Ethnic Studies

The Center for Ethnic Studies, which focuses on the heritage of this area, contains a variety of items which include the following:

• Pamphlets
  
• Journals
  
• Maps
  
• General, Family, and Church Histories
  
• Photographs
  
• Video Documentaries
  
• Folk Music

To see more information about the Volga Germans in Ellis and Rush Counties, visit this link:
http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/ksheritage/volgagermans.shtml

The Center is supported by Forsyth Library, the Department of History, and several interested groups and individual patrons. The Volga German Society of Rush and Ellis Counties and the Bukovina Society of the Americas are playing vital roles in developing the Center through donations of resource materials and funds for the enhancement of the facilities and purchases of additional resources. Lawrence Weigel, noted folklorist, has donated a substantial portion of his personal collection of
materials on the Volga Germans which, together with many of the publications of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, provide a rich source for further research.

While the holdings in these areas will continue to grow, the Center is seeking to further enhance its holdings pertaining to other ethnic groups in Kansas such as the Czechs, Dutch, English, French, Germans and Scandinavians as well as Blacks, Asians and Hispanics.

The Guide to the Collections (a bibliography of the Center for Ethnic Studies) created in 1997 by Dr. Helmut Schmeller has been updated with new items added to the collection since that time.

The Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau is also available to help with your inquiries about the Volga German heritage of the area. You may contact them at www.haysusa.net or by clicking the Hays link below.

Regular hours for the Center are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday when the University is in session. Appointments for use of The Center for Ethnic Studies are appreciated.