Donald B. Kraybill Collection | Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

By Gillian Engelbrecht '18, Emily Wieder '19, and Emily Erdlen '23

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Collection Overview

Title: Donald B. Kraybill Collection

ID: MSS/MSS-0007

Primary Creator: Kraybill, Donald B.

Extent: 91.65 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 00/00/2014. More info below under Accruals.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Donald B. Kraybill Collection contains materials from 1690-2021 and spans 83 boxes donated by Kraybill between 2014 and 2022. The collection contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, primary source materials, meeting minutes, interview transcripts, and survey data. The majority of materials in this collection relate to Amish and Mennonite groups within Pennsylvania, with a focus on Lancaster County. The collection includes materials from Kraybill’s extensive research on Amish groups, including materials used in his published works. Some topics covered include legal issues, women’s health, forgiveness, and background information on many different Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren groups.

Collection Historical Note

Donald B. Kraybill, PhD was born in Mount Joy, PA in 1945, where he lived until the age of 8, when he moved to a dairy farm two miles southeast of Lancaster city. When he was sixteen, he moved to another dairy farm near the border of Berks and Chester Counties. Kraybill was raised Mennonite, although later in life he joined the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren congregation in 1980. He graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School in 1963. He attended Millersville University for two years and then received his BA from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA in 1967. After serving with Mennonite Voluntary Service as a conscientious objector, he then received his MA and PhD in sociology from Temple University in 1971 and 1976 respectively. While still in graduate school, Kraybill accepted a full-time position teaching sociology at Elizabethtown College in 1971. Kraybill worked at Elizabethtown College until 1996 eventually becoming sociology department chair until 1989, and then director of the newly opened Young Center. In 1996, Kraybill became the provost at Messiah College, but returned to Elizabethtown College in 2002, where he served as senior fellow in the Young Center until his retirement in 2016. Throughout his career, Kraybill has written dozens of professional articles, and as of 2017, he has written, co-written, or edited 29 books, 15 of which concentrate on Plain sect communities. His works have been translated into at least eight languages. Kraybill was the academic advisor to a two-hour documentary The Amish produced by the American Experience, which aired on PBS. He also served as the expert witness for the prosecution in the 2012 Federal Hate Crimes Trial involving beard-cutting attacks in Bergholtz, OH. He is the founding series editor of Young Center books in Anabaptist and Pietist studies (2006-2016) with thirty scholarly books published by Johns Hopkins University press. He has received several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Administrative Information

Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

Accruals: Additional materials added in 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Access Restrictions: Sub-Series A and B under Series 7: Publications, Sub-Series 33 restricted until January 1, 2025.

Use Restrictions: All researchers must complete a privacy agreement provided by the Archivist.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Amish Mennonite Brethren (AMB) in Lancaster, 1868-2010 (1980-1995)],
[Series 2: Amish, 1882-2021 (1950-2021)],
[Series 3: Lancaster County, 1880-2011 (1970-2000)],
[Series 4: Mennonite, 1864-2016 (1970-2000)],
[Series 5: Other Groups, 1881-2011 (1970s-2009)],
[Series 6: People, 1890-2016 (1970-2014)],
[Series 7: Publications, 1690-2018 (1990-2009)],
[Series 8: Young Center Office Files, 1976-2015 (1990-2010)],
[Series 9: Surveys, 1986-2009],
[All]

Series 3: Lancaster County, 1880-2011 (1970-2000)

This series spans 3 boxes and contains materials from 1880-2011. Materials in this series include newspaper clippings, meeting agendas and minutes, newsletters, and correspondence. All materials in this series relate to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Topics in this series include agriculture, the 1985 film Witness, and zoning information.

Sub-Series 1: Lancaster County Files, 1964-2005

Box 29

Folder 1: Agricultural Preservation and Conservation
Folder 2: Agricultural Preservation and Conservation Cont.
Folder 3: Development/Growth/Zoning
Folder 4: Development/Growth/Zoning Cont.
Folder 5: Farms and Farming
Folder 6: Population
Folder 7: Manure/Pollution
Folder 8: Misc.
Folder 9: Quilts
Folder 10: Tobacco
Folder 11: Tourism
Folder 12: Chesapeake Bay
Folder 13: Intercourse "Meadows"

