DESCRIPTION OF THE DATABASE

                    A. Brief history of the project

During the 1970s and 1980s, both the Federal Government of Canada and the Provincial Government of Alberta encouraged Canada's ethnocultural groups to maintain, document and develop their cultural heritage, and provided funding for this purpose. Like many other groups, the German-Canadian Association of Alberta decided to establish an inventory of German-Canadiana in Alberta's libraries, archives and private collections. This inventory was to make it possible for members of the several  German-speaking groups and others, for scholars as well as teachers, to access information about the heritage of speakers of German in the province in a single, central database.

Please note: In this bibliography, the terms "German cultural group" and "speakers of German" include "Germans" from Germany in its various political incarnations, from the U.S., Central and Eastern Europe; it also includes the Austro-Hungarians, the Austrians, the Swiss, the Mennonites, and the Hutterites. The term "German" or "the Germans" should therefore always be taken to refer to this broader meaning.

A small committee consisting of representatives of the German-Canadian Association of Alberta and several staff members from the University of Alberta developed an action plan. After a grant was received from the Multicultural Commission, a researcher was hired to collect bibliographical references on the "German cultural groups in Alberta" and to organize them by keywords in a standard card catalogue. A great deal of work was accomplished by the researcher in documenting more than 1,000 entries. However, as government policy changed, grant money became no longer available, and after about six months the search had to be terminated. Several months later, a volunteer from the Association entered more than half the entries collected into a professional-quality database to facilitate information retrieval. Subsequently, the project lay dormant for several years.

In 1998, the compiler of this Bibliography undertook to complete the project on his own on behalf of, and with the consent of, the German-Canadian Association of Alberta. Two years later, the Bibliography was published on the Internet, and other avenues are being explored to disseminate this information as widely as possible to both the professional and the lay person interested in the cultural history of the "Germans" in Alberta. It is hoped that the concise annotation accompanying each entry will provide enough information to whet the reader's curiosity and to guide him or her in researching topics of interest.

This bibliography adds substantially to the important and comprehensive investigations carried out by Professor Alexander Malycky (University of Calgary), Professor Hartmut Froeschle (University of Toronto), and others. Their pioneering and exhaustive bibliographical work is gratefully acknowledged as are the contributions of many others.

Since 1998, the bibliography has been updated annually, and a printed version of the annual/biennial update is available from the German-Canadian Association of Alberta. Please write to the compiler, Manfred Prokop, if you would like to order a copy.

It is in the nature of a bibliography that it is likely to be incomplete and, in places, incorrect. The compiler welcomes suggestions for additions and changes. Please write to Manfred Prokop at the University of Alberta.
 

            B. Materials

The data base consists of references to primary materials (such as articles in German-language and English-language newspapers, letters, photos, sound recordings, art work, travelogues, literature, official documents, reports, cooking recipes, oral histories, church and club records, manuscripts and maps) and of secondary materials (articles in scholarly journals, books and chapters in books on the "Germans" in Alberta, theses and dissertations).

Each record has been catalogued by certain criteria, such as "author", "title", "date of publication", and "keywords." The database can be searched by keywords and by a full-text search. For example, a search of the data base could be conducted for all occurrences of "Bruderheim", but also by {"Bruderheim" OR "Bruederheim" OR "Brüderheim" AND "Moravian"}. Key words are, for example, "folk art", "clothing", "immigration", "Deutscher Bund", "Germans from Russia", or "Civic Politics". Searching by names, such as "Martin Nordegg", anywhere in a record will also produce results. A list of such Keywords has been prepared to assist the reader in searches of the data base. Please see Hints for searching for more detail on quick and efficient searching.

            C. Sources

Please note: Only publicly accessible materials have been catalogued.

1. Newspapers
    1.1 German-language newspapers
        1.1.1 Alberta

Alberta Deutsche Zeitung 1911-1912
Alberta Herold 1905-1915
Albertaner December 1995-
Der Herold 1928-1931
Der Deutsch-Canadier 1908-1914
Deutsch-Canadische Farmer 1909
Farmerfreund

Der Courier/Der Courier und Herold/Alberta Courier/Kanada Kurier 1907-1996
Deutsch-Kanadische Volkszeitung 1937
Deutsche Arbeiter-Zeitung 1930-1937
Deutsche Zeitung für Canada 1935-1939
Der Nordwesten 1897-1909, 1956-June 1968
Der Courier-Nordwesten  June 11, 1968-July 1980

  1880-1900 in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge
  Peace River areas in the 1920s
  Coaldale and area in the 1920s
  August 1914-June 1915
  February 1916
  September 1917
  January 1918-June 1919
  March-June 1933
  September 1939-July 1940
  May 1945-June 1945
  January 1965-April 1973
  September 1973-October 1976
  May 1977-April 1978
  2000-present (in the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal)
  Selected dates of events, such as the German Days, formal balls, etc.

Calgary/Morning) Albertan, Calgary (Daily) Herald, Edmonton (Daily) Bulletin, Edmonton, Journal, Lethbridge (Daily/Weekly) Herald, Lethbridge News, Medicine Hat (Daily/Weekly) News, Medicine Hat Times.

1.2.2 When available for the above focus points:

Barrhead Leader, Brooks Bulletin, Calgary Eye Opener, Camrose Canadian, High River Times, MacLeod Gazette, Northern Tribune, Peace River Gazette, Red Deer News, Red Deer Advocate, Strathcona Plain Dealer, Strathmore and Bow Valley Standard, Strathmore Standard, Sylvan Lake News.

1.2.3 Other newspapers and magazines:

Alberta Report, Athabasca Echo, Calgary Sun, Canadian Collector, Daily Herald, (Daily) Herald Tribune, Eagleview Post, Edmonton Examiner, Edmonton Sun, Farmer and Ranch Review, Farmer's Telegraph, Fort Record, Free Press, Gauntlet, Globe and Mail, Herald Tribune, Maclean's Magazine, Newsweek, Pincher Creek Echo, Calgary Regional, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Saturday News, South Edmonton Sun, St. John's Calgary Report, St. John's Edmonton Report, Time, Weekly Herald, Western people, Western producer.