Address: 2005 Clover Lane
Newton, Kansas 67114
Telephone: (316) 284-2191 (home)
(316) 284-5360 (work)
E-mail: jthiesen@bethelks.edu
1993-1998 University of Kansas. Doctoral program in history. ABD as of March 1998.
1984-1990 Wichita State University. History. M.A. 1990. Thesis title: The Mennonite Encounter with National Socialism in Latin America, 1933-1944.
1978-82 Bethel College (Kansas). History and mathematics. B.A. 1982.
Co-director of Libraries, Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, 1992-present
Archivist, Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, 1990-present
Archival assistant (volunteer position), Mennonite Library and Archives, 1988-1990
Acting Director, Mennonite Library and Archives, 1987-88
Archival assistant (volunteer position), Mennonite Library and Archives, 1983-87
Archival assistant, Colorado Medical Society, Denver, Colorado, 1982-83
Archival assistant, Mennonite Library and Archives, 1977-82
Webmaster, Bethel College, 1999-2002
Programmer, museum software project, Humanities Computer Consulting, Newton, Kansas, 1988-1992
Project leader, medical software, Physician Corporation of America, Wichita, Kansas, 1985-1990
Programmer/analyst, Kansas Gas and Electric, Wichita, Kansas, 1983-1985
Member of Academy of Certified Archivists, 1992-present
Member of Society of American Archivists, 1990-present
Member of Midwest Archives Conference, 1990-present
Member of Mennonite Church Historical Association, 1982-present
Book review editor, Mennonite Life, 1986-present
Managing editor, Mennonite Life, 1992-present
Presenting occasional sessions on archival research and other topics to the Social Science Seminar for senior history majors at Bethel College, 1990-present
Serving in the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board's archival mentoring program as a mentor archivist, 2002
Congregational archivist, Shalom Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, 1994-present
Participant/observer for the General Conference Mennonite Church with the Historical Committee of the Mennonite Church, 1993-2000
Taught an independent study on German handwriting at Bethel College, interterm (January) 2001
Taught an independent study on "Family History and Genealogy" at Bethel College, summer 1994
Taught "Mennonite History, Life, and Thought," with Barbara A. Thiesen and Dale R. Schrag, Bethel College, January 1992. My section of the class concerned post-16th century European Mennonite history.
Member of Warkentin House Association board of directors 1990-1998, vice-president 1992-1995, president 1995-1998 (The Warkentin House is a Victorian house museum in Newton.)
Congregational historian and archivist, with Barbara A. Thiesen, Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton, Kansas, 1990-1993
History Day judge, Kansas District 7, Bethel College, March 11, 1989
Member of Historical Committee of the Western District Conference, 1984-89 (chair, 1987-89)
Member of Historical Committee of First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, 1979-1984
Webmaster for Bridgefolk Catholic-Mennonite dialogue group, 2004-2008
Congregational chairperson, Shalom Mennonite Church, Newton, Kansas, 1998-2002
Max Kade Dissertation Fellowship in German Studies, University of Kansas, 2000-2001
David H. Richert Distinguished Scholar Award, Bethel College, 1999
John Rydjord Graduate Student Award, Wichita State University: 1988-89
First place in the John Horsch Mennonite Historical Essay Contest, Goshen College, Indiana: 1982 and 1986
First place in the Mennonite Contributions Essay Contest, Bethel College, 1982
Honorable mention, Kansas Corral of the Westerners history essay contest: 1985
National Merit Scholar, Bethel College: 1978-82
Bethel College Putnam Mathematics Team: 1978-81
editor for H. G. Mannhardt, The Danzig Mennonite Church: Its Origin and History from 1569-1919. Trans. Victor G. Doerksen. Ed. Mark Jantzen and John D. Thiesen. North Newton, Kansas: Bethel College; Kitchener, Ontario: Pandora Press, 2007.