Sub-Series 2: Newspaper Clippings, 1955-2005

Box 29

Folder 14: Agriculture Preservation/Conservation
Folder 15: Development/Growth/Zoning, 1985-1995: Information pertaining to 1955, 1964, 1982, and 1985-1995
Folder 16: Farms/Farming
Folder 17: Puppy Mills
Folder 18: Population, 1983, 1987-1993
Folder 19: Manure/Pollution
Folder 20: Misc.
Folder 21: Quilts
Folder 22: Churches
Folder 23: Tobacco
Folder 24: Tourists/Tourism
Folder 25: Chesapeake Bay
Folder 26: Intercourse "Meadows"
Folder 27: Religious History

Sub-Series 3: Witness, 1984-2010

Box 29

Folder 28: Image Ethics
Folder 29: Film

Sub-Series 4: Steve Reschley's Rural Lancaster Research, 1930

Box 29

Folder 30: Research

Sub-Series 5: Growth Management Plan, 2003-2004

Box 30

Folder 1: Task Force
Folder 2: Warwick
Folder 3: Growth Management
Folder 4: Updated Task Force, 2003-2004

Sub-Series 6: Allan Gleason, 1987-1989

Box 30

Folder 5: Religion in the Landscape

Sub-Series 7: Traffic Relief, 1993

Box 30

Folder 6: Stage 1
Folder 7: Integrative Report
Folder 8: Ethnography and Historical Demography
Folder 9: Cultural Landscape
Folder 10: Executive Summary, 1997
Folder 11: Prehistoric Archeology
Folder 12: Historical Archeology
Folder 13: Historic Architecture

Sub-Series 8: Task Force Administration, 2004-2006

Box 30

Folder 14: Planning Commission
Folder 15: Task Force Outline
Folder 16: Responsibilities
Folder 17: Schedule
Folder 18: Envision
Folder 19: Meetings
Folder 20: Updated Project Timeline, 2003
Folder 21: Updated Scope of Work, 2003
Folder 22: Status Report
Folder 23: Resources List
Folder 24: Policy Plan Revisions
Folder 25: Updated Plan
Folder 26: Functional Plans
Folder 27: Plans in Progress
Folder 28: Envision Smart Growth
Folder 29: Comprehensive Plan

Sub-Series 9: Lancaster County, 1880-2010

Box 30

Folder 30: Planning Committee and Amish
Folder 31: Route 23
Folder 32: Balance
Folder 33: Agriculture Directory
Folder 34: Agriculture Extension Office
Folder 35: Farmland Trust
Folder 36: Leacock Township
Folder 37: Amish Article 20th Century
Folder 38: Amish History
Folder 39: Religious Groups
Folder 40: Newspaper Incorporation
Folder 41: Agriculture Fletcher
Folder 42: Park City Mall
Folder 43: Planning Commission Ordinance
Folder 44: Population Density
Folder 45: Progress, 1994
Folder 46: Cultural Preservation
Folder 47: Salisbury Township
Folder 48: Transportation and Roads
Folder 49: Workplace - Historical Data, 1980, 1983, 1987
Folder 50: Cropland
Folder 51: Work Horses
Folder 52: Census, 1880
Folder 53: Extension
Folder 54: Farms
Folder 55: Maps
Folder 56: Cows
Folder 57: Census Notes
Folder 58: Tobacco
Folder 59: Development
Folder 60: Plain Churches
Folder 61: Economy Report
Folder 62: County
Folder 63: Mennonite Farming

Box 31

Folder 1: Historical Sites
Folder 2: Agriculture
Folder 3: General
Folder 4: 700 Churches
Folder 5: Agricultural Board
Folder 6: Farmland Preservation
Folder 7: Agricultural Preserve Board
Folder 8: Almanac, 1880
Folder 9: Barns (Glick)
Folder 10: Bart Township
Folder 11: Biographic Annuals
Folder 12: Businesses
Folder 13: Business History
Folder 14: Census, 1880-1980
Folder 15: Data and Demographics
Folder 16: General Sources
Folder 17: GIS
Folder 18: Growth
Folder 19: Growth Bittersweet Study, 1988
Folder 20: German Sister - County
Folder 21: Hispanics in Lancaster County, 1990
Folder 22: Histories
Folder 23: History - Welsh
Folder 24: Humor
Folder 25: Lancaster City
Folder 26: Community Hospital
Folder 27: Highway Project
Folder 28: Planning Commission

Sub-Series 10: Misc., 1913, 1994

Box 31

Folder 29: Sim Schmalzgicht's Own Magazine
Folder 30: Buggies Calenddar, 1994