Dr. Eric Schmaltz, chair of the department of social sciences at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, will present a talk on Saturday, June 19, at 10 a.m. at the Sod House Museum located southeast of Aline on State Highway 8. The talk is free and open to the public.
Schmaltz will give his presentation on “Resilience and Transformation: Germans from Russia in Northwestern Oklahoma (1889-1940).”
Schmaltz will provide information on the general migrations and settlements of ethnic Germans from the Russian Empire in the western parts of Oklahoma at the turn of the last century. He will explore the factors that led this group to settle across the Great Plains in vast numbers, as well as how these resilient immigrants and their descendants navigated great challenges and dynamic opportunities in American society.
“According to the 1920 U.S. Census, more than 120,000 Germans from Russia (or more than 300,000 if factoring in the second generation) lived in the United States,” Schmaltz said. “Oklahoma, the former Indian Territory, achieved statehood in 1907. More than 10,000 Germans from Russia lived in Oklahoma by 1920 (counting the second generation), many of them coming from Russia’s Volga region.
“At this time, more than 4,000 of these Russian immigrants in Oklahoma included Mennonites, while other German groups from Ukraine also settled in the new state. Today, their countless descendants have become an integral part of the region and the country.”
Schmaltz earned a Ph.D. in history in 2002 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since 2005, he has taught European, American, and world history at Northwestern, and in 2019 began serving as Departmental Chair of Social Sciences. In 2014 he received the John Barton Distinguished Teaching and Service Award and has been nominated for it on three other occasions.
For more information on this topic, contact Schmaltz at (580) 327-8526 or ejschmaltz@nwosu.edu.
The Sod House Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact museum director Renee Trindle at (580) 463-2441 or sodhouse@okhistory.org.
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CONTACT FOR RELEASE
Erin Davis, University Relations Specialist
eedavis@nwosu.edu, 580-327-8480