Mennonite and Nazi? Attitudes among Mennonite Colonists in Latin America, 1933-1945. Kitchener, Ontario: Pandora Press, 1999. Vol. 37 of the Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History series. ISBN 0-9683462-5-1
Prussian Roots, Kansas Branches: A History of the First Mennonite Church of Newton. Newton, Kansas: First Mennonite Church, 1986.
"Bethel College Politics in 1912," Mennonite Life 61:1 (March 2006).
"A Mennonite Catholic Family Story," The Bridge: Newsletter of the Bridgefolk Movement (fall 2004): 10.
"A Model of Unity amidst Diversity: The Former General Conference Mennonite Church," Mennonite Historical Bulletin 65 (January 2004): 3-5.
with Ami Regier, "An Interview with Artist Phil Epp," Mennonite Life 58:4 (December 2003).
"From Cereal Boxes to Web Pages: Introducing our North Newton Archives," Mennonite Historical Bulletin 63 (October 2002): 7-10.
"To Bury, Not to Praise," in Anabaptist Visions for the New Millennium: A Search for Identity, ed. Dale Schrag and James Juhnke (Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora Press; Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2000), 123-128.
"First Duty of the Citizen: Mennonite Identity and Military Exemption in Prussia, 1848-1877," Mennonite Quarterly Review 72 (April 1998): 161-187.
"The Effects of an MC-GC Merger on Archives and Historical Activities," Mennonite Historical Bulletin 56 (July 1995): 13-15.
"Mennonites in Kansas," Mennonite Historical Bulletin 56 (April 1995): 4-6.
"The Mennonite Encounter with National Socialism in Latin America, 1933-1944," in Canadian Mennonites and the Challenge of Nationalism, ed. Abe J. Dueck (Winnipeg: Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, 1994), 145-164. The same text was also published in Journal of Mennonite Studies 12 (1994): 104-117. (It wasn't my idea to publish it twice.)
"The American Mennonite Encounter with National Socialism," Yearbook of German-American Studies 27 (1992): 127-158. Despite the date, this actually appeared in January 1994.
with Keith L. Sprunger, "Mennonite Military Service in World War II: An Oral History Approach." Mennonite Quarterly Review 66 (October 1992): 481-491.
"Themes in Western District History," in Western District Conference Annual Session, Moundridge, Kansas, October 25-26, 1991: Major Presentations and Responses. North Newton, KS: Western District Conference, 1992.
"The Mennonite Encounter with National Socialism: The Example of Fernheim." Mennonite Life (June 1991): 4-9.
"Civilian Public Service: Two Case Studies." Mennonite Life (June 1990): 4-12.
"Rodolphe Petter and General Conference Mennonite Missions." Mennonite Life (September 1985): 4-10.
"God's Chosen People: Rodolphe Petter and the Cheyennes." The Prairie Scout (1985): 119-135.
"Pre-Conference Workshop: Achieving Email Account Preservation with XML" report in The Dusty Shelf (newsletter of the Kansas City Area Archivists), fall 2009, pp. 7-8 (report on workshop at the Society of American Archivists annual meeting in Austin, TX)
In 2005-6 I transcribed a large set of German letters for Keith Pickus, history professor and administrator at Wichita State Univeristy. The letters were in the 19th-century style of German handwriting and were from a Jewish family in Berlin and Prague during 1938-41. A book based on these letters was published: Keith H. Pickus, Our Only Hope: Eddie's Holocaust Story and the Weisz Family Correspondence. Lanham, MD: Unversity Press of America, 2008. Studies in the Shoah, vol. 30. ISBN 978-0-7618-3920-0
interviewed by Réforme, a French Protestant newspaper, 29 Sept-5 Oct 2005 issue, p. 6, about Mennonites and Nazism in Latin America
review of John B. Toews, ed. and trans., The Diaries of David Epp 1837-1843. (Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2000); and John B. Toews, ed., The Story of the Early Mennonite Brethren (1860-1869): Reflections of a Lutheran Churchman. (Winnipeg: Kindred Productions, 2002) in Mennonite Quarterly Review 77 (April 2003): 343-347.
