June 8, 2009 issue
History’s timeline recharted
With paper made the old-fashioned way — in a windmill — Dutch father and daughter plot five centuries of Anabaptism
By MWR staff and the International Menno Simons Center in Witmarsum, the Netherlands.WITMARSUM, the Netherlands — Inspired by an American father and daughter’s project nearly 25 years ago, a Dutch father-daughter pair has put Anabaptist history on a timeline chart.
The 17th-century windmill known as De Schoolmeester — owned by a Mennonite family, the De Jongs, for generations — is now preserved by the Association of Zaanse Windmills. — Photo provided
The new “Timeline II” by Jacob Schiere and daughter Nelleke Schiere of the Netherlands follows the example set by U.S. historian Robert Kreider and daughter Ruth Kreider in 1985.
The Kreiders’ nearly 8-foot-long poster can still be found on the walls of Mennonite churches across North America.
The Schieres’ version is printed as an accordion-fold book more than 8 feet long. It presents the five-century history of Mennonites in the form of a timeline with maps.
The International Menno Simons Center in Witmarsum is publishing and producing the timeline, with Kees Knijnenberg providing key leadership. Mennonite Publishing Network is handling sales in North America.
Windmills and paper
In promotional materials, the Dutch producers highlight the timeline’s connections to the historic Dutch windmill industry and centuries-old papermaking methods.
Timeline II is bound between heavy black Zaansche Board paper made at a 300-year-old windmill known as “De Schoolmeester,” or “The Schoolmaster.”
Built in 1692, De Schoolmeester is the only windmill in the world that still produces paper commercially, according to a news release by the timeline’s producers.
Until its present owner, De Schoolmeester was always in Mennonite families’ hands. Since 1977 it is one of 12 industrial windmills preserved by the Association of Zaanse Windmills.
Comments
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Where can I obtain a copy of this timeline?
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It is out of stock currently, but this page of MPN's site has more information.
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that is awsome
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