Organizers of the Dakota Memories Oral History Project will travel to Richardton, N.D., and Napoleon, N.D., to conduct two public forums that will address the results of new research conducted in those areas. The Richardton event is set for Monday, Aug. 10, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Sacred Heart Monastery. The Napoleon event is set for Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Downtowner Bar and Steak House.
Jessica Clark, project coordinator and recipient of the Germans from Russia History Doctoral Fellowship, will deliver a presentation on the creation, purpose, framework and importance of the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.
Andrea Mott, 2009 Dakota Memories Oral History project interviewer, will deliver a presentation about her experiences in the communities of Napoleon and Richardton. “This includes interviewing segments, humorous stories and digital and scanned photographs that focus on narrators as well as the local area,” Mott said. “I will conclude the forum by talking about what I have learned from the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.”
Public interest in documenting and preserving German-Russian ethnic identity inspired the launch of the oral history project in 2005. Since then, organizers have been traveling the Northern Plains, gathering stories and documenting family relationships and childhood memories of second and third generation Germans from Russia. Michael Miller is director of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection and the project.
The forum is sponsored by the Dakota Memories Oral History Project, Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, NDSU Libraries, NDSU Extension Service and NDSU Center for Community Vitality. Coffee and cookies will be provided. The event is free and open to the public.
The Dakota Memories Oral History Project is a privately funded project sponsored by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at the NDSU Libraries. For more information on the collection or the project, contact them at 1-6596 or www.ndsu.edu/grhc/dakotamemories.
For more information, contact Acacia (Jonas) Stuckle, special collections associate and host of the event, at 1-6596 or acacia.stuckle@ndsu.edu.
July 8, 2009