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 8: Young Center Office Files, 1976-2015 (1990-2010)

This series spans 1 box and contains materials from 1976-2015. The materials in this series include mailing lists, statistics, and scholarship. Some files in this series are written in German/Pennsylvania Dutch, Spanish, and French. This series is mainly focused on Lancaster County and rural Pennsylvania. Topics present include Amish, Anabaptist, and Mennonite subjects, theology, and history.

Sub-Series 1: External Organizations

Box 76

Folder 1: Mailing Lists
Folder 2: Hospitals Mailing Lists
Folder 3: Amish Farm and House- Eric Conner, 2013, 2014
Folder 4: Anabaptist Foundation
Folder 5: Anabaptist Historical and Information Centers
Folder 6: Anabaptist Sociology and Anthropology Association (ASAA), 1976-2008: Includes a paper by J. Howard Kauffman
Folder 7: Anabaptist-Mennonite Network of Scholars
Folder 8: Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Folder 9: Bethany Theological Seminary
Folder 10: Bienenberg College- Swiss
Folder 11: Bird-in-Hand Historical Project, 1995
Folder 12: Brethren Disaster Ministries, 2008
Folder 13: Brethren Encyclopedia
Folder 14: Brethren Heritage Center Recorder
Folder 15: Center for Pennsylvania German Studies: German/PA Dutch
Folder 16: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
Folder 17: Center for the Study of Religion and Society, Notre Dame
Folder 18: Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Folder 19: Christian Aid Ministries
Folder 20: Christian Peacemaker Teams
Folder 21: Chronical of Higher Education
Folder 22: Church of the Brethren
Folder 23: Communal Societies Quarterly
Folder 24: Council of Christian Colleges, 1998
Folder 25: Crossroads, Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center, VA
Folder 26: The Damascus Road: Anti-Racism Process
Folder 27: Eastern Mennonite Associated Libraries and Archives
Folder 28: Ephrata Hospital
Folder 29: Family Research Center GAP
Folder 30: Garden Spot Village Project
Folder 31: Good Enterprises
Folder 32: Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
Folder 33: Halle Francke Foundations
Folder 34: Harmonies Workshop
Folder 35: Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster, The
Folder 36: Hospice of Lancaster County
Folder 37: Institute of Mennonite Studies
Folder 38: Institute for Global Engagement (Vietnam), 2008
Folder 39: Intercourse News, 2008
Folder 40: International Communal Studies Association
Folder 41: Lancaster County Planning Commission, 2005, 2006
Folder 42: Lancaster Farmland Trust
Folder 43: Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
Folder 44: Lancaster Mennonite High School, 1992, 1993
Folder 45: Lancaster Mennonite Information Center: Note from DBK: There is a Mennonite Information Center in Ohio, which is different from the Lancaster one (see Folder 55)
Folder 46: Lancaster Newspapers
Folder 47: London Mennonite Center
Folder 48: Mennonite Church Historical Committee/Archives, 2005
Folder 49: Mennonite Church USA
Folder 50: Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), 2009, 2011
Folder 51: Mennonite Historians of Eastern PA Meetinghouse
Folder 52: Mennonite Historical Library
Folder 53: Mennonite Historical Society
Folder 54: Menno-Hof
Folder 55: Mennonite Information Center, Inc. (Ohio): Includes The Flame newsletter, nonconsecutive issues 1999-2008
Folder 56: Mennonite World Conference, 2015
Folder 57: Muddy Creek Farm Library
Folder 58: Mutual Aid Societies (Mennonite)
Folder 59: Non-killing Societies
Folder 60: Penn State Archives Hostetler/Gaines
Folder 61: Pennsylvania Agriculture Statistics, 2007, 2008, 2009
Folder 62: Pennsylvania Cable Network