John Fretz Funk, 1835-1930

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Hist. Mss. 1-1
Contained in 140 boxes (21 in long green box collection, 1 Hollinger box)

Biographical Sketch

John Fretz Funk, 1835-1930, was one of the most important leaders among (Old) Mennonites in the 19th century. Fretz was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and lived there until he was 22 years old. He was trained as a school teacher at Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College). He taught in his home community, but after two years, he moved to Chicago in 1857 to work in the lumber business with his brother-in-law, Jacob Beidler.

In January of 1864, John Funk started a printing and publishing business in Chicago. He decided to move himself and his publishing house to Elkhart, Indiana, in 1867, after ten years in Chicago. John Funk lived the rest of his years in Elkhart. He belonged to the Prairie Street Mennonite Church and was buried there in 1930. He died at the age of 95.
Funk's well-known Herald of Truth was published in Elkhart at the Mennonite Publishing Company. In 1908 "the Herald," as it was called, merged with the Gospel Witness to create the Gospel Herald, which was published in Scottdale until 1998. Also published by Funk were Mennonitische Rundschau, and Mennonite Sunday School Quarterly.
Dutch-Russian Mennonites met Funk as they passed through Elkhart and Prairie Street Mennonite Church on their way to new homes in Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. John Funk was an organizer and supporter of the Mennonite Board of Guardians, an agency to assist Mennonites to immigrate from Russia to America in the 1870s.
In 1908 the Mennonite Church and Publication Board took charge of Funk's publishing house.

