Ira David Landis (12 January 1899 - 27 February 1977) was a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

minister, amateur

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, and writer famous for his contributions to the ''Mennonite Research Journal'' and for founding the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society and

Hans Herr House The Hans Herr House, also known as the Christian Herr House, is a historic home located in West Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1719, and is a -story, rectangular sandstone Germanic dwelling. It measures 37 fe ...

museum. He also ran a farm with his wife in Lititz, PA. Landis was president of the

Pennsylvania German Society The Pennsylvania German Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to studying the Pennsylvania German people and their 330-year history in the United States and Canada. The Society works to preserve and promote the history, cult ...

for 1972.

Early Archival Work 1930s-1950s

Landis began as an amateur

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

by keeping Mennonite church documents stored at his farmhouse. In 1939 he was reached out to by prominent Mennonite theologian Harold S. Bender for a variety of documents, notes, and summaries related to the Conference on Applied Nonresistance to add to the archive at

Goshen College Goshen College is a Private college, private Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, ...

. This interaction led to a correspondence between the two over manuscripts, images, and church records that would be sent over to Goshen from local Mennonite communities in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

. Many of these documents would be used in Bender's papers in the Mennonite Quarterly Review.

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society

In the late 1950s Landis was entrusted with a large collection of papers from Christian E. Charles, one of the

deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

at Landisville Mennonite Church. No longer able to house these documents at his home, he founded the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in 1958 to store and maintain the new archive. Under Landis, the society continued to grow and he founded the ''Mennonite Research Journal'' in 1960. He would remain the main editor of the quarterly journal from April 1960 until his death in 1977. During this period, Landis would go on to write many works and became known for his updated English translation of

Martyrs Mirror ''Martyr's Mirror'' or ''The Bloody Theater'', first published in Holland in 1660 in Dutch by Thieleman J. van Braght, documents the stories and testimonies of Christian martyrs, especially Anabaptists. The full title of the book is ''The Bloody ...

in 1964. In 1969 Landis acquired the

and renovated the property turning it into a Museum open to the public in 1974. The museum became listed under

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

due to the extensive restoration done by Landis and others. The Hans Herr House would go on to become a main site for many of Landis' archives. Following his death, his role was succeeded by Carolyn Charles Wenger, daughter of Christian Charles who provided the original documents which founded the historical society.

Works (selection)

* ''The Missionary Movement among Lancaster Conference Mennonites'', Scottdale, PA 1937. * ''The Faith of Our Fathers on Eschatology'', Lititz, PA 1946. * ''The Landis Family Book'', Lancaster, PA 1950, housed at

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

* ''I must see Switzerland: With 100 illustrations and maps'', Lancaster, PA 1954 * ''The Lancaster Mennonite Conference: History and Background'', Scottdale, PA 1956. * ''Old mills in Lancaster County'', Lancaster, PA 1964. * ''Noah H. Mack: his life and times, 1861-1948'', Scottdale, PA 1952, together with Jacob Paul Graybill and J. Paul Sauder. * ''

'' (translation), 1964

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landis, Ira 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 1899 births 1977 deaths American male non-fiction writers American Mennonites Mennonite writers