Launched in 2005, this project preserves the history and heritage of second- and third-generation Germans from Russia. It focuses on childhood memories and family relationships; specifically, what it was like growing up German-Russian on the Northern Plains.

For this project, the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection (GRHC) at North Dakota State University (NDSU) created the Germans from Russia History Doctoral Fellowship. The GRHC designed this position to promote NDSU’s doctoral program in history and to further the work of the collection. Jessica Clark, the doctoral fellow, is the coordinator, as well as lead interviewer. She is also using these interviews in her doctoral dissertation on growing up German-Russian on the Northern Plains. Jessica Clark (Project Coordinator)

Alice (Miller) Buck [Streeter, ND] demonstrating one of her many musical talents – the accordion Jessica Clark, Project Coordinator North Dakota State University Germans from Russia Heritage Collection Libraries Room 118G Fargo, ND 58105-5599 Phone: 701-231-8419 Fax: 701-231-7138 E-mail: Jessica.Clark@ndsu.edu

Emil Schaffer (Gackle, ND) touring his
grandparents’ old earth brick house

The Jahner/Johner brothers (Peter, Lawrence, Jacob, and Michael) built this sod house near Tramping Lake, Saskatchewan in honor of the Homestead’s 100th year [14 July 2006]		“It’s important to pass on some of the experiences each person has and it’s nice to share this with the family.” Herbert Herman [25 May 2005]
Project Objectives:
	to record German-Russian life stories to identify and preserve the cultural traditions of German-Russians to document German-Russian family life, childhood, social structures, and daily life activities to provide a comparison of cultural traditions, dialects, and customs with other German-Russians on the Northern Plains to identify and record the world view of this ethnic group (i.e., definition of values and general outlook on life)

Imogene (Schwahn) Schwab's Grandparents (left to right) Grandpa Melichor Nicholas, Magdalina Nicholas [daughter], Jonas Nicholas [son], and Grandma Barbara Nicholas		“Here is a very handsome, good-looking little fellow, who looks like he might be about two-years-old sitting on a piano bench” - by Calvin K. Fercho
“I wished that I had asked my father more questions about his youth and his family life. I never thought about those questions until it was too late.” Calvin Fercho [27 April 2005]

This project is quite innovative. The interview teams (interviewer and videographer) videotape every interview. Furthermore, they conduct traditional sit-down interviews, as well as employ several specialized interview techniques, such as Cemetery Walks, Landmark Walks, Photograph Album Tours, Yearly Rounds, and Memory Maps.

Will Clark (videographer) filming a Cemetery Walk at St. Anselm’s Cemetery in Rugby, ND

Mary (Mitzel) Weber holding her nephew, Mike Wolbaum. When Mary was only fourteen years old, she babysat for her sister Josephine (Mitzel) Wolbaum.

The mission of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is to collect, document, preserve, exhibit, translate, publish, promote, and make accessible resources on the culture, history, folklore, textiles and clothing, and food of the Germans from Russia, particularly Bessarabian Germans, Black Sea Germans, Crimean Germans, Dobrudscha Germans, Volhynian Germans, and their descendants in North Dakota and the Northern Plains.