Major
Contributions
Marie
Rudel Portner Germans from Russia Endowment
The
Marie Rudel Portner Germans from Russia Endowment
of $1.1 million dollars was established in May, 2000.
The endowment honors the ethnic heritage, family traditions
and values represented by her parents, Simon and Dorothea
Weber Rudel.
Clcik
here to learn more about Marie Rudel Portner
Other
Major Contributions
Calvin
Fercho Germans from Russia Research Stipend
The
Calvin Fercho Germans from Russia Research Stipend
is a fund designed to collect and preserve the history
and heritage of the Germans from Russia. This can
be used to collect oral histories, process archival
material, photographs, or textiles (or all of the
above). The stipend provides NDSU students opportunities
in historic preservation and documentation of the
Germans from Russia.
Click
here to visit Calvin Fercho's Dakota Memories page
Click
here to read about Calvin Fercho's honorary doctorate
at NDSU.
Dr.
LaVern "Vern" Freeh
Dr.
LaVern "Vern" Freeh, a native of Harvey, ND
and 1951 NDSU graduate, presented a donation of $6,500
for publication of the book, Couldn't
Be Better: The Russian Farm Community Project,
published by GRHC in 2000. Proceeds from this book is
donated equally by Dr. Freeh to GRHC and the Russian
Farm Community Project.
In
September, 2005, Dr. LaVern Freeh, authored the book,
Child
of the Prairie, Man of the World. Dr. Freeh
provided all of the funding to publish the book. He
has designated that the income from the book will
be donated to the following: 1) The Freeh Family Football
Scholarship, Athletic Department, NDSU;
and 2) The Dakota Memories Oral History Interview
Project,
Germans from Russia Heritage Collection,
NDSU
Libraries.
Udo
Gerhard Keller zu Kellerrode Fund
Gisela
L. Schilling Keller, a longtime employee at the NDSU
Varsity Mart, has established the Udo Gerhard Keller
zu Kellerrode Fund, with a major financial gift to
the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection. The Fund
was established in July, 2001.
Victor
Knell Collection
The
Victor Knell Collection was donated to the Germans
from Russia Hertitage Collection in April 2002. Victor
is a historian who has influenced identication and
preservation of dialect-usage and folk traditions.
Victor serves as village historian for Brienne and
Teplitz, in Bessarabia; serves as editor for the well-informed
Red River Chapter newsletter; and serves on editorial-publications
projects at the Germans from Russia Heritage Society,
Bismarck. The collection has photographs, musical
artifacts, textiles, and ephemerals which reflect
ethnic pioneer life in Mercer County, North Dakota.
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Victor
Knell has complied five family histories for Knoll/Knell,
Breitling, Oster, and Adolf heritage. The Knoll/Knell
family (from ancestral village of Necketailfingen, Wuerttemburg,
Germany) were among the religious pietists of “emigration
harmonium” to South Russia. They traveled by “ulmer
barges” down the Danube River toward the Black Sea.
The Oster family were reformed religionists at Lambsborn,
Palatinate, Germany. They were tailors who immigrated
in 1798 to Tscherwenka village (in Austria-Hungarian
Empire, today Yugoslavia) as linen weavers, later moving
near Odessa, South Russia. The Adolf family were printers
in Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany. From Odenberg, Russia,
they immigrated in 1817 to (the former German village
of) Brienne, Bessarabia, where the Adolf family erected
and operated a wind-powered flour mill. Further
information relating to the Victor Knell Collection,
can be located at these website pages:
Anniversaries
are doubled (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/articles/newspapers/news/old_news/duppler.html);
Victor
Knell Collection (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/photo/knell_histories.html);
Victor
Knell Collection Photographs (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/photo/knell_photos.html).
Kusler-Grosz
Family Collection
Both
Kusler and Schaefer families originated from Palatinate,
Germany, as founding families of former Black Sea
German village of Worms, Beresan District, South Russia
in 1807 (today north of Odessa, Ukraine). These same
families immigrated in the “second group to America”
in 1871 to pause in Sandusky, Ohio, while sending
out land-survey scouts to Sutton, Nebraska, and Yankton,
Dakota. The Kusler-Schaefer families were pioneer
settlers in 1972 at Odessa Reformed (near Lesterville,
Dakota Territory) and later moved to Scotland, South
Dakota. Some Kusler sons were pioneer homesteaders
in northern McIntosh County (near Fredonia and Kulm,
North Dakota) in 1884.
