Representatives of the NDSU Libraries' Germans from Russia Heritage Collection are scheduled to attend two North Dakota celebrations this month. The collection will have information tables and displays at both locations.

Michael Miller, director, and Jeremy Kopp, special collections associate, are set to attend the Kulm, North Dakota, 125th Celebration on Friday, June 23, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hometown Credit Union, 117 Main Avenue South. Books relating to Kulm, including settlement of the Bessarabian Germans, also will be available for purchase.

In addition, Miller is scheduled on Sunday, June 25, to attend the dedication of the city hall at Zeeland, North Dakota, commemorating the site’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The collection will have information tables and displays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Zeeland area is the oldest settlement of Germans from Russia in North Dakota. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, located north of Zeeland, was established in 1884, with the settlement of German-Russian families from villages near Odessa, Ukraine. 

St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, located northeast of Zeeland, was founded in 1884 by German-Russians from the Glueckstal District villages of South Russia.

Miller and Kopp recently returned from Ukraine and Germany with the 21st Journey to the Homeland Tour group in May.  With tour members, they visited the former Bessarabian and Black Sea German villages where families immigrated to the Kulm/Fredonia area.

Miller, now in his 50th year at NDSU, has been at the helm of the collection’s impressive book, document and photo collections, since its inception in 1978. The collection has been a pioneer for German-Russian homeland tours, website development and publishing. It also is well known for its collaboration with Prairie Public Broadcasting to create a series of award-winning documentaries and several radio programs relating to the Germans from Russia.

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