The NDSU Libraries’ Germans from Russia Heritage Collection will be highlighted during the Ashley, N.D., 125th celebration scheduled for June 20-22. Michael M. Miller, the collection’s director and bibliographer, and Jeremy Kopp, special collections associate, will oversee information tables and displays in cooperation with the Tri-County Tourism Alliance, comprised of Emmons, Logan and McIntosh counties, at the Ashley City Hall during the following times:
- Thursday, June 20, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Miller said, “Ashley and McIntosh County, N.D. have such a rich Germans from Russia cultural heritage. Many emigrant families came from these Black Sea and Bessarabian German villages of South Russia (today the southern Ukraine) to homestead on the prairies of south-central North Dakota. 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 the South American Germans from Russia documentary project – Argentina and Brazil.
Miller has been at the helm of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection’s large and impressive book, document and photo collections, now in his 46th year at NDSU. The collection has been a pioneer for website development, organizing homeland tours and publishing. It also is well 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 further 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.