Letter Archive
Letters from Soldiers
Letters from the Homeland and Sons of the Homeland
Personal letters offer a tremendous insight into family relationships, political stresses, and economic conditions that are difficult to obtain elsewhere. The Letters Archive is a collection of over 5,000 letters written in the first half of the 1900's; most letters are translated from German language newspapers published in North Dakota (the Staats-Anzeiger, the Eureka Rundschau, and the Dakota Freie Presse). We have letters written by people who emigrated to North America and South America as well as letters written by people who still lived in the homeland of either Germany or South Russia. Many letters request information on a lost relative and also have many greetings to family and friends long not seen. Economic conditions as well as everyday conditions are talked about in these letters. Each letter was translated by volunteers and donated to GRHS to give our members a better knowledge of the lives of our ancestors.
In earlier years the letters were published in the GRHS Heritage Review and Stammbaum publications. GRHS members can now find the complete collection on our website. Please note that all of these letters are viewable by GRHS members only (i.e. a GRHS user name and password is required to view letters). GRHS membership information is available at this link.
If you find a letter with a broken link or some other problem please send a message to 
. Please include the letter tag
To view a letter select the region/country/state/province you are interested in. Once you reach the surname pages you will find all letters are grouped by the writer's surname and links to all the letters referencing that surname. Each letter tag will be linked to a letter containing that surname. Anyone that would like to purchase an original copy of the letter can contact GRHS Headquarters.
| Canada | Alberta |
| British Columbia | |
| Manitoba | |
| Saskatchewan | |
| Europe | All |
| Russia | Beresan District |
| Bessarabia | |
| Caucasus | |
| Cherson/Odessa A-G Cherson/Odessa H-R Cherson/Odessa S-Z Hoffnungstal/Cherson/Odessa |
|
| Crimea/Taurien | |
| Romaina | |
| Other Areas | |
| Central/South America | All |
| United States | |||
| Alabama | Arizona | Arkansas | |
| California | Colorado | Connecticut | |
| Delaware | Florida | Georgia | |
| Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | |
| Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | |
| Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | |
| Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | |
| Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | |
| Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | |
| New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | |
| North Carolina | North Dakota A-D | North Dakota E-H | |
| North Dakota I-L | North Dakota M-R | North Dakota S | |
| North Dakota T-Z | Ohio | Oklahoma | |
| Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | |
| South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | |
| Texas | Utah | Vermont | |
| Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | |
| Wisconsin | Wyoming | ||
These are the newspapers from which most letters were translated:
NOTE: The letters in this archive have been translated by many volunteers, and GRHS makes no claims about the accuracy or style of the translations. In cases where the German has been proofed independently against the original Frakturschrift, the original German has been provided after the translation.
We also ask readers to honor the copyrights of those whose work appears here.