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This item is a recording of an interview conducted in English on October 3, 1976 with Algis Dudanavicius and Mrs. Birzagalis. Mr.Dudanavicius is a 51 year old telephone technician who arrived in Canada from Lithuania on July 25, 1949. He discusses his career and the Lithuanian community in Edmonton.

This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Fred Zebrun, who immigrated to Canada in 1928 from the Province of Grodno, village of [Kruzhana]. About 700 people came from his village to Canada but they all spread out across Canada. He talks about the places he lived in Canada before eventually living in Calgary. He speaks a bit about the Russian speaking population in Calgary and the Russian Federation in Canada.

This item is an interview with Rob Androschuk and an unknown female. Mr. Androschuk discusses being an officer in the Russian Army and what it was like living during this time period. The unidentified female also talks about living through WWI.

This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Maria von Rosenbach, the daughter of Colonel Orest Durnovol, a writer and philosopher. He wrote a book in Russia, but his interpretation of religion was different than the State's and was therefore forbidden. This book was published in 1913 in Germany. The family left Russia in 1918 and Maria discusses this journey in the interview. She talks about her life and meeting her husband. Her family's occupations during the Depression are also discussed.

This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Lorna Wiklun on June 28, 1982. Her grandparent left Russia sometime after 1903, they were Mennonites. She discusses her family's immigration to Canada through Mexico to Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

This item is an interview with Fred Prybysh conducted in Ukrainian on February 19, 1976. In the interview Mr. Prybysh discusses immigration to Canada and the Russian Orthodox Church in Edmonton.

This item contains an interviews with Mrs. Lydia Kupsch (nee. Rosnal), a German Russian who was born in Volynia in 1896 before immigrating to Canada in 1902. She talks of life in Russia and then life in Stoney Plain and Bruderheim. She also discusses her husband and her wedding. For part of the interview, there is an older interview being played while people are talking over it.

This item is a recording of an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Fenske, recorded February 13, 1982. Mrs. Fenske discusses how a whole community came to Canada by boat because of the Depression and were pressed to join the Orthodox Russian Church, but did not want to. The church was the centre of all activities with service three times per day. They used the German language at home, and their parents went to German school back in Russia. Mr. Fenske's father came to Canada alone in 1893, Mr. Fenske was born in 1902.

This item is a recording about artist William Kurelek and author Myrna Kostash

This item is a recording of a conference presentation. Shevchenko as a national poet of Ukraine. Major developments that might take place in the next few decades: long term climatic conditions, changes in climate are less predictable; the capacity for food production will be not as good but the population will be expending sharply – tremendous pressure for food, massive famines. Restructuring of political power is coming. Atomic weaponry is a threat. Expansion of education will result in diffusion of power of political decision making. Physical limits of human activity. Redistribution and optimization of natural resources. Economic shocks for the US: Japan’s economic growth, Vietnam war, Chinese experience. Product life cycle. The USA will not be able to impose their will on other nations. In Europe, new political construction will take place. There will be a power bigger than a nation-state. European countries have similar stages of development and are ready for globalization. Every nation will retain its national heritage but they will unite on a global political level. China’s influence will grow in the decades to come. It will be less dependent on other countries. Unlike the Soviet Union, China retained more equality. American model is not appropriate to countries that have no natural wealth. Japanese had high motivation and an obsession for learning technology while preserving own traditions. They have capacity for national cooperation in the face of a threat. Japanese will be performing another miracle – just watch them. They will be a model for European countries. Soviet Union has tremendous range of natural resources. Its potential productivity is very high. Marks’ proposition was true for limited resources. Communist society is supposed to be highly cooperative in the absence of material scarcity. But USSR is the last empire and it is disintegrating quite quickly. What is awaiting for the USSR? It can become a supplier for more developed countries. Atomic war is also a probability but it could happen only accidentally; possibly a conventional war with China. It does not pay to keep an empire. Now much energy is being wasted on keeping that empire alive instead of developing. Ukraine in this context is a modern nation; it has generous natural resources. It has a necessary infrastructure for an efficient country.

This item contains recordings of an interview with Dr. Tova Yedlin for "Cultural Crossroads", information about the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, and recordings of German music

This item contains recordings from the Second Banff Conference on Central and East European Studies.
Presentation by Mr. Petr Czarnowsky: Eastern Europeans, despite their proportion of the population, came to form a large number, often over 50% of ethnic associations in Alberta. This includes ethnic organizations, arts organizations, and linguistic schools. Policies of multiculturalism have helped to form these figures, but have had the unforeseen consequence of adding to confusion about Eastern European ethnic groups on the part of students and teachers alike.

Presentation by Mr. Joanna Mateko on the problems already being faced in the study of Poles. She came from Poland associated with the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw for 15 years. She did work in the field of Polish history, having published numerous articles and co-author of bibliographies that were compiled by the Polish academy of sciences. She does her research on the Poles in Alberta. A problem that exists in the study of Poles is the inaccuracy of academic and official documents pertaining to Polish settlement in Canada, and the difficulty in unearthing accurate depictions and statistics of Polish settlers, and Slavic settlers more generally. This can be derived from a lack of knowledge from Canadian officials, and a lack of consciousness amongst many Slavic groups, particularly the Poles and Ukrainians.

