The NDSU Libraries’ Germans from Russia Heritage Collection will be featured during the Hazen, N.D., centennial celebration scheduled for July 4-6. Michael M. Miller, the collection’s director and bibliographer, will oversee information tables and displays on Main Street in the building beside Jensen Jewelry during the following times:

• Thursday, July 4, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, July 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

“Hazen and Mercer County, N.D., have a rich Germans from Russia cultural heritage. Many emigrant families came from these Black Sea, Crimean and Bessarabian German villages of South Russia (today southern Ukraine) to homestead on the prairies,” Miller said. “In May, I walked with tour members in these villages near Odessa, Ukraine.” 

Miller returned to North Dakota from Ukraine and Germany on June 3 with the 19th Journey to the Homeland Tour group to Odessa and Stuttgart. In April, Miller was in southern Brazil for the final filming and interviews with Prairie Public Television videographers for a South American Germans from Russia documentary project. 

Now in his 46th year at NDSU, Miller directs the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection’s large book, document and photo collections. The collection has been a pioneer of website development, homeland tours and publication of heritage material. It also is known for its collaboration with Prairie Public Broadcasting, which has created a series of award-winning documentaries and several radio programs. Since 2010, the collection has worked closely with the Tri-County Tourism Alliance.

For more information on the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, visit www.ndsu.edu/grhc. 

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.