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Browse Items (3004 total)
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First Reserve: Autobiography on Susan Jane Severson
An autobiography written for “children, sisters, cousins of all degrees, close friends and for anyone interested in learning the history of a second to fourth generation Norwegian-American growing up in Wisconsin in the 1940–1960s.” Included are stories of Eau Claire, St. Olaf College, Minneapolis, and her work as a registered nurse at Fairview and the University of Minnesota Hospitals. -
Arne M. Bjorndal journal, 1940
The journal of Arne Bjørndal, who was involved in resistance activities following the German invasion on April 9, 1940. The journal documents his experiences in Norway between April 9–20, 1940. It includes My Early Years: From School Days to War Time, which reflects on his early years in Norway, the invasion of Norway, becoming a “citizen arrestee,” and being sent to Ebreichsdorf sanitorium on the Austria/Hungary border. Transcription and translation of journal provided. -
Nils Vinnes collection, 2009
Includes the Norwegian published version and translated version by Norman Vinnes. "Nils Vinnes: A Grandfather's Legacy" covers the story of Nils Olai Larsson Vinnes from Vinnesvåg, Norway. This publication discusses his call to be a preacher and emigration to America in 1946. -
Arthur F. Giere collection, 1929-circa 1950
The collection of materials includes: Arthur G. Giere’s copies the Gale Bulletin from July 1929-August 1932, History of Galesville University, 1854-1940, The Vossings in American and Glimpses of Gale by Arthur F. Giere, and the Eric Clauson Tesdal Himle Notebook. Arthur has a long relationship with Gale College. He started teaching in 1903 at the age of 18. For several years in the 1930s, he served as President of the Vosselaget. The notebook has memories of Arthur G. Giere, his father Reverend Nils Giere who was a pastor at Crow River, Renville and Sacred Heart, MN (1883-1933) and his brother, Dr. Eric O. Giere who operated Giere Clinic in Minneapolis with his sons. -
Strommen family history, undated
Includes booklet “A four generation of Strommen history: How god transformed a Norwegian family” by Merton Peter Stommen.” CD with interview. -
Houkom family papers, 1805-1938
Biography/History:
Ole Bjørnsen (1783-1856) was born in Laurdal's parish in upper Telemark, where his father was a farmer. In 1802, he was elected church singer and school teacher in Kviteseid. He was educated in Kristiansand under Bishop Hansen, and in 1812 served as conciliation commissioner. Bjørnsen served as a representative of Bratsberg county in the Storting in 1815-16 (Member of 1st: church committee), 1836, 1837, 1839, 0g 1842. He was close friends with the priest Jens Zetlitz, who dedicated the 2nd edition of his Songs for a Norwegian Peasantry “because he [Bjørnsen] was the most respectable farmer he knew." Bjørnsen belonged to the so-called Zetlitz circle together with Jens Zetlitz and Ole Blom.
Bjørnsen is said to have been among the peasants who fought for the interests of farmers. In September 1815, he put forward a proposal to complete the abolition of the nobility. This was completed through the Nobility Act in 1821. He was also a supporter of abolishing the Conventical poster in 1841, including repealing the Jewish section. Henrik Wergeland, a Norwegian writer, wrote that Bjørnsen was “a priest in his Enlightenment and in his way of thinking. When his voice has been heard, it has always been for a cause which has glorified his humanity.”
Ole Bjørnsen was married three times: Tone Tollefsdatter Hemmestveit (-1807), Engelev Aslaksdatter Kirkebø (-1822), and Tarjer Aslaksdatter Kirkebø (1800-1875). With his third wife, Tarjer, they had a son Sveinung O. Haukom (now spelled Houkom) married Mari Handsdatter Saltevje in 1849. Sveinung and Mari had eight children, including: Olaf (1850-1920), Targer/Thora (1856-1925), Aslak (1864-1938).
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Thrane family papers, 1866-1960
Biography/History:
Marcus Møller Thrane (1817-1890) was the leader of the first organized labor movement in Norway. After a few years as an office worker and a teacher, Thrane began his campaign to improve conditions for Norway’s industrial workers and for the husmann, cotters, who were their rural counterparts. He used his platform as editor of the Drammens Adresse newspaper. In 1848, he founded the Drammen Arbeiderforening, Drammen Workers’ Association, which quickly grew to around 300 local affiliates and 30,000 members around Norway.
Thrane advocated for universal voting rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and measures to close Norway’s 19th century wealth gap. The 1848 February Revolution in France was an inspiration for him, but for the authorities in Norway, it was a source of worry. They kept a close watch on Thrane and his labor movement. In 1851, they arrested him based on rumors that he’d been fomenting revolution during a labor conference. The charges did not hold up to scrutiny. Records show that judges knew Thrane was innocent of any crime, Still, they sentenced him to prison, and in all he spent eight years there.
