GAMEO:About
Introduction
The Global Mennonite Encyclopedia Online began in 1996 as a project of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada (under the name Canadian Mennonite Encyclopedia Online). It was intended to be a dynamic source of information about the Anabaptist-Mennonite groups in Canada. It emerged from a congregational database created by Marlene Epp for the three-volume Mennonites in Canada history series. Later the Society obtained permission from Herald Press then located in Scottdale, Pennsylvania to copy and modify entries of the four-volume Mennonite Encyclopedia published in the 1950s, and a supplemental fifth volume published in 1990. In 2005 two partners -- the Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission and the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee -- joined the project, and expanded it to become an English-language Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO). Mennonite Central Committee joined the partnership in early 2006, Mennonite World Conference in January 2007, Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism in October 2011, and the D. F. Plett Historical Research Foundation in 2021.
The project includes the full text of the print Mennonite Encyclopedia, edited for tense and time context, and continues to add new content both from North America and around the world. In May 2021 there were over 16,900 articles in GAMEO.
Articles in GAMEO are assigned and editorially reviewed before upload; GAMEO is not a "Wiki"-style project. Encyclopedia subjects include, but are not limited to, history, statistics, biography, education, the arts, and family history. The Encyclopedia Search provides for a word or phrase search on the Encyclopedia's content or browsing an alphabetical index.
If you have corrections or suggestions for an encyclopedia article, please contact admin@gameo.org. Be specific in your comments and give the exact name/address of the article (this can be copied from the bottom of each article).
Global Anabaptist Wiki
GAMEO cooperates with the Global Anabaptist Wiki. The Global Anabaptist Wiki is an interactive community of Anabaptist-Mennonite groups from around the world. Initiated by the Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College, the site is committed to helping individual groups: 1) tell their own stories; 2) post and preserve electronic archives; and 3) become better informed about other groups in the global Anabaptist fellowship. The Global Anabaptist Wiki is a major site for primary sources related to the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition from the 16th century to the present and in a wide variety of languages.
Volunteers
GAMEO has appreciated the volunteers who have assisted in bringing the print Mennonite Encyclopedia to the web. It would not have been possible without the assistance of Richard Thiessen, David Giesbrecht, Victor Wiebe, J. J. Neufeld, Larry Kehler, Ammar Naseer, Adolf Ens, Abe Dueck, Susan Huebert, Ernie Braun, Alf Redekopp, Bert Friesen, Kevin Enns-Rempel, Peggy Goertzen, John D. Thiesen, Andrew Klager, Sam Steiner, and anonymous Columbia Bible College students.
General Editor
In May 2017, following the resignation of Richard Thiessen as Managing Editor of GAMEO, the board appointed John D. Roth, Professor of History at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, as General Editor of GAMEO. In this role, John provided leadership in networking with the academic community and international church community, and in helping to shape the GAMEO vision going forward. The General Editor assignment is considered to be the responsibility of the Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism, located at Goshen College. In 2022 John Roth retired and ISGA Director Elizabeth Miller assumed the role of General Editor.
Consulting Editors
GAMEO consults with a wide variety of scholars who serve as advisers to the Editors on subject articles in the areas of theology, history, sociology, the arts, and other areas that may develop. Consulting Editors are either academics in post-secondary institutions or persons with highly developed knowledge in a specialized subject area.
The persons listed below are those who have consented to serve as consulting editors as of June 2020:
| Name | Country |
|---|---|
| Ervin Beck | United States |
| Johannes Dyck | Germany |
| Marlene Epp | Canada |
| Kerry Fast | Canada |
| Hans-Jürgen Goertz | Germany |
| Alle G. Hoekema | Netherlands |
| Jon Isaak | Canada |
| Hanspeter Jecker | Switzerland |
| Karl Koop | Canada |
| Don Kraybill | United States |
| Juan Martinez | United States |
| Barbara Nkala | Zimbabwe |
| Gerhard Ratzlaff | Paraguay |
| Jaime Adrián Prieto Valladares | Costa Rica |
| Rebecca Slough | United States |
| Hildi Froese Tiessen | Canada |
| Pakisa Tshimika | United States |
| James Urry | New Zealand |
Management Board
The GAMEO Management Board in September 2023 was composed of Jon Isaak (Chair, Winnipeg, Manitoba), Elizabeth Miller (General Editor, Goshen, Indiana), Olivia Krall (Elkhart, Indiana), Ken Sensenig (Akron, Pennsylvania), Bert Friesen (Associate Editor, Winnipeg, Manitoba), Alf Redekopp (Associate Editor, St. Catharines, Ontario), Laureen Harder-Gissing (Kitchener, Ontario), Anicka Fast (Burkina Faso) and Aileen Friesen (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Editors
The following persons have editorial privileges on GAMEO as of May 2021: Samuel Steiner (Associate Editor), Alf Redekopp (Associate Editor), Bert Friesen (Associate Editor), Richard Thiessen, Jason Kauffman, Susan Huebert, Richard Lougheed, Zacharie Leclair, Emmy Maendel, Jason A. Miller, Richard Bowman, and Joe Springer.
GAMEO Partners
Our partner organizations relate both to national Mennonite denominations, and to regional and local Amish and Mennonite historical groups. Follow the links to the websites of each partner to learn more about their programs and lines of accountability.