He also wrote 10 congregational and community histories, including Sonnenberg: A Haven and a Heritage. He produced the “Directory of Mennonites, Amish, and other Anabaptist Groups in Virginia,” what the Shenandoah Mennonite Historian periodical called “probably the most comprehensive available listing of Anabaptist groups in Virginia.” He co-wrote the widely praised sourcebook Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War with Goshen College professor Steven M. Nolt in 2007 and penned dozens of articles.

“James O. Lehman is a modest man, deliberate, reserved, unruffled,” wrote former EMU academic dean and newly called interim president Lee Snyder in  a 1991 Mennonite Historical Bulletin article. When Lehman began discussing history, though, “his eyes light up, and he becomes animated,” Snyder noted.

Lehman confessed in a 2008 essay for the Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center that studying the past was not always enthralling back in his days as a student at Eastern Mennonite College.

“History was not always high in my priorities,” Lehman wrote. “I still have a college European history textbook from the early 50s on which I have scribbled the words on the outside edge, ‘In case of flood stand on me; I’m dry!’

“But in 1957-58,” Lehman continued, “Dr. Irvin B. Horst’s marvelous course on American Mennonite history hooked me for life!”

Lehman went on to graduate from EMC with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 1959 and completed a Master of Library Science and post-master’s work at Kent State University while also serving as a librarian and teacher in his home area of Kidron, Ohio.

He eventually returned to Eastern Mennonite as an assistant librarian and assistant professor in 1969. He became director of libraries in 1973, serving until his retirement in 1998.

Early in his tenure, he aided the “miracle drive” that raised more than $100,000 in a single weekend in December 1969, providing the needed funds that allowed the new library building, later named the Sadie A. Hartzler Library, to be built. Lehman wrote about the event in a 1971 issue of EMC Bulletin, the precursor to Crossroads. He titled his recollections “A Modern-Day Miracle in Three Acts,” and called it “the most dramatic fund-raising event” in the school’s history.

Lehman oversaw the moving of library materials to the new building in 1971, improved a variety of library processes, started an interlibrary loan program and arranged reciprocal borrowing agreements with James Madison University.

He also served on the Mennonite Church Historical Committee for 13 years, served as archivist for the Virginia Mennonite Conference and was president of the Eastern Mennonite High School Alumni Association.

Outside of his historical work, Lehman enjoyed traveling extensively with his wife, Dorothy (Amstutz), whom he married in 1953, and volunteering with various church-related programs. He was a member of Lindale Mennonite Church.

Dorothy survives along with five children and their families, including seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

That was Lehman’s real treasure, says Lois Bowman, faculty member emerita and librarian at EMU from 1963 to 2014 and next-door neighbor to the Lehmans for 30 years.

“He loved research and all that,” Bowman says, “but first and foremost he was a family man, especially after his grandchildren came along.”

A memorial service will take place Saturday, Feb. 13, at 11 a.m. at Lindale Mennonite Church, conducted by pastors Duane Yoder and Dawn Monger. The family will receive friends on Friday, Feb. 12, from 6-8 p.m. at the church. Online condolences can be made at .

Two experts in Anabaptist studies have collaborated on the first scholarly examination of pacifism during the Civil War.

“Mennonites, Amish and the American Civil War,” by James O. Lehman of Harrisonburg and Steven M. Nolt of Goshen, Ind., describes the various strategies used by the sectarian religious groups in responding to the North-South conflict and the effects of war on these communities.

Lehman is librarian emeritus at EMU, archivist for Virginia Mennonite Conference and the author of nine congregational histories and a book on 20th century Mennonite revivalism.

Steven M. Nolt, professor of history at Goshen (Ind.) College and coauthor of two books on Amish faith and life

Nolt is professor of history at Goshen (Ind.) College and coauthor of two books on Amish faith and life, both published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Bloodiest War in American History

Integrating the most recent Civil War scholarship with little-known primary sources and new information from Pennsylvania and Virginia to Illinois and Iowa, Lehman and Nolt provide a definitive account of the Anabaptist experience during the bloodiest war in American history with 620,000 dead and over a million maimed and wounded.

The authors focus on moral dilemmas Mennonites and Amish faced that that tested the very core of their faith: How to oppose both slavery and the war to end it? How to remain outside the conflict without entering the American mainstream to secure legal conscientious objector status.

The book serves as a good reminder that not all churches immersed themselves in super-charged patriotism for either the Confederacy or the Union.

“The book is an easy read, with lots of arresting stories of faith under test,” said Albert N. Keim, professor emeritus of history at EMU. “Its amazingly thorough research makes the book convincing. After reading it, I was convinced I had just acquired an accurate understanding of my forbears response to the Civil War,” he added.

The 376-page hardback book, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, is available for $39.95 at leading bookstores and at www.amazon.com.