Tracker Pixel for Entry

​55 Years at NDSU: the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection

Culture | January 8th, 2023

By Michael M. Miller

michael.miller@ndsu.edu

My deepest appreciation to our Germans from Russia community for the cards and emails, as well as financial gifts to honor my retirement for GRHC’s Germans from Russia Fund. My lifelong dream has been to preserve, document, and enrich the heritage and culture of our Germans from Russia community – and it does not end with my retirement. I will volunteer at GRHC with special projects and work with Prairie Public to produce the Germans from Russia Documentary Series.

Jeremy shared, “Michael has had a strong personal impact on my life and career through his support, mentorship, and friendship since 2010. He has connected me to the Germans from Russia community and colleagues throughout the world. His legacy of developing and fostering relationships is just one of many things I hope to carry forward at the GRHC and the NDSU Libraries.”

Longtime friend and NDSU colleague Dr. Thomas Isern, University Distinguished Professor of History, said, “Michael Miller is a man with a mission. He has dedicated his working life to the definition, documentation, study, and organization of his people, the Germans from Russia. He has created a world-class repository here at NDSU and has led countless expeditions abroad for prairie folk to discover their old-country roots. He exemplifies what it means to be German-Russian: hard work, dedication, faith. With NDSU as his platform and base, he has become the consummate Bison, interested in all university affairs, absorbed with his accomplishments in lab and field. He is a paragon in public service.”

Reflecting on my 55 years at North Dakota State University from 1967 to 2022, I would like to share some of my highlights.

Working with Bob Dambach at Prairie Public as an executive producer, we completed ten documentaries of the award-winning Germans from Russia Documentary Series: The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie (1999); Schmeckfest: Food Traditions of the Germans from Russia (2000); Prairie Crosses, Prairie Roses: Iron Crosses of the Great Plains (2002); A Soulful Sound: Music of the Germans from Russia (2005); Heaven Is Our Homeland: The Glückstalers of New Russia & North America (2005); It’s All Earth and Sky (2010); At Home in Russia, At Home on the Prairie (2012); We (Never) Don’t Forget: Germans from Russia in South America (2015); Gutes Essen: Good Eating in German-Russian Country (2017); Women Behind the Plow (2019).

Some amazing shining stars in the documentaries include: Theresa (Kuntz) Bachmeier, Rugby, ND, making Cheese Buttons (Kase Knoephla); Anne (Roesch) Larson, Aberdeen, SD, preparing Easter Buns (Kranz); Barbara (Riesling) Schneider, Scott, SK, singing; Theresa (Meier) Eissinger, Napoleon, ND, making Fleischkuechle; Mary Ann (Werre), Lehr, ND, preparing Strudels; Dr. Adam Giesinger, Winnipeg, MB, growing up near Holdfast, SK; Carolyn (Kuhn) Sperle, age 101, Napoleon, ND, making Borscht Soup; Dr. Paul Wiens, Witmarsum, Brazil, telling the story of Mennonite Germans; Roberto Racho, sharing the Volhynian German settlement in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Christina (Gross) Jundt, Rugby, ND, sharing about growing up in Balta; Msgr. Joseph Senger recalling growing up on a farm near Orrin, ND; Ron Volk, Harvey, ND, sharing about wedding traditions; and Sergio Keiner, Parana, Argentina, about growing up Volga German.

The twenty-three Journey to the Homeland Tours from 1996 to 2019 to Germany and Ukraine brought more than 700 people to walk the steps of their ancestors in the former Bessarabian, Black Sea, and Crimean German villages: Baden, Beresina, Bergdorf, Grossliebental, Hoffnungstal, Kandel, Kassel, Karlsruhe, Katharinental, Kulm, Leipzig, Neudorf, Rastatt, Rosental, Sarata, Selz, Speyer, Strassburg, Tarutino, Worms, Zurichtal, and many others.

