Sidney Heitman Germans from Russia in Colorado Study Project Collection

During the eighteenth century, Catherine the Great, and later her grandson Alexander I, invited Germans to settle rich farm lands along Russia's Volga River. Those that settled the region came to be known as Germans from Russia, or Volga Germans. The Volga Germans were granted considerable autonomy in matters of language, law, religion, and social customs by the Russian Government. Political turmoil in Russia and changes to their autonomy at the end of the nineteenth century motivated thousands of Volga Germans to immigrate to the United States, where they settled on the plains of Kansas, Colorado, and the Dakotas. In the late 1970s, Volga Germans were Colorado's second largest ethnic group.

Dr. Sidney Heitman established the Germans from Russia in Colorado Study Project in 1975 at Colorado State University. The development of a comprehensive collection of material on Volga Germans in Colorado and on the broader subject of Volga Germans was a high priority of the project. The project consisted of more than ten staff members ranging in responsibilities of researcher to archivist to consultant. Sidney Heitman, James Long, Kenneth Rock, John Newman, and Timothy Kloberdanz were the primary staff members during the project's four year existence. The study project consisted of five objectives: research, teaching and training, publication and dissemination of information, historic preservation, and public service.

The study project was part of the University's International and Intercultural Education programs in the 1970s. The University, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as public and private organizations jointly supported the project. Reduced funding for the 1979 academic year brought the end of the official work of the project. Many history professors involved in the project continued to contribute research and findings to the collection long after the official end of the study project.

Colorado State University's Archives and Special Collections were fairly new when the Germans from Russia in Colorado Study Project began. Archivist John Newman and project coordinator Sidney Heitman established the collection in the department as research was conducted and staff members collected materials. To memorialise Dr. Heitman's work, the collection was named The Sidney Heitman Germans from Russia Collection in 1993. University Archive gained full ownership of the collection in 1996.