The main focus of the Marguerite (Bullinger-Gustin) Lien Collection is twenty-eight (28) photographic images that were housed in an ancestral Gustin-Roether family photograph album from Halbstadt/Schoenfeld, Beresan District, South Russia to Flasher/Glen Ullin, North Dakota. Also found within the album were two religious prayer cards, circa 1900. The photographs and prayer cards were housed in a cloth-bound photo album with a celluloid cover. These items were removed from the album for archival purposes. Also contained within the Marguerite Bullinger/Gustin Lien Collection are four folders of materials related to the Gustin family and the identity of the subjects of the photographs. The organization and listing of the photographs is based upon the initial inventory and the order in which the images appear in the photo album.

The Manuscripts Folder contains a grouping of hand-written notes concerning the identity of the subjects of the photographs and also Gustin family history. The author and date of these materials is unknown.

The Correspondence Folder contains correspondence between from Ms. Bullinger/Gustin-Lien to the GRHC concerning the identification of the photographs. These date from 2005-2006.

The Photograph Information Folder contains materials regarding the photographs and their subjects. Also within this folder are one CD-ROM and one 3.5” floppy disk with scans of the photographs.

The Subject Files Folder contains three items. A brochure for the “Journey to the Homeland Tour” of 2006 featuring some hand-written corrections is present in this folder. Also contained in the Subject Files Folder is a packet of information concerning “Witnesses for Christ: A German 20th Century Martyrology”, a publication regarding the Conference of German Bishops. Also present is a color photocopy of the cover for the sheet music of the song “Hail to Abbey! Hail” by Fr. Lambert OSB, and published by the Assumption Entertainers Club.

The Photographic Images Series is comprised of twenty-eight photographs, once housed in a family photo album. On the back of the album is inscribed “Lorenz Gustin, Flasher, North Dakota.” The Photograph Series contains twenty-eight photographs mostly of portraits relating to the family. The portraits include family, individual, and group. The subjects are listed below. The photographic formats represented within this series are twenty-one cabinet photographs, six cartes de visites, one albumen print, and one real photo postcard. Some of the photographic studios represented within this series are Fallman, Eureka, South Dakota; Welch, Mandan, North Dakota; F.X. Ostermayr, Munich, Germany; N. Goldberg, Saratov, Russia; J. Murnseer, Karlsruhe, Germany; Gogler, New York City, New York; and Bostwick, New York City. Photograph identification and other information was taken from the family history, Twice Pioneers. The photographs date from c. 1885-1900. Also placed within this series is one folder of photocopies of the photographs from Marguerite Bullinger/Gustin Lien Collection, as well as other photocopies of unidentified photographs found in the collection.

The Ephemera Series contains religious prayer devotion cards with colorful images. One is in German and titled “Sacred Heart of Mary” and the other “Immaculate Conception.” These items date from c. 1900.