created a web site showing all 104 Jan Luyken etchings from the 1685 Martyrs Mirror, Dec. 2002
presented a paper "What Is It Possible to Know about Prussian Anabaptism and Early Mennonitism?" at a conference "History and Theology of the Mennonites of Prussia/Poland and the Former Soviet Union," at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, Oct. 20, 2000
presented a paper "Depressed and Divided: West Prussian Mennonite 'Sending Society' in the Late Nineteenth Century" at a conference "One People, Many Voices: Charting the Next Generation of Mennonite Historical Writing in the U. S. and Canada," Abbotsford, British Columbia, May 9, 1998
presented a paper on "Mennonite Church-General Conference Integration and Its Consequences for Historical Activities" at a conference for Mennonite conference and congregational historians, Harleysville, PA, Oct. 22, 1994
review of Matthias H. Rauert and Annelie Kümpers-Greve, Van der Smissen: Eine mennonitische Familie vor dem Hintergrund der Geschichte Altonas und Schleswig-Holsteins: Texte und Dokumente. (Hamburg: Nord-Magazin, 1992) in Mennonite Quarterly Review 68 (July 1994): 425-427
"The Mennonites: A Brief Guide to Information." Twenty-page pamphlet. North Newton, Kansas: Historical Committee of the Western District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church, 1994. (in collaboration with Dale R. Schrag and David A. Haury)
review of Wilma McKee, Heritage Celebrations: A Resource Book for Congregations (Newton, KS: General Conference Mennonite Church Historical Committee, 1992) in The Mennonite: Western District Edition, June 22, 1993
"Mennonites are forever splitting, aren't they?" Gospel Herald, January 26, 1993 (vol. 86, no. 4), pp. 1-3.
"The Myth of Mennonite disunity," The Mennonite, December 22, 1992 (vol. 107, no. 24), pp. 562-563.
review of Peter P. Klassen. Die deutsch-völkische Zeit in der Kolonie Fernheim, Chaco, Paraguay, 1933-1945 (Bolanden-Weierhof, 1990) in Mennonite Life (December 1992)
presented a paper on U.S. Mennonites and National Socialism at the annual symposium of the Society for German-American Studies, Lawrence, Kansas, April 1992
review of C. P. Toews et al., The Kuban Settlement (Winnipeg, 1989) in Mennonite Life (March 1990): 38
review of Peter Hildebrand, Odyssee wider Willen: Das Schicksal eines Auslandsdeutschen (Oldenburg, 1984) in Mennonite Life (September 1989): 35
"The Mennonites: A Brief Guide to Information." Twenty-page pamphlet. North Newton, Kansas: Historical Committee of the Western District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church, 1988. (in collaboration with Dale R. Schrag and David A. Haury)
review of Leonard Doell, The Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Saskatchewan 1892-1975 (Winnipeg, 1987) in Mennonite Life (March 1988): 31
review of Stephen Scott, Why Do They Dress That Way? (Intercourse, Pa., 1986) in Mennonite Life (March 1988): 31
review of Menno Duerksen, Dear God, I'm Only a Boy (Memphis, 1986) in Mennonite Life (December 1987): 28
transcribed and edited E. G. Kaufman, interviewed by Fred Zerger (North Newton, KS: Mennonite Library and Archives, 1986). Transcription of interviews recorded in 1970-1971.
review of the film And When They Shall Ask in Mennonite Life (September 1984): 25-26
"Mennonite Conscientious Objectors during World War I and World War II," "The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror," "Sixteenth Century Anabaptism," "Mennonite World Conference." Scripts for educational slide sets, Newton, Kansas: General Conference Mennonite Church, 1983.
review of David A. Haury, The Quiet Demonstration: The Mennonite Mission in Gulfport, Mississippi (Newton, 1979) in Mennonite Life (September 1981): 30