Welcome to the NAHA Collections Catalog!
Use our online catalog to explore our archival and manuscript collections. Some finding aids are currently offline, but we’re happy to help – just reach out to the NAHA archivist with any questions. Looking for digitized materials? Click here to browse thousands of items available online!
Sonja (Hegge) Hillestad papers, 1995
- Title
- Sonja (Hegge) Hillestad papers, 1995
- Identifier
- P1658
- Date
- 1995
- Creator
- Hillestad, Sonja
- Description
- Ole Hegge was "a world-famous ski jumper…In 1926, skiing for Norway, he won the King's Cup in the combined event for jumping and cross country…In 1928, in the Olympics, he won a silver medal for Norway, again for a combined event. He was a member of that country's Olympic cross-country team three times." He emigrated in the 1930s and "worked as a carpenter for the Westchester Co. YMCA and for Camp Sloane in Lakeville, retiring in 1966. He skied in local races and helped coach jumping and cross country for the Salisbury Winter sports Association." His wife was Solveig (Thorkildsen), 1904-1986.
Mrs. Hillestad's biography of her father is 24 typescript pages; that of her mother 15 typescript pages. The photocopies are mostly undated.; According to a May 7, 2002 letter, in 1926 "King Haakon broke the Norwegian cultural/racial exclusion of nordlanders by dramatically including Ole publicly in his person sphere A very similar experience to our Jackie Robinson being accepted in our US popular culture…In 1930, Ole and Sonja Henie were sponsored to present skating and skiing to Americans via Madison Square Garden. This resulted in the first ski train being chartered to the first northeastern ski jump in Norfolk, Conn. In Norfolk, the boy from nordland physically built the facility." Includes family stories, biographies of her parents, and photocopies of newspaper articles and other materials about her father's athletic career. - Location: 13/C/2, 68/B/4
- Extent
- 1 folder
- Language
- English
- Type
- Manuscripts
Collection
Citation
Hillestad, Sonja, “Sonja (Hegge) Hillestad papers, 1995,” Norwegian American Historical Association, accessed October 17, 2026, https://norwegianamericanhistory.org/catalog/items/show/10939.