The Rev. George Rath Collection is organized into eleven series: correspondence, questionnaires, town history, church history, synod and district history, church conference, manuscript, newspaper, newsletter, magazine and subject files.

The Correspondence Series contains letters to and from Professor George Rath in 1972 and 1973 regarding information on German Lutheran and Catholic ministers and churches in North and South Dakota.

Professor George Rath developed a form in 1970 seeking information on the history of German churches, congregations and ministers in North and South Dakota. Nine are in this collection. This material has been organized into the Questionnaire Series.

The Town History Series consists of two photocopied booklets and one page of history from Gackle, Logan Co., North Dakota and Akaska and Lowry, both Walworth County, South Dakota.

The Church History Series has twenty booklets and two excerpts from publications published between 1928 and 1975 from North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Michigan churches. A few are photocopies. Most represent anniversaries or dedications.

The Synod and District History Series consist of four booklets of synod or district history dating from 1929 to 1968 from Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota and “Dakota.”

In the Church Conference Series there are eleven booklets, programs and a yearbook concerning church conferences in Lincoln and Wayne, Nebraska; Fresno, California; Quincy, Illinois; Forest Park, Illinois; Beaver Dam and Ripon, Wisconsin dating between 1872 and 1954.

A Manuscript Series has two typescripts: a 1957 history of the Lutheran mission to southern Dakota Territory and a photocopy of Harry G. Scholz’s thesis on German colonists and the repeal of colonial law in Russia in 1871.

In the Newspaper Series there are seven church-related publications dating from 1936 to 1973. All are in English; one is in both English and German. Three were published in Illinois, two by Augsburg Publishing House in Minnesota, and one each from Fairbury, Nebraska, and the Assumption Abbey in Richardton, North Dakota.

The Magazine Series consists of five publications dating from 1949 to 1962, consisting of two Sudeten Bulletin: A Central European Review; two Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly and one Der Bote aus Zion.

The Subject Files have a variety of materials including a 1915 newspaper clipping on German Quakers; two newspaper clippings from 1975 on the Edelmann family settlers in South Dakota; membership forms and information from 1970 on the organization American Historical Society of Germans from Russia; a genealogy code list for the Hosmer family of Emmons County, North Dakota; a note with a listed of Baptist churches; a bibliography of 73 booklets most of which are in this collection; a 1970 Constitution for the Eden United Church of Christ in Chicago; an undated form letter by an unnamed group against school busing in Chicago, Ill.; a newspaper from Cardston, Alberta Canada dated 1907; an 1958 nomination sheet for an unknown church; and an archival finding aid for and excerpts from the Johannes Bonekemper diaries.

The Book Series consists of two books one is authored by Johannes Schneider and the other by Dr. Fred Schwarz.