Presentation by Mr. John Sokolowski, a graduate student in the department of Slavic Languages, his first graduate program was as a Classicist. He does work on the Russians and Belarussians. He started his work on the East Slavs, the Russians, Belarussians, and Ukrainians in Alberta. They no longer work on the Ukrainians as so much work has been published. They started their study with the Russians and Belarussians, they hope to determine an accurate number of people of Russian and Belarussian origin in Alberta. Contention on the accurate number of Russians and Belarussians in Canada, as the definition of Russian has changed over time, with many early documents associating many non-Russian ethnic groups as Russian. Dynamics have changed with census records over the years, which still continue to be unreliable. There is thought to be far more Belarussians in Canada than official census documents would suggest.

Presentation by Mrs. Dr. Yermilla Horna University of Calgary Department of Sociology. Dr. Horna was educated in Prague and Bratislava came to Canada in ’58, taking part in the project doing the history of the Czechs and the Slovaks. She got a grant for the study of patterns of adjustment of Czechoslovaks, the so called refugees of 1968-1969. The study focused on pre-1968 settlement of Czechoslovaks in Canada to figure out if incoming refugees had a previous basis to go off of, or had to ‘start from scratch’. Research found majority of Czechoslovaks came to Alberta as miners, farmers, or other labourers, mostly from Slovakia. Greatest wave of Czechoslovak migration prior to 1968 came in 1885.

Presentation by Mr. Kostash: Talks about the function of universities. Talks about how East European and Soviet Studies at the university follows the same functions. Mentions that one who takes particular focus on the East European courses offered by the University can find themselves being skilled and knowledgeable scholars. Initiatives by professors at the university to make sure students in the field go out to the ethnic communities to get a feel for how they are. Talks about the importance of community approval and funding for new programs. Stresses transparency of activities in programs as it relates to the community.

Presentation by Mr. Duruviches, a member of the Lithuanian community, and President of the Baltic Society: Discusses the contention with the label ‘Soviet’, coming from Lithuania, and the history Lithuania has with the Soviet Union. The importance of having a place such as a University to study one’s heritage. Expects from the University that it is kept in mind that although their issues are similar at the moment, that Baltic peoples are not Slavic peoples.

Presentation by Dr. Bergin from the Faculty of Education: has a strong interest in Mennonite culture. Difficulties because of mixed loyalties on representing different groups; particularly the Mennonites, who aren’t easily identified by typical visages.

Presentation by Dr. Sukoversky: the definition of a collection, and that professors start collections. Students can start collections too. Ethnic groups can start collections.

Presentation by the Chairman of Edmonton Historical Board

Presentation by Mr. Kistner: Wasn’t prepared to present but is talking from the perspective of a foot soldier. He is Baltic German born in Tallinn Estonia. Talks about how maps often forget about the islands of Estonia. Baltic Germans is a very small group. It’s worthwhile for even very small groups to write their history and preserve their heritage. In doing work there’s lots of assistance needed, time, and footwork. Being a small group has its advantages, no need for sampling.

This item is a recording of an annual general meeting in [1976]. Reports were given by the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Academic Research Committee, Publicity Committee, and Executive Director. A new board was elected.

This item is a recording of a meeting discussing the logistics of the Central and Eastern European society. At this meeting the society was formally established and committees were created.

This item is a recording of a meeting of CEESSA. Discussions include the question of Hungarian and other courses at the university, the constitution and procedures of the committee, membership dues, and the name of the society.
Department of Education set up a committee on curriculum development but will there be ethnic content or just Canadian? “Units” of studies: “Ethnic mosaic” and “Alberta”. Making sure the ethnic groups get recognition in the history of Western Canada. Working together with Heritage Council History of Western Canada discriminates certain ethnic groups. Some Social Studies programs need to be revised.
Important feature – sizable new groups of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Travel concerns to those countries.
80% of Germans in Alberta are from Eastern Europe. Up to 40% of Alberta population is from Continental Europe

This item is an audio file containing the very last moment of Mr. Schmid's address, applause , and Mr. Agust Osis- his common prayer concludes the conference of CEESSA of 1977.

This item is a recording of the Annual General Meeting of CEESSA.
Electing the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary
Describing the functions of each position
Not holding any office for more than 2 years
Nomination for President: Mrs. Lobay – accepted the nomination
Nomination for Vice-President: Dr. Metro Galutsan – accepted the nomination
Nomination for Treasurer: Mr. Dudaravicius – accepted the nomination
Nomination for Secretary: Dr. Bela Biro – accepted the nomination, appointed by acclamation
Mr. Kostash – would rather go to the educational committee
Mr. Kuester – appointed to the publicity committee
The finance committee – Algis Dudaravicius
Nominating Chairman: Mr. Kostash
Nominating Committee: Mr. Spillios, Mr. [Yerevic], Mr. [?]
Mr. Priesley and Mr. Kostash will appoint their own respective committees
The Nominating Committee had to be appointed today in case of some emergency
May 3, 7:30 – next meeting
Meeting adjourned

Side B- a lesson in the Russian Language (exercise in translation)