ODD S. LOVOLL AWARD IN NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
- 2021 — Conrad Pederson, University of North Dakota, ’21, “Public Art in North Dakota.”
- 2022 — Mathea Diedrich, Luther College, ’22, “Change in Norwegian-American Identity Expression, as Seen Through the Headstones at Washington Prairie Lutheran Church, 1864-1969.”
- 2023 — Helen White, St. Olaf College, ’23, “Dialectal Development and Comparison: Norwegian Dialects in the U.S. and Norway.”
- 2025 — Otelia Lighthill, St. Olaf College, ’27, “New Women in the New World: The Development
- of a Norwegian American Female Identity.”
NAHA ARCHIVES FELLOWSHIP
- 2024 — Mona Holm, PhD Fellow, University of Oslo
Project: “Migrant Feminism: Norwegian-American Women’s Transnational Experiences.” Holm will examine Norwegian-American women’s perception of the United States — and the American Women’s Rights Movement in particular. She will explore how women conveyed their views to their networks both in Norway and America and how they contributed to a new public sphere that changed Norway and the Nordic countries.
- 2025 — Mikael Lyngaas, PhD student, University of Oslo
Project: “Scandinavian-American Socialism, 1880-1920” The Scandinavian-American socialist movement was fragmented and divided between the two socialist parties, the Socialist Labor Party, and the Socialist Party of America. Lyngaas will consolidate the history of the Scandinavian-American socialist movement and provide insight into their culture, ideology, press activities, and political practices.
- 2026 — Henrik Olav Mathiesen, PhD, Oslo, Norway
Project: “From America to Norwegian Faith: How the Sects Came to Norway.” Mathiesen’s research will explore the history of how Norwegian immigrants encountered diverse Christian influences during their journey to America. These transatlantic cultural encounters led to the rise of various Christian communities, sometimes considered sects or cults. By focusing on this enduringly popular theme, the project aims to offer a fresh and engaging look at Norwegian-American migration from a novel and engaging perspective.
NAHA PUBLICATIONS FELLOWSHIP
- 2024 — Marika Josephson, PhD, Murphysboro, Ill.
Project: “A Life in Lefse: Anna Sekse Kindem’s ‘Amerikabrev,’ Letters to the Newspaper Hardanger, 1938–1976,” a proposal based on a collection of newspaper columns housed at the NAHA Archives. Translated by former NAHA archivist Charlotte Jacobson, the columns make for a fascinating collection that shines fresh light on the second century of Norwegian immigration.
- 2025 — JoAnn Conrad, Professor of Social Sciences, Diablo Valley College, CA.
Project: “Shifting Portraits of Norway in American Children’s Literature, 1900-1945” This project traces the publishing histories of children’s books about Norway, written, translated, and/or illustrated from the turn of the 20th Century until WWII. Conrad will focus primarily on books produced by Norwegian-American translators, and the roles that immigration and gender politics, as well as publishing trends and economics, have played in the American re-presentation of Norway.
- 2026 — Tammie Pontsler, PhD candidate, Savannah College of Art and Design, GA.
Project: “Threads of Migration: Fashioning the Norwegian-American Identity.” Fashion is a powerful way to express culture, history, and identity. This project explores how fashion served as a language for Norwegian women immigrating to the United States during the great Norwegian emigration. Inspired by Pontsler’s own family history, this study explores how clothing and folk art showcased themes of preservation, adaptation, and a new hybrid identity. Pontsler’s research will result not only in a publication, but in a contemporary fashion collection that will be shared in a public exhibition.
