not only can we fill an existing gap in Manitoba’s documentary heritage by assuring the long-term preservation of German-Canadian immigration records, but we can ensure their wide-spread access and use by students and faculty in the German-Canadian Studies program, those within the local German-Canadian community, and the general public.”
One such collection that was donated is called the Sickert Collection, graciously donated by the Sickert family. In one section it has an extensive selection of the goings on of the German Society of Winnipeg.
When groups of immigrants came to Canada, they often set up societies to help one another, offer services, and reminisce about the old country through cultural events and gatherings. The Germans that came to Winnipeg were no different. They created the German Society of Winnipeg.
Founded in 1892, the German Society of Winnipeg was created “to cultivate German culture, language, customs, and sociability etc.”, as written in the 1954 bylaws under the heading “Purpose and Aims”.
If you have a collection of personal papers, letter correspondence, diaries or pictures that cover German immigration to Canada and would like to donate it to the University of Winnipeg, please contact, Claudia Dueck at cl.dueck@uwinnipeg.ca or call 204.258.3837.
