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.
In 1888, the Evangelical Lutheran Church held its convention in Minneapolis. Rev. Falk Gjertsen of the Norwegian Danish Conference invited several men to his home to discuss the possibility of starting deaconess work in Minneapolis. Soon, Sister Elizabeth Fedde, who had come from Norway in 1883 and founded the Norwegian Hospital in Brooklyn, and began deaconess work there, visited Minneapolis on vacation. With Elizabeth Fedde’s help the hospital in Brooklyn was able to secure two deaconesses from Norway. Fedde returned to Minneapolis in July of 1889. The Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Institute was incorporated on August 17, 1889.
Scope and Content:
Correspondence, catalogs, clippings, histories, annual reports, photos, tributes, yearbooks, certificates, and contracts of a Minneapolis institution founded in 1888 under the leadership of Sister Elizabeth Fedde of Brooklyn, New York.