Help:Hutterite Colonies

How to Write an Article on a Hutterite Colony

An article dealing with a Hutterite Colony gives basic factual information. For the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) the style of writing should be direct, factual and succinct. For questions on style contact an editor or see GAMEO Style Sheet for Authors.

Elements to be Considered for a Hutterite Colony Entry

1. Current name of colony, municipality in which located (if not part of name), and province; map coordinates; and name of the church or leut of which the colony is a member;
2. Identify colony’s parent colony and the daughter colonies that have been parented;
3. Origin of the colony -- dates of first meeting, date of formal organization, names of person(s) considered to be the founders;
4. Milestones in colony life -- new buildings or relocations (with dates), first leader, colony name changes (with dates of change for all name changes), division of colony to form another colony;
5. Does colony have a cemetery and do the graves have markers?
6. Interactions with the outside community or / and governments that the colony has had;
7. Events or activities that are important for your colony;
8. Particularly interesting anecdotes that would be of interest to persons outside the colony;
9. Describe characteristics of the colony: leadership style, particular mission and/or services, specific business enterprises associated with the colony, activities that form the economic base of the colony;
10. Leaders, including dates of service and give significant time to colony leadership; (This could also be put into a table form displayed with "Additional information" and could be expanded to other leadership persons in the colony, e.g. managers. Include the name of current colony leaders;
11. If the colony changed affiliations (Leut) and the years of affiliation;
12. Membership statistics at five year intervals: the number of souls form your colony, members, children;
13. Closure of the colony (if applicable) -- dates of last meetings, reasons for colony's closing, details of merger (if joining with another colony);
14. Current address and phone number of the colony. If there is a colony web site that is not commercial in nature, please give the URL;
15. Location of colony's archives or where records are stored for future historical reference;
16. Published and unpublished sources (this is not to be exhaustive); encyclopedia articles do not need citation of particular annual meeting minutes, for example, but could refer to the colony's "Annual reports";
17. Resources used for German School, for sermons and spiritual growth;
18. Have members had education, apprenticeships, or training outside of your public and colony schools?

Structure of the Article

Not all elements need to be in every colony entry but each element should be considered. Controversial aspects of a colony's experience should not be ignored, but dealt with in a factual and balanced manner. Colony entries may be accompanied by up to two photographs -- one of the building (either current or historic) and possibly an early leader or a significant event in the colony's life, e.g. a major fire. Photos should be accompanied by information on photographer, name of person(s) in photo, and date of the photo.