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Johann
Kusler, Jr., of Scotland, South Dakota, was married
in January 1894 to Magdalena Grosz of Parkston, South
Dakota, before homesteading in McIntosh County. The
Grosz family were founders of rural Gnadenfeld Congregational
Church [oldest German “classis” church in North Dakota],
south of Kulm, North Dakota. Johann Grosz, Sr., with
George Gaeckle and George Billigmeier, originating from
former German villages of Kulm and Leipzig, Bessarabia
(today west of Odessa, Ukraine), were the three co-founders
of town site in 1892 to be named Kulm, North Dakota.
Both
Grosz and Dietrich families originated from Wuerttemburg,
Germany, through former German village of Neuberg, (Leibental
am Baraboi District, South Russia), to settle in former
German villages of Kulm and Beresina, Bessarabia, (today
west of Odessa, Ukraine). Two significant textiles for
worship-garb were inherited through Justina Dietrich
(Mrs. Daniel Grosz) of Scotland, South Dakota. Justina’s
family originates from former German village of Beresina,
Bessarabia, along with her maternal Bader family in
neighboring Paris village. Clara
Kusler assembled a collection of “spraehle”/scripture
memory cards near Kulm, North Dakota, before her marriage
in 1921 as Mrs. John Mayer. Impressive color-lithgraphy
of floral motifs with Bible verses decorate Clara’s
memorizing cards.
Donated
items include photographs, postcards, spraele, and
textiles. They were donated by Clara’s sister, Adeline
Kusler McCloy, to the Germans from Russia Heritage
Collection in 2002.
For
further information about the Kusler-Grosz Family
Collection, go to these website pages:
Blacksmith's
Dream (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/photo/blacksmith.html);
Kusler-Grosz
Family Collection (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/photo/kusler.html);
Scripture
Memory Cards (http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/notecards/scripturemain.html).
Michael
M. Miller
Since
the inception of the Germans from Russia Heritage
Collection, Michael M. Miller has made many donations
including financial, historical artifacts, photographs,
books and above all endless hours.
With
more than thirty years of dedication and service to
the GRHC, Michael continues to be a leader in the
preservation of his heritage and the growth of this
collection.
Biography:
(http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/biography.html)
John
Phillips John
Phillips of Merced, CA, born in Landau, Beresan District,
Ukraine, donated his book collection and personal
papers. GRHC has published four books authored by
John Phillips, funded in part with his financial donations.
John Phillips
is author of the following books:
Herb
Poppke Collection
Herb
Poppke of Seattle, WA, and a native of Goodrich, ND,
donated his personal library and archives to GRHC.
This includes valuable books, journals, maps and cassette
tapes. Herb Poppke had an extensive personal library
collection and was well-known for his map research
of the German villages in the former Soviet Union.
Theresa
Mack Germans from Russia History Doctoral Fellowship
Theresa Mack
Wald, Grand Forks, ND writes: "My gift for the
assistantship is to preserve the heritage and culture
about the positive aspects of the Germans from Russia.
I want to provide a living legacy for the scholarly
study of my heritage which I am very proud of. My parents,
John G. Mack born in 1888 and Katherina Deringer
born in 1890, lived in the Catholic Black Sea German
villages of Elsass and Neu Schloessel, Kutschurgan District,
South Russia (today near Odessa, Ukraine). My father
was 14 and my mother was 24 when she came to America.
For
2004-2005 this assistantship included a total stipend
of $12,000 for twelve months and a complete tuition
waiver. The assistantship was for one year.
Anonymous Donor
An
anonymous donor presented a gift of $12,500 in December,
2000 and $7,500 in December, 2001 requesting that
funds be used for a videotape documentary on the music
traditions of the Germans from Russia. |
