The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, Sound Recordings Collection contains 276 cassette tapes of sound recordings of numerous subjects relating to the history and heritage of Germans from Russia, dating to c. 1961- 1995. The cassettes were collected by the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies (now NDSU Archives), NDSU Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota, and were transferred to the GRHC, 11 June 2010. The collection has been processed into two series: Subject Files and Oral Histories. The original numbering order of processing used by the NDIRS has been maintained. Eleven tapes accounted for in the numbering system are not present, and eight tapes were numbered incorrectly: i.e. there are two items numbered ‘5’, necessitating the use of ‘5a’.

The Subject Files Series of this collection consists of numerous recordings of interviews, religious ceremonies, music, speeches, seminars, and convention events. Present within this series are speeches presented by prominent German from Russia scholars such as Drs. Adam Giesinger, Timothy Kloberdanz, and Karl Stumpp. Also of interest within this series is a cassette tape, Tape 166, of speeches given by famed bandleader and German from Russia descendent Lawrence Welk to the graduating classes of Emmons Central Catholic High School, Strasburg, North Dakota, 1976- 1978; and a recording of a speech given by former North Dakota Governor George Sinner at the 1986 Germans from Russia Heritage Society Annual Convention. A main focus of this series is a grouping of recordings made at various conventions, including those of the North Dakota Heritage Society of the Germans from Russia (NDHSGR), Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), and the American Heritage Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), dated 1971- 1988.

Within the Oral Histories Series is a grouping of 24 sound recordings of oral history interviews conducted with 23 individuals of German-Russian descent, dating from 1991- 1995. The subjects discuss their personal history and their relationships to the German-Russian culture. These interviews were given by Michael M. Miller of the GRHC, and Joyce Reinhardt Larson, of Fargo, North Dakota. Unlike the items in the Subject Files Series, the cassettes in the Oral Histories Series were not numbered, but formed a separate, yet cohesive, series, and were therefore numbered and arranged as such.