The Dakota Memories Oral History Project from 2005 to 2009 included 199 interviews of German-Russians in central and western North Dakota, north central South Dakota, and southern Saskatchewan, all available at www.digitalhornizonsonline.org. Many of these interviewees are no longer living, but their life stories and legacy are shared through the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.

The Father William C. Sherman Photograph Collection includes more than 13,000 black and white images, slides, and negatives of homesteads in central and western North Dakota. Fr. Sherman primarily focused his research and photography on East European immigrants to North Dakota – Germans from Russia, Hungarian Germans, and Ukrainians. More than 4,000 of these images are available at www.digitalhorizonsonline.org.

To celebrate and honor this landmark work of Father William Sherman, GRHC staff developed a new traveling exhibit, “Building Life and Home on the Prairie.” The exhibit highlights the material culture of early German-Russian settlers and is a celebration of their unique culture, architecture, and experience building a life and community on the vast prairie. The exhibit helps sustain the memories of early homesteads and the families that built them. Stay tuned for more information about an upcoming event related to this project on April 18, 2023, in Fargo.

For more information about donating family histories and photographs, or how to financially support the GRHC, contact Jeremy Kopp, at jeremy.kopp@ndsu.edu or 701-231-6596; mail to: NDSU Libraries, Dept. 2080, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050; or go to www.ndsu.edu/grhc. You may also contact me directly at michael.miller@ndsu.edu or 701-231-8416.

Recently in:

Proposed Bills Could Take Books off Library ShelvesBy Laura Simmonslaurasimmons2025@u.northwestern.edu The passing of ND House Bill 1205 and ND Senate Bill 2360, which would prevent sexually explicit books from being in public…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comHPR chats with a local legendThe following interview was done in February of 2016, just a few months after Mr. Josef Olivieri's 90th birthday. We're sorry to hear of his passing at the age of 97 on…

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pmZandbroz Variety, FargoAuthor of “Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land” Taylor Broby will discuss the important role libraries play in their communities as sanctuaries of acceptance. He will…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.comOur Opinion: Who on Earth would ever want to move to North Dakota?Let’s talk about the left hand and the right hand. Or, more correctly, let’s focus on the right hand, being as there is no left in ND…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comTwo ForumWhite Nationalist Trumplican Nincoms Have Pooped All Over LibrariansSo it has come to pass that Scott Hennen and Ross Nelson have assaulted librarians in the state, accusing them of…

Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in! For nine weeks,…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comWhen thinking of popular sandwiches associated with the Upper Midwest, the sloppy joe immediately comes to mind. But let’s not forget the sandwich with a spicy side – the taco grinder. It’s a…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comphoto by Andy Wilcox Many of Fargo-Moorhead’s talented bands and musicians have been able to gain fans around the country. Some of this, of course, is due to social media making it…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comKevin Armento’s play “Killers” inspired both Stefanie Abel Horowitz’s 2019 short film “Sometimes, I Think About Dying” and Rachel Lambert’s 2023 feature “Sometimes I Think About…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIf you’ve ever driven down the Enchanted Highway, the 32-mile ribbon of road connecting Regent to Gladstone in western North Dakota, home to the world’s largest salvaged metal sculptures,…

By Jessica M. Hawkesjmhawkes84@gmail.comIt wasn’t long after the founding of the railroad and river town of New Rockford that entertainment venues started to put down their own roots. Its population bolstered by booms of nearby…

By Jan Syverson  Jan.r.Syverson@gmail.comFor the past 30 years live, stand-up comedy has had a place in the Fargo Moorhead area, Starting with…

By Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comSpring is here (mostly), and our area is buzzing with people eager to get back out and about -- many newly vaccinated and feeling a bit safer. Partnering with Jade Events, Fargo Brewing is just…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By Ken and Alice Christiansonsubmit@hpr1.com HB 1332 is currently before the North Dakota legislature. The bill proposes to permit social workers to use a discredited treatment method to convert the sexual orientation of gay and…