September 21, 2020

The Libraries are pleased to announce the launch of new websites for our Special Collections: NDSU Archives and Germans from Russia Heritage Collection. These collections preserve and provide access to the unique history and culture of NDSU, the state, the land, and its people. 

The NDSU Archives is comprised of two collecting areas: the Institute for Regional Studies and the University Archives. Founded in 1950, the Institute for Regional Studies Archives focuses on the history of North Dakota and the Red River Valley. Its holdings include books, manuscripts, maps, photograph collections, and audio-visual and other media. The Institute also holds the collection of North Dakota native son Lawrence Welk, including sheet music produced for his television show, scrapbooks, and other items such as his accordion and baton. The University Archives focuses on non-current records generated by university units as well as of the NDSU Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service. It also preserves the papers of former faculty members. Among its holdings are the first minute books of the College Council from October 1890 forward; copies of the Spectrum from 1896 to present; extensive photographs, negatives, and slides for the university and experiment station; and a collection of over 20,000 glass plate negatives of the university and state primarily from the 1920s and 1930s. In the interest of documenting one of the most challenging events in the history of NDSU, the COVID-19 Collection was created earlier this year, with the goal of collecting items that tell the story of the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.   

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection (GRHC) collects, documents, preserves, promotes, and makes accessible resources on the culture, history, folklore, textiles and clothing, and foodways of the Germans from Russia. Their focus is on Bessarabian, Black Sea, Crimean, Dobrudscha, and Volhynian Germans and their descendants in North Dakota and the Northern Plains. Since its inception in 1978, this specialized archive has become one of the most comprehensive collections of German-Russian resources in the world. Its collections include books, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and other historical materials. In cooperation with Prairie Public, the GRHC has produced ten award-winning documentaries of the Germans from Russia Series beginning in 1999.    

Thanks to the efforts of the Special Collections staff members and Libraries Web Developer Sabrina Lippincott, the new websites have a clean, updated look and feel and provide better access to our rich and unique collections and resources. We continue to add and update content as our collections grow and evolve. To learn more about our Special Collections and see their new websites, visit NDSU Archives at library.ndsu.edu/ndsuarchives and Germans from Russian Heritage Collection at library.ndsu.edu/grhc.  

We hope the new look and function of the sites allow you to easily find the information you are looking for. If you have questions about NDSU Archives' website, contact matthew.tallant@ndsu.edu, or about Germans from Russia Hertiage Collection's website, contact jeremy.kopp@ndsu.edu.

Photo above: Backyard party at the Gilbert W. Haggart house, 8th Street S., Fargo, ND, 1927