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TABLE OF CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Adam Giesinger........................................................................................................................................i KEYNOTE ADDRESS: AN APPRAISAL OF OUR FUTURE Adam Giesinger........................... ............................. .................................................................................1 RUSSIAN DOCUMENTS WHICH OUR ANCESTORS BROUGHT TO AMERICA Alexander Dupper. ........................................................................................................................................6 THE BOOK ENTITLED DIE DEUTSCHEN KOLONIEN IN SUDRUSSLAND BY REV. KONRAD KELLER: A RARE FIND A. Becker .....................................................................................................................................................9 THE ART OF BLOODLETTING: AS PRACTICED BY MY FATHER Solomon L. Loewen .........................................................................................................................................13 OUR AUTHORS AND THEIR BOOKS Nancy Bernhardt Holland ...............................................................................................................................19 UND SIEHE, WIR LEBEN: THE STORY OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF OUR PEOPLE IN RUSSIA TODAY Donald Henry Darner .........................................................................................................................................29 THE FARMING VILLAGE OF NORKA, RUSSIA: A DIALECTAL STUDY Mary Lynn Tuck....................................................................................................................................................35 TREASURES IN OUR ARCHIVES Emma Schwabenland Haynes ............................................................................................................................. .37 AHSGR THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS PRESIDENTS The Founding Years David J. Miller..................................................................................................................................................49 Growing Up Ruth M. Amen ...................................................................................................................................................51 Building for the Future Adam Giesinger.................................................................................................................................................52 AN IDEA IS BORN Mrs. Theodore E. Heinz............ ............................. ...................................................... .55 HOW MEMBERS AND CHAPTERS CAN HELP: "WHAT IF ..." Edward Schwartzkopf. .................................................................................................................................................57 "ABOUT AHSGR"..............................................................................................................................................................60 OUR SOUTH AMERICAN BROTHERS Adam Giesinger.............................................................................................................................................................61 (Continued on inside back cover) Published by American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 631 D Street . Lincoln, Nebraska 68502 Editor: Nancy Bernhardt Holland ©Copyright 1980 by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. All rights reserved. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Dear Members of AHSGR: Our Eleventh International Convention is now history. This issue of the Journal brings you a report of the proceedings. The convention was an outstanding success from every point of view. The beautiful Hyatt- Regency Hotel in Dearborn provided first-class meeting-room and guestroom facilities and good food. The convention program was varied and intellectually stimulating, arousing and holding the interest of all. The genealogy workshop and the bookstore were kept busy throughout the week providing services to convention attendants. Good fellowship, so characteristic of all our conventions, was again abundantly evident The papers delivered at this convention on the history and folklore of our people show that varieties of research of interest to us are being actively pursued by members of this Society in all parts of this continent. We have many talented people in our ranks interested in furthering our work. What better assurance could we have that this Society is relevant and has a promising future? Reports by the officers and committee chairmen at this convention show that exciting events are taking place in the Society. We are growing rapidly in every aspect: membership, chapter organization, genealogical records, historical research, materials in our Archives, publishing and sale of books, and interest in our work among our members. To accommodate to this growth we urgently need more work space for our Headquarters staff and more storage space for our valuable books and records. Progress is being made in plans to satisfy this need, as will be evident from the reports here. To me personally the convention at Dearborn was an exhilarating experience. I feel sure that it was the same for many others. All contributors to the program did their jobs so well. And Mary Martini was a superb convention chairman! She is the one who made it run so smoothly, for the rest of us to enjoy. Mary, we thank you so much! Sincerely, Adam Giesinger Convention Chairman Mary Martini of Dearborn (standing) takes her moment's pause during the week of July 7- 13 to chat with conventioneers Mr. and Mrs. Carl Amen of Loveland, Colorado and Auggie Graffof Phoenix, Arizona. Nine new chapters of the AHSGR have been organized since the Society convened in Seattle in 3979. Charters were presented to members representing eight of these new local groups of the Society at the Dearborn convention: Big Rudy Amen of Lincoln, Nebraska enrolls new Life Bend Chapter (Washington), Colorado West, Members of the Society at the Fellowship Columbia Basin Chapter (Washington), Greater Breakfast, while Elsie Whittington records their Detroit Chapter, Greater Spokane Chapter, names and Ruth M. Amen waits expectantly. Kansas City Area Chapter, Palouse Empire Fifteen new Life Members were added to the Chapter (Washington), and Sunflower Chapter Society's rolls during the Dearborn convention. (Kansas). Edmonton and District (Canada) had Photo courtesy of Alexander Dupper. received its charter previously. Photo courtesy of Alexander Dupper. KEYNOTE ADDRESS: AN APPRAISAL OF OUR FUTURE Adam Giesinger You'll notice that I have entitled my address "An Appraisal of our Future." Before one can appraise the future of any organization, one must look at its past. I shall therefore take a quick look at our history to date. The idea of forming a society such as ours, to collect and preserve materials about the Germans from Russia, originated twelve years ago in the minds of a few people in Colorado. After some weeks of discussion in person and by correspondence it was decided to issue invitations for a meeting on the evening of 8 September 1968 at the Windsor Gardens in Denver. With David J. Miller as chairman, this meeting, attended by forty-two persons, unanimously and enthusiastically approved a motion to establish this Society. A month later, on 6 October 1968, a second general meeting, held at Greeley, Colorado and attended by about seventy persons, adopted the present name of the Society, elected permanent officers and discussed articles of incorporation. A meeting at Denver on 24 November chose a board of directors and another meeting at Denver on 15 December adopted articles of incorporation. Finally on 20 December 1968 our Certificate of Incorporation was issued by the Secretary of State of the State of Colorado. Thus by the end of the year 1968 the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia was formally and legally established. By that time it had somewhat over 100 members. The early plans of the founders included the collecting of materials on the history of the Germans from Russia, the establishment of a repository to preserve these materials, and the publication of a yearbook containing articles on our history. Before such dreams could be realized, it was obviously necessary to increase the membership considerably. Membership promotion meetings during the year 1969 contributed towards this end. Such meetings were held at Denver; at Loveland, Colorado; at Scottsbluff, Nebraska; at Windsor, Colorado; at Lincoln, Nebraska; and at Fort Morgan, Colorado. All of these had some success. But it was necessary to go farther afield and to promote membership by mail. For this purpose funds were needed which the Society did not possess. For several months the whole operation was carried financially by its first president, David J. Miller. He advanced the money for postage and stationery and used the secretarial staff in his law office to do our work. Financial problems continued to be the constant concern of the Board of Directors through the early years. But, in spite of this and other problems, the Society survived its infancy, mainly because David Miller refused to accept defeat. At the end of the first five years he turned over a healthy Society to our second president, Ruth Amen. Ruth, as you are all aware, during her five-year term as president, erected an impressive structure on the foundation that he had established, Let me trace briefly our accomplishments during the twelve years of our existence. Our Membership At