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Telling about the cross-country hike (4,600 miles) by Helga Estby (age 36) and her daughter Clara (18), May 4-Dec. 23, 1896. Helga was born in 1860 in Oslo, her family emigrating to Manistee, Mich. When she was 11. After marrying Ole Estby the couple homesteaded in Minnesota and in 1887 (with 8 children) moved to Spokane, Wash. Poor health, unemployment and a large family inspired Helga to seek the prize of $10,000 for the hike offered by a New York woman. However, the offer was withdrawn (on the grounds that delays caused by accidents could not be considered), but then was made conditional on Helga's writing a book about the trip. Embittered and depressed, Helga never mentioned the trip again. After her husband's death in 1916 she began secretly to write an account, but a daughter-in-law burned it after her death, 1942.; Hunt is an Associate Professor of English at Whitworth College in Spokane, and a free-lance writer. Gift of the author, Hunt's book on the subject, Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's forgotten walk across Victorian America (298 p.) was published in 2003 by the University of Idaho Press. A clipping of an article about Hunt and her book (Spokman-Review Apr. 28, 2003) is included here.
In this series of interviews by Odd Lovoll for his books “The Promise of America: History of the Norwegian-American People” and “The Promise Fulfilled: A Portrait of Norwegian Americans Today,” Lovoll interviews Andreas Rhude.
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Family papers of Lingah (Leirgat) Christine Anderson (1871-1954) who married Jens Anderson Ness (1863-1937) in 1902. He was born in Sogndal, Norway, and immigrated 1872. Lingah was a graduate of St Olaf College in 1894; and attended the Univ. of Kansas (1894-95) and Peabody Conservatory of Music (1987-98). She served as an instructor of music, German, and history for a time at Park Region Luther College In Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Jens Ness obtained degrees from Luther College (1890), and Johns Hopkins Univ. (Ph.D., 1901). He was a teacher of Latin, French, and Greek. A long-time faculty member at Wittenberg College (1904-1935). Collection comprises several folders of photographs; letters of reference for Lingah; diaries, clippings and family correspondence.
Business records of the general retail mercantile store, including prices of produce and items of merchandise. P.A. Rasmussen and Erik Holland were among the patrons. Records for the period after 1856 are incomplete.
Notes and other materials of a Norwegian war correspondent who lectured in the United States in 1943-1945. Beginning in 1925 she covered news from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and North Africa. For a time she was correspondent for "Nordisk Tidende" in Brooklyn.
Her book "Tusen Norske Skip" was translated by Nora Solum and published under the title "Norway's New Saga of the Sea." One folder, 33 items, concerns Norwegians in Oregon.
Includes folders: clippings and lecture tour data and correspondence; Peter Myrvold biography and articles on Alaska and California; and Norwegians in Oregon.