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Browse Items (4 total)
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Josephine Brack papers, 1907-1987
Papers of a St. Paul woman who was a leader in Norwegian-American organizations, especially in the Norse-American Centennial Celebration in 1925, the Norse-American Centennial Daughters of St. Paul, and the Minnesota Leif Erickson Monument Association. She held offices in all of these organizations and continued to sponsor an annual Leif Erickson celebration after the monument had been erected in 1949. She was also an officer in the group which administered Lyngblomsten Home for the Aged in St. Paul. The papers include some of these records. The above papers were donated by Mrs. Brack's daugher, Ione Kadden, St. Paul. A collection of the records of the Norse American Daughters of St. Paul was donated by Mrs. Brack earlier and has been cataloged separately.
Select materials from the Josephine Brack papers have been digitized and available online here. -
Norse American Centennial Daughters of St. Paul papers, 1922-1994
Articles, brochures, clippings, correspondence, and reports of a Norwegian-American society organized in 1925 following the Norse American Centennial celebration in Minneapolis of that year. It has supported the Minnesota Leif Erikson Monument Association, entertained visiting royalty from Norway, and promoted library, music, museum, and welfare projects.
Select materials have been digitized and are available online here. -
Carl O. Pedersen papers, 1919-1949
Manuscript "The Norse-American Centennial". Includes Obit clippings. Clippings and pamphlets of a Norwegian-born Lutheran clergyman, and a manuscript dealing with the observance of the Norse-American Centennial in the United States and in Norway.
The manuscript has been digitized and is available online here. -
Norse-American Centennial papers, 1923-1927
Biography/History:
The centennial of organized Norwegian migration provided an opportunity for Norwegian-Americans to celebrate their heritage and, more importantly, to demonstrate their American-ness. The celebrations, held in many North American cities and culminating in a major festival at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in June 1925, showed how Norwegian-Americans had already contributed, as well as how well they fit in their new homes. The celebrations constituted a complex process of identity building and a tricky balancing of old culture and new.Advertised as “The World’s Largest Gathering for 1925,” promoters described the Twin Cities celebration as “stupendous” and “monumental.” Events over the four-day period included speeches by Norwegian, Canadian, Icelandic, and American dignitaries, including U.S. President Calvin Coolidge; religious services; musical performances; displays of handcrafts, fine arts, and natural resources; and sporting events. The high point with a lavish “Pageant of the Northmen.” With a cast of 1,500, the melodramatic account of a thousand years of Norwegian history featured stories of heroic settlement, noteworthy individuals, and triumphs in the "new" world.
The Norse-American Centennial was a historical moment that brought national attention to Minnesota’s Norwegian immigrant community. To rapt attendees this was a cultural celebration, but behind the scenes the event challenged Norwegian-American leaders, intellectuals, and the broader Norwegian-American community to reexamine their heritage and role as Americans. One year prior to the celebration, the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 harshly defined insiders and outsiders. While northern Europeans fared relatively well under the new quota system, many Norwegian-Americans seized this moment as an opportunity to elevate their status and dispute negative stereotypes within the minds of their fellow Americans.
The celebration was initiated by the general council of the bygdelag — local history clubs for Norwegian immigrants and their descendants organized by region of origin. The materials generated by the Norse-American Centennial, an association incorporated in 1925 in St. Paul, are rich and varied. The collection describes in detail the management of the celebration and gives data on observances outside of Minnesota, including Chicago, Canada, Boston, and Brooklyn. Letters and essays reveal the loyalty of Norwegian Americans to their cultural heritage, the rivalry among groups of Norwegians in America, and their internal struggles of understanding ethnic identity.
Scope and Content:
Correspondence, minutes, financial records, reports, programs, clippings, pictures, pamphlets, and scrapbooks of an association incorporated in 1925 in St. Paul, Minnesota, to supervise the observance of the arrival of the first group of Norwegian immigrants in America. The collection describes in detail the management of the celebration and gives data on observances in Chicago, Canada, Boston, and Brooklyn. Letters and essays reveal the loyalty of Norwegian Americans to their cultural heritage and the rivalry among area groups of Norwegians in America. The celebration was initiated by the bygdelags. The chief officials were Gisle Bothne, S. H. Holstad, J. A. Holvik, Elisa P. Farseth, and Mrs. Wm. O. Storlie. Correspondents include Juul Dieserud, Knut Gjerset, Hanna Astrup Larsen, and O. M. Norlie. The centennial received nationwide press coverage.Arrangement:
Section I: Correspondence
Section II: Minutes, records, and reports
Section III: Exhibition materials and memorabilia
Section IV: Clippings
Section V: Photographs, Posters, and FilmFunding:
Funding to digitize the Norse-American Centennial papers provided to the Norwegian-American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008.