Founded in 1897 by Norwegians who had settled on the Northwest Side of Chicago, the Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Home and Hospital carried on a broad community program of social work and care for youth, as well as operating a hospital and a training school for nurses and deaconesses. In 1904, the organization came under the control of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America, which later evolved into the Evangelical Lutheran Church, The American Lutheran Church, and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Scope and Content: 
Correspondence, constitution, history, journals, legal documents, and reports of a Chicago institution opened in 1897. Papers include a biography of Marie Rorem; an autobiography by Christine Johnsen; "Mission of Mercy, Women of Action: The Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Society of Chicago", 39 pages; and "The Contribution of the Lutheran Deaconess Home & Hospital to the Community," by Helen Olson Ackert, a Master of Arts thesis submitted to the Faculty of Nursing Education at the University of Chicago, 127 typescript pages.