Toba Geller and Ruth Landfield along with a committee of Fargo women initiated the North Dakota Jewish Project in 1975. It was the second attempt to set down the Jewish history of the state, the first being in the mid-1950s when Toba Geller began researching Jewish families via correspondence. The creators took up research again, incorporating The Jewish Historical Project of North Dakota as a non-profit in 1978 and actively solicited materials from Jews who had grown up in North Dakota in the hopes of publishing a book. The project lost momentum when Toba Geller suddenly passed away in December 1978 and despite her husband Sam Geller’s attempts to continue research, a book was never published. This collection represents the results of a sustained collecting effort. The collection has been augmented since by other individuals donating information about their family’s sojourn in North Dakota.
From the guide to the The Jewish Historical Project of North Dakota Records, 1884-2007, (bulk 1975-1979), (University of Minnesota Libraries. Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. [umja])
