Rev. George Rath Collection

Collection

Identifier: GRHC 005

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

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.

Dates

1871 - 1977

Creator

Rath, George, 1891-1977. (Person)

Access

Access to the physical collection is available upon request. Request must be made at least three (3) business days prior to ndsu.grhc@ndsu.edu.

Copyright

Copyrights to items in this collection remain with original copyright holders or are in the public domain.

Biography

George Rath was born in 1891 in Nesselrode (Kuyalnik), near Birsula, Province of Odessa. He attended the Gymnasium (High School and Junior College) at Ananyew and finished with distinction. In 1912, he began his study of Theology at the University of Dorpat, Esthonia. In 1916, he was called to the Russian army. Dismissed after the war in 1918, he went to Germany and finished his theological studies at the University of Tuebingen, Wuerttemberg. In 1922, he came to the United States and after ordination as a UCC minister, took up ministerial duties at Loveland and Denver in Colorado; Worland, Wyoming; and Jansen, Nebraska. While in Denver, he obtained the Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. In 1946, he became Associate Professor of Modern Languages at the State College in Peru, Nebraska, where he taught until his retirement in 1961. He taught three more years at the Presbyterian College at Tarkio, Missouri. In 1923, he married Rosine, nee Eisemann, of Hoffnungstal, Province of Odessa.

Rath published in the German language a collection of poems Klaenge der Seele and a book of Fables. His book The Black Sea Germans in the Dakotas was published in 1977. He delivered an address about the immigration of the German Russians to the United States during the World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1969. He wrote numerous articles in the Dakota Freie Presse during the oppression of the Germans in Russia under Stalin defending their human rights. Rath died in 1977. [condensed from Author’s note in Rath, George. The Black Sea Germans in the Dakotas, Freeman, SD: Pine Hill Press, 1977].

Extent

.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

German

Additional Description

Summary

This collection contains church histories primarily from South Dakota; questionnaires regarding German Russian congregations and ministers; town histories; other diverse material surrounding the history of Germans from Russia.

Arrangement

Provenance

The collection is a transfer made on 23 March 2004, from NDSU Archives to the GRHC. The materials were originally donated to the NDSU Archives by Mrs. George Rath on 21 June 1980.