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Collection

The Wendish Heritage Society maintains a Research Library which currently has 2030 catalogued items including books, family history files, DVDs etc. on Wendish and Germanic family history, culture, customs and religion.

Research Centre in the Meeting Room
Ivanhoe Lutheran Church
27 Livingstone Street
Ivanhoe
Victoria, Australia

Books are for reference only and are not available for loan. However, legally permitted photocopying is available on request for a donation to cover costs.

The Library is divided into 25 sections relevant to the study of family history. These sections, together with some samples of each section, are listed below:

1. Genealogy General Reference

How to trace your German ancestors by Owen Muetzelburg
Sources for South Australian history by Andrew Guy Peake
Bibliography of Australian family history by Andrew Guy Peake
Relations in records: a guide to family history sources in the Australian Archives.

1A. Place names
German place names in South Australia by J. & R. Praite
Place names of Australia by A.W. Reed.

1B. Family surnames
Deutsches Namenlexikon by Hans Bahlow
German - American names by George F. Jones

1C. Genealogical Societies
Our Society receives exchange journals from over 50 other societies in Australia and overseas.

2. Biographies

Journal of an overland expedition in Australia by Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt
A colonial father: the story of German-born Queenslander J.C. Heussler by Robert C. Heussler.

3. Cemetery Records

Headstones from 46 South Australian cemeteries, photographed and recorded on CD ROM by Robert Phillis, Eudunda, South Australia
Northcote : Separation Street Cemetery in The Australian Genealogist Vol. V11.

4. Church records and histories in Australia

Register of baptisms (1848-1876) and marriages (1849-1875) in alphabetical order by Pastor Andreas Kappler; translated by Pastor H.F.W. Proeve
Short general and statistical history of the Australian Lutheran Church compiled by J. Peter Weiss
Twelve decades of grace by W.H. Paech.

5. Civil records and directories

Deadly details: a guide to some causes of death listed on death certificates by Patricia Lay
Biographical index of South Australians (1836-1885) edited by Jill Statton.

6. Court records

Cops and robbers: a guide to researching 19th Century police and criminal records in Victoria, Australia by Helen D. Harris and Gary Presland.

7. Dictionaries

Worterbuch: Deutsch-obersorbisch by Bernhard Rachel and Ludwig Gaertner
Worterbuch: Deutsch-niedersorbisch by Klaus-Peter Jannasch
Dictionary of the English and German languages by Dr. Friedrich Koehler.

8. Family heirlooms

Wendish headgear worn in the Spreewald area.

9. Family histories

Some sample surnames: Altus; Ampt; Aumann; Basedow; Both; Burger; Deutscher; Doecke; Eckert; Finger; Frost; Gersch; Graetz; Grosser; Habel; Heidrich; Heinrich; Huf; Keller; Klowss; Koop; Kotzur; Kruger; Lehmann; Lieschke; Linke; Marschall; Miller; Mirtschin; Nagel; Nagorcka; Nitschke; Noack; Noll; Petschel; Pietsch; Peucker; Reichelt; Reichstein; Rohrlach; Roocke; Rothe; Sachse; Schultz; Schulz; Schuppan; Schilling; Schwartz; Seidel; Starick; Steicke; Tepper; Twartz; Uebergang; Wedding; Wegener; Wittwer; Wurst; Zerner; Zweck.

10. Government gazettes

11-12. Historians and their histories

12A. World history
The Slavs by Marija Gimbutas
The world of the ancient Slavs by Zdenek Vana
World history factfinder by Colin McEvedy.

12B. Germany
Frederick the Great by Nancy Mitford
The Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden by Harald Marx.
Sans souci by Dr Hans-Joachim Giersberg.

12C. Wends / Sorbs in Lusatia
Geschichte Der Sorben by Jan Brankack and Frido Metsk
The smallest Slavonic nation: the Sorbs of Lusatia by Gerald Stone.
Slavs in Germany: the Sorbian minority and the German state since 1945 by Peter Barker.

12D. Australia
History of Australia vols. 1-4 by C.M.H. Clark
The Germans in Australia by Ian Harmstorf & Michael Cigler
Australia, Willkommen: a history of the Germans in Australia by Jurgen Tampke and Colin Doxford.

12E. Wends / Sorbs in Australia and Texas
In search of a home: nineteenth-century Wendish immigration by George R. Nielsen
From Hamburg to Hobsons Bay: German emigration to Port Phillip (1848-51) by Thomas A. Darragh and Robert N. Wuchatsch.
The loss of Wendish ethnicity in Australia, 1848-1919 by Heidi Zwar.

13. International Genealogical Index

Located in the Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

14. Interviews and oral histories

Oral history handbook by Beth M. Robertson

15. Land records

16. Letters

File of Pioneers' letters and memoirs including those of Andreas Albert; Michael Deutscher; Christiane Hiller (nee Petschel); Karl Traugott Hoehne; J. Mirtschin; Traugott and Andreas Preuske; E. Roth; A. Wuchatsch; Johann Zwar and Michael Zwar.

17. Local government

18. Local histories and area studies

Local history : a handbook for enthusiasts by G.M. Hibbins, C. Fahey and M.R. Askew
German heritage places in Victoria project by Henrike Franz
The story of Pella by Ian O. Maroske
Emmaus to world's end : a history of the Robertstown Council area by Dorothy Neal and others
The Barossa : a vision realized by Reginald S. Munchenberg and others
From settlement to city : a history of the District of Tea Tree Gully (1836-1976) by Ian Auhl
Greenock and District 1846-1986 by Geoff Saegenschnitter.

19. Maps and tourist guides

20. Naturalisation

File of Port Phillip residents naturalized from 1850-1855
File of South Australian aliens naturalized from 1847-1872

21. Newspapers

22. Photographs; prints; postcards

Albums of photographs from tours in Germany; functions and activities organised by the Society and submitted historical family photographs.

23. Probate

24. Shipping lists

Shipping arrivals and departures : Victorian ports 1846-1855 by Marten A. Syme
Files of various ships' passenger lists and other documents.

25. War records

On service with the men and women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by the Service Commission 1941-1946.

Collection

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