Skip to main content

Giving Students a Feel for the Prairie, Rocks, and Wind: German-Russian Ethnic Studies at Emmons Central High School, Strasburg, North Dakota, by Timothy J. Kloberdanz

 Item
Identifier: SC 537

Scope and Content

Photocopy of typed final report prepared for the Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project, American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Coverage includes German Russia history, school environment, community, ethnic studies class and instructor Les Kramer, parents and grandparents of students, and summary analyzing one of the few German Russian ethnic high schools in the United States. Emmons Central High School (Strasburg, N.D.) was formed by consolidating Saint Anthony High School (Linton, N.D.) and Saint Benedict High School (Strasburg, N.D.) in 1966.

Dates

  • 1982.

Creator

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.

Copyrights

The NDSU Archives does not own the copyrights to this collection.

Biography

In fall 1976 Timothy J. Kloberdanz first came to NDSU. Within only a couple of years, he created a number of new Anthropology courses at the university, ranging from popular folklore classes to highly-demanding ethnology and theory-based courses. Dr. Kloberdanz‘s areas of academic specialization were varied and wide-ranging: cultural anthropology, folklore and expressive traditions, world mythology, anthropological methods and paradigms, ethnicity and ethnic groups, culture change, peoples and cultures of the Great Plains region, and the “Russlanddeutsche” (Germans from Russia). During his tenure at NDSU, Dr. Kloberdanz published more than a hundred articles and monographs. He also co-authored or co-edited four books: Plains Folk: North Dakota’s Ethnic History (1986), Thunder on the Steppe: Volga German Folklife in a Changing Russia (1993), We Remember: Stories of the Germans from Russia (2006), and Sundogs and Sunflowers: Folklore and Folk Art of the Northern Great Plains (2010).



A native of Colorado, Dr. Kloberdanz earned his BA from the University of Colorado (1971), his Masters from Colorado State University (1974), and his PhD from Indiana University (1986). During his 34-year teaching career at NDSU, he received a number of awards and honors. These included the North Dakota Governor‘s Award for the Arts (2001), the North Dakota Humanities Council ―Distinguished Service Award (2001), and the NDSU College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences ―Outstanding Teacher Award (2003). Dr. Kloberdanz often was aided in his research by his wife Rosalinda Kloberdanz, a folklorist and scholar in her own right. Rosalinda did a groundbreaking Master‘s thesis at NDSU that focused on ethnic women‘s folklore and family life (1992). The study was based on field research she and Dr. Kloberdanz did in rural Russia during the historic and turbulent ―Second Russian Revolution of 1991.



In May 2010, Dr. Kloberdanz retired from teaching at NDSU. He remains active doing scholarly research, community service, professional consulting, public speaking, and writing. When asked for advice by students about important career decisions and lifetime choices, Dr. Kloberdanz often shared a favorite proverb taught him at an early age by his mother: ―True happiness consists of three things: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Extent

1 Items (1 item (29 leaves).)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Photocopy of typed final report prepared for the Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project, American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Coverage includes German Russia history, school environment, community, ethnic studies class and instructor Les Kramer, parents and grandparents of students, and summary analyzing one of the few German Russian ethnic high schools in the United States. Emmons Central High School (Strasburg, N.D.) was formed by consolidating Saint Anthony High School (Linton, N.D.) and Saint Benedict High School (Strasburg, N.D.) in 1966.

Provenance

Donated by Timothy Kloberdanz, 1985 (Acc. 2128)

Property rights

The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
Title
Finding Aid to Giving Students a Feel for the Prairie, Rocks, and Wind: German-Russian Ethnic Studies at Emmons Central High School, Strasburg, North Dakota, by Timothy J. Kloberdanz
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository

Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States