Box Listing
Box 1 Diaries 1852-1871 Green
Box 2 Diaries 1862-1879 Green
Box 3 Diaries 1879-1899 Green
Box 4 Diaries 1900s & misc. Green
Box 5 Correspondence 1853-1862 Green
Box 6 Correspondence 1861-1870 Green
Box 7 Correspondence 1871-June 1875 Green
Box 8 Correspondence July 1875-1885 Green
Box 9 Correspondence 1885-March 1887 Green
Box 10 Correspondence April 1887-Dec 1887 Green
Box 11 Correspondence Jan 1888-Oct 1888 Green
Box 12 Correspondence Nov 1888-June 1889 Green
Box 13 Correspondence July 1889-Dec 1889 Green
Box 14 Correspondence Jan 1890-Sept 1890 Green
Box 15 Correspondence Oct 1890-March 1891 Green
Box 16 Correspondence April 1891-Oct 1891 Green
Box 17 Correspondence Jan 1893-Sept 1893 Green
Box 18 Correspondence April 1892-1892-93 Green
Box 19 Correspondence Jan 1893-Sept 1893 Green
Box 20 Correspondence Oct 1893-Dec 1893 & undated 1894-1909 Green
Box 21 Correspondence Jan 1894-Aug 1894 Green
Box 22 Correspondence Sept 1894-June 1895 Green
Box 23 Correspondence July 1895-June 1896 Green
Box 24 Correspondence July 1896-Feb 1898 Green
Box 25 Correspondence March-Dec 1898 Green
Box 26 Correspondence Jan - Oct 1899 Green
Box 27 Correspondence Nov 1899-Aug 1900 Green
Box 28 Correspondence Sept 1900-June 1901 Green
Box 29 Correspondence July 1901-Feb 1902 Green
Box 30 Correspondence March - Dec 1902 Green
Box 31 Correspondence 1903-1905 Green
Box 32 Correspondence Jan - Dec 1906 Green
Box 33 Correspondence Jan - Oct 1907 Green
Box 34 Correspondence Nov 1907-Sept 1908 Green
Box 35 Correspondence Oct 1908-Dec 1910 Green
Box 36 Correspondence 1911 - 1915 Green
Box 37 Correspondence 1916 - 1924; undated Green
Box 38 Correspondence 1916-1924 & Funk/Kolb undated Green
Box 39 Correspondence 1900-01, 1906, 1908-9 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 40 Correspondence 1909 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 41 Correspondence Dec 22, 1909-Oct 24, 1910 Long Green
Box 42 Correspondence Oct 24, 1910-Feb 27, 1912 (Carbon books) Long Green
Box 43 Correspondence Feb 28, 1912-Oct 22, 1913 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 44 Correspondence Oct 22, 1913-Dec 5, 1913 & March 21, 1908-Nov 4, 1908 (Carbon books) Long Green
Box 45 Correspondence ca. 1875-1904, 1910, 1918-19 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 46 Correspondence 1900-06 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 47 Correspondence Dec 23, 1905-May 10, 1906 (carbon books) Long Green
Box 48 Autobiographical materials, general Green
Box 49 Autobiographical materials, general, church history, S.S. work, publication work Green
Box 50 Autobiographical materials, sermons, misc. Green
Box 51 Historical memorandums Green
Box 52 Historical memorandums Green
Box 53 Historical memorandums Green
Box 54 Historical memorandums Green
Box 55 Sermon notes - Acts 1 to church obedience, church rules, membership Green
Box 56 Sermon notes - Church unity/dissention to Elkhart Institute Green
Box 57 Sermon notes - Elkhart Mennonite Church to Heaven Green
Box 58 Sermon notes - Hebrews to Mennonite Publication Board Green
Box 59 Sermon notes - Mennonites in Elkhart Co. to Resurrection Green
Box 60 Sermon notes - Revelation to young people Green
Box 61 Sermon notes - notebooks Green
Box 62 Church & conference affairs Green
Box 63 Church & conference affairs - Elkhart churches Green
Box 64 Church & conference affairs - Elkhart trouble Green
Box 65 Church & conference affairs - Elkhart trouble Elkhart church records Green
Box 66 Sunday schools - record books Green
Box 67 Sunday schools - Reports and articles for Herald of Truth Green
Box 68 Mennonite Board of Guardians Long Green
Box 69 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Articles of incorporation, by-laws, annual reports, stockholders meetings Green
Box 70 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Book lists Green
Box 71 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Book lists and catalogs Green
Box 72 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Inventories Long Green
Box 73 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Engravers cuts and engravings Green
Box 74 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Subscribers Green
Box 75 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Suscribers lists Long Green
Box 76 Mennonite Publishing Co.- Stockholders certificates Green
Box 77 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Time & payrole books Long Green
Box 78 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Financial & legal papes Long Green
Box 79 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Mss about MPC Green
Box 80 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Correspondence Green
Box 81 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Misc materials & memo books Green
Box 82 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Non-Mennonite ads & booklets Green
Box 83 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Young People's Paper Green
Box 84 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Family history materials Green
Box 85 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Account books Large
Box 86 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Account books Large
Box 87 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Account books Large
Box 88 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Account books Large
Box 89 Mennonite Publishing Co. - Account books Large
Box 90 Herald of Truth Articles A - G Green
Box 91 Herald of Truth Articles H - O Green
Box 92 Herald of Truth Articles P - Z Green
Box 93 Herald of Truth Funk articles Green
Box 94 Herald of Truth - Articles likely by Funk Green
Box 95 Herald of Truth - Unsigned articles and misc. Green
Box 96 Herald of Truth - incomplete manuscripts Green
Box 97 Herald of Truth - incomplete manuscripts Green
Box 98 Herald of Truth - manuscripts in German Green
Box 99 Herald of Truth - manuscripts in German Green
Box 100 Herald of Truth - obituaries Green
Box 101 Herald of Truth - articles about periodicals Green
Box 102 Herald of Truth - Mennonite history articles Green
Box 103 Manuscripts - Henry Funk's restitution Green
Box 104 Manuscripts - John Horsch Green
Box 105 Manuscripts - Peter Burkholder book, Funk family history Green
Box 106 Austell Improvement Company Green
Box 107 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 108 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 109 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 110 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 111 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 112 Financial & legal papers Long Green
Box 113 Clippings & tracts, articles, misc. - Funk, Timothy Green
Box 114 Clippings & tracts - Menno Simons - Prairie Street Mennonite Church Green
Box 115 Clippings & tracts - Sunday schools - tracts and pamphlets Green
Box 116 Misc. catalog of Funk library and biographical sketches Green
Box 117 Misc. record books Green
Box 118 Misc. School materials, Bible Society Accounts Long Green
Box 119 Misc. Green
Box 120 Misc - memorandum books Green
Box 121 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1872-1899 Green
Box 122 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1900-1901 Green
Box 123 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1902 Green
Box 124 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1903 Green
Box 125 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1904 Green
Box 126 A. B. Kolb correspondence 1905-1921 Green
Box 127 Mrs. F. F. Funk, Martha & Phoebe correspondence, 1857-1899 Green
Box 128 Diaries Green
Box 129 Correspondence 1858-1929 Green
Box 130 Correspondence Salome Funk, 1862-1917 Green
Box 131 Correspondence Misc. Green
Box 132 Financial & legal papers Green
Box 133 Collected articles Green
Box 134 Collected articles Green
Box 135 Church & conference affairs Green
Box 136 Publishing interests Green
Box 137 Notebooks Green
Box 138 Notebooks Green
Box 139 Kolb collection Green
Box 140 Kolb collection Green
Box 141 Historical memorandum books Green
Box 142 Artifacts Large

Series Headings

Diaries Boxes 1-4
Correspondence, 1853-1928 Boxes 5-47
Autobiographical materials Boxes 48-50
Historical memorandums Boxes 51-54
Sermon notes Boxes 55-61
Church and conference affairs Boxes 62-65
Sunday schools Boxes 66-67
Mennonite Board of Guardians Box 68
Mennonite Publishing Company Boxes 69-89
Herald of Truth articles Boxes 90-102
Manuscripts Boxes 103-105
Austell Improvement Company Box 106
Financial and legal papers Boxes 107-112
Clippings and tracts Boxes 113-115
Miscellaneous Boxes 116-120
A. B. Kolb correspondence, 1872-1921 Boxes 121-126
Phoebe, Martha & Mrs. Funk correspondence Box 127

Sykes Accession

Diaries Box 128
Correspondence Boxes 129-131
Financial and legal papers Boxes 132-133
Collected articles Box 134
Church and conference affairs Box 135
Publishing interests Box 136
Notebooks Box 137-138
Kolb collection Boxes 139-140

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