Mennonite Heritage Village Museum hires much needed Assistant Curator

The Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach has hired a new Assistant Curator, originally from the Blumenort area.

Garth Doerksen, a recently retired schoolteacher, will be working with and assisting MHV Senior Curator, Andrea Klassen.

Though Doerksen has no specific education in the field, his love for Mennonite history was passed down to him from family members as well as from his uncle, Delbert Plett, and has what he calls, ‘the history bug’.

“Just knowing that our history, our own personal history tells us a lot about who we are, where we've come from, and with that information on how we can and should live.” 

“A variety of my family members have really enjoyed Mennonite history. My grandfather on the Doerksen side of the family, as well as my dad, always something that they cherished. My grandfather in particular was eager to make account of the graves in the Blumenort/Blumenoff area. There were a variety of scattered graves of the Kleine Gemeinde (EMC) that hadn't been documented, and so I helped him do that a few years prior to his passing. So that was a great opportunity to learn to love history.” 

Having recently moved back to the area from Jantzeed, the Winkler area, and family still living in Blumenort, Doerksen says he had always kept the thought of working or volunteering at the MHV, at the back of his mind.

Doerksen admits he’s anticipating a steep learning curve but says,

“I think having at least a reasonably good grasp of the Mennonite history of the area, and of course, I've lived on what is the West Reserve (Winkler area). So, I’ve got some familiarity with the communities there, that certainly has helped as well.”

As to what his job will entail, Doerksen says he is still learning what he’ll be doing,

“But certainly, there are the 17,000 items in the museum’s collection, and growing. All those items need to be catalogued, and that's quite a process I'm learning. And then of course, when possible, exhibited, and that's nice to be able to show the public what the story of the history of the Mennonites has looked like.”

Doerksen adds not all of his work will be data entry, cataloging and maintaining the database, he also expects to be handling the artifacts.

“For example, the Russländer exhibit has just ended and so Andrea and I will be starting to go into that exhibit to dismantle it, and then putting those articles back into the collection which I am looking forward to being a part of.” 

Doerksen says, after having been in education for 30-plus years as a teacher, school principal, and Superintendent, he has most enjoyed working with kids and families.

“So now that I’m retired, I think it's good to sometimes step out of a position when you're when you still have more to give. Not that I was really looking for anything. To be honest, my wife saw this ad and sent it to me and thought, wow, this might be perfect. And so yeah, I explored the position a little bit with Andrea, and it has worked out that I took the position and I really look forward to the work that's happening here.”

In August of this year, Executive Director of MHV, Gary Dyck noted that the MHV had received grant money to upgrade their IT system and to have an accurate account of all the items in the museum's archives. Hiring Doerksen is a move in this direction. Dyck says, Doerksen will be a great asset to Andrea Klassen, Senior Curator and the MHV as a whole.

"We are happy to have someone administratively gifted like Garth in this position and we hope he will be here for many years."

Doerksen grew up in Blumenort. His family spent a few years in Edmonton while his father got his PhD there. He attended Steinbach Christian School, attended Mennonite Brethern Bible College (MBBC) in Winnipeg and then to the U of M for his Bachelor's of Education.

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