Thrane immigrated to the United States in 1863, where he renewed his work as an editor and archivist. He started the short-lived newspaper Norske-Amerikaner (1865-1866) and a philosophical and religious monthly called Dagslyset (1866-1878), both in Chicago. Thrane clashed with the Norwegian Lutherans, which led to a war of printed words. The church published “Advarsel til Alle Kristne,” A Warning to All Christians, in 1866, condemning the socialist ideas in Thrane’s Norske-Amerikaner. His response was slow coming (1881), a sharp satire of the Wisconsin Synod Lutherans that he titled Den Gamle Wisconsin Bibelen, The Old Wisconsin Bible.
His son Arthur had followed him to America and became a physician at Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1868. Arthur D.H. Thrane and his wife, Amalie Struck, move to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Together they had eight children, several of whom became professional musicians. Their children include: Victor, Ella, Irma, Dr. Marcus M., Robert, Lucile, and Arthur David Thrane.
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Lenorah Erickson papers, circa 1960
Travelogue and itinerary of Lenorah’s experience as a Norwegian missionary in India, China, and Taiwan. Also included are letters and manuscript materials about life as a missionary. Lenorah was influential in helping establish the Taiwan Lutheran Church in 1952. -
Alfred C. Jesness collection, circa 1886-circa 1922
Afred Jesness was born in Sawn Lake Township, Stevens County, Minnesota on 1883 February 2. His parents, Ole and Berte Larson, immigrated from Hedemarken, Norway in 1872 and moved to Stevens County in 1875. They homesteaded adjacent to Ole's half brother. The two families shared a sod house that theybuilt on the property line between the two homesteads. Each family lived in the half of the house that was on their claim. The women shared a cast iron cooking stove located in the middle of the house. Ole built a frame house for his family while his brother continued to live in the sod house for several years.
In 1893 Ole changed his name to Ole Larson Jesness, taking the nae of the farm where is family lived in Norway. According to family lore, there were too many Ole Larsons and the mail got mixed up. The family lived in Stevens County until 1900 when Ole sold the farm and moved to Polk County near Fosston, Minnesota. The new owner was a widower with three daugthers. Alfred was interested in the oldest daughter of the new owner. He returned to Stevens County in 1901 to work on his older brothers farm When his brother, Ludvig, was killed in an accident in 1904, Alfred helped Ludvig's widow with the farm for another year and a half. during this time, he courted Clara, the daughter of the new owner of the farm where he grew up.
On 1907 July 3, Alfred Jesness and Clara Carlson married at teh farm where he had lived for 17 years. They moved to a farm near Fosston where Alfred's parents lived. Their oldest daughter, Lillian, was born there in 1909. Clara was not happy living in a house that was said to be haunted. Clara's father remarried shortly after he moved to Stevens County. In 1908, Clara's step mother died in childbirth. The next year, Alfred, Clara, and their baby moved back to Stevens County to live with her father, two sisters, and half sister.
Alfred worked on his father-in-laws farm for four years, and in 1913 bought the farm from him. He ended up wowning the farm where his father homestead. Five more children were born here: Phillip (1914), Dorothy (1917), Elmer (1921), and Ruth (1926). Alfred was the amateur photographer who took these family photographs. -
Rydholm/Williams photographs, circa 1860-1971
Photographs of the Williams and Rydholm families from Illinois.
Dr. Jacob Larsen Urheim (born 1855 April 24 in Ullensvang, Norway) came to America in 1876. He first went to Minnesota and worked as a pharmacist. He then went to Chicago and entered Bennett Medical School. He graduated in 1891. From 1900 to 1905, he was the attending physician at Cook County Hospital. He opened a private practice and taugted at Bennett Medical School. His first wife Tilda Laugen passed away in 1891, leaving two children Olaf and Alice Henriette. On Arpil 23, 1893 he married his second wife Malena "Lena" Sarah Williams (1867-1948), daugther of Wick Williams of Lee, Illinois.
Wick Williams and Julia Williams (Lee County, Illinois). He was born on July 9, 1931 in Bergensteft, Norway, son of Wicking Jassendal. The Williams' had four children: Julia Cecilia Williams (Sandberg), Malena "Lena" Williams (Urheim), William Lewis Williams, and Dr. Rasmus Volland Williams. A "Portrait and biographical record of Lee County, Illinois" is available online via the Internet Archive and includes a detail biography of Wick Williams.
Julia Cecilia Williams (1874-1954) married Frank Victor Sandburg (1878-1902) of Chicago, Illinois.
William Williams married Hannah Johnson (1868-1950) and together they had two children, Helen Winifred Williams (1910-1991) and Vivian Constance Williams (1897-1970). Their daugther, Vivian, married Thor Gabriel Rydholm (1895-1984). Thor and Vivian Williams Rydholm had a daughter, Helen "Virginia Rydholm (Grimes) on November 18, 1929 in Dixon, Illinois.
Includes many photographs of the Willliams and Rydholm families of Illinois, Maple Knoll farm (Lee, Illinois) photographs, postcards, family histories, and handbeaded Bible of Hannah Johnson. Quilts made in the 1880s by Hanna Johnson Williams while living in a log cabin when she was a small child. The two quilts are an orchid pattern and a double irish chair pattern. Various textiles including seat pads and doilies. A painted rock from 1908 travels in Norway that says "Hilsen fra Nordkapp."