Browse Items (3064 total)

• 
  Helge Høverstad papers, 1863-1945

  History/Biography:

  Helge Høverstad was born on March 15, 1870 in Vang, Valdris, Norway. His parents were  Torger Anderson Høverstad (1834-1883) and Gjertrude Helgesdatter Leine (1843-1939). Together they had four other children besides Helge, including: Torgeir who emigrated to Minnesota, and Boye, Torstein, and Berit who all stayed in Norway. Helge immigrated in June 1892, first landing in Quebec, Canada. He first settled in Holden, Goodhue County, Minnesota where his uncles, Anders and Torstein, had settled. 

  Helge first went to the Hamar Seminary in Norway from 1887-1889, and then went on to study at the United Church Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1893-1896 (Now Augsburg University). From 1896-1897, he attended Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary. He served various congregations including: Elliot, Illinois (1897-1904); Perry, Wisconsin (1904-1909); and Sioux City, Iowa (1909-). He served on the board of the Foreign Missions and wrote for St. Petri tidende. 

  Helge’s father Torger was born to Anders Anderson Hoverstad Berit Hambre. He had four siblings: brothers Anders and Torstein (both settled in Holden, Goodhue Co., MN), and sisters Berit and Kari. Berit married Kristoffer Lockren (Wangs, Goodhue Co.), and Kari married Ole H. Leine (Vang, Norway). Helge’s mother Gjertrude was born to Helge Helgeson Leine and Gjertrud Boyesdatter. She had eight siblings: Helge, Ole, Boye, Ove, Erik, Nils, Karn (married Lars Lenie) and Berthe (Married Trond Hambre).

  Helge’s brother Torstein, who stayed in Norway, conceived the idea of establishing a Norwegian teacher's college, and he worked actively from 1916 to 1922 to realize this idea through both the government and the Storting. He served as the publisher and editor of Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift (the Norwegian Journal of Education). Torstein’s son, Gunnar, was a Norwegian bomber pilot who was trained to fly in Canada at Camp Little Norway during World War I. 

  (Information gathered from Andrew Veblen’s book “The Valdris Book,” and from bibliography of Norwegian Lutheran pastors in the United States. Both available in the NAHA Archives.)

  Scope and Content:

  Papers of a Norwegian-born clergyman in the United Norwegian Lutheran Church in America (1897-1917), and in the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (1917-1945). 

  The papers consist largely of letters received by Høverstad, including a number from Gertrude Høverstad, his mother, and other Norway relatives, from Torgeir A. Høverstad, his cousin in America; from Kristine Haugen, zealous protagonist of Norwegian-American culture; from Hans C. Ness, Norwegian consular agent in Sioux City, Iowa.

  The correspondence deals with personal problems of friends; with affairs of church foreign missions in China, Madagascar, and Africa; with church politics; with relation of church and state and with the use of Norwegian language during World War I; with hypnotism and spiritualism; with personal problems as land owner; with problems connected with settlement of Torgeir Høverstad’s estate; with Torstein Høverstad’s book “Skularne i Amerika og det Praktiske Liv;” with the Veblen family (mostly in the T.A. Høverstad folder); with Valdres Bygdelag, of which he was a founder. 

  Correspondents include Lars W. Boe, Olaf M. Norlie, Einar Haugen, Missionary Harold Martinson, Governor W.L. Harding (Iowa), Kirkesanger (Precentor) John O. Quale (Bishop Jens Pederson Schelderup, 1557-1582). There are occasional carbon copies of letters by Høverstad. 

  The papers also contain newspaper clippings concerning his ideas and activities; his poems, lectures, newspaper articles, including such titles as “Rationalismen, Historie og Historie Undervisning,” and “Address at Unveiling of Gjermund Høyme portrait in Valdres, Norway, 1923;” his autobiography, 1893; his mother’s autobiography, 1921; and many photographs. 

• Ole S. Johnson papers, circa 1906-1925

  Papers of a Norwegian-born farmer and author of Spring Grove, Minnesota: letters and clippings; 4 scrapbooks; and 2 volumes of biographical notes dealing with such subjects as socialism and prohibition. Johnson was the author of three books: Socialismen (1906), Nybyggerhistorie fra Spring Grove og omegn Minnesota (1920), and Udvandringshistorie fra Ringerikesbygderne (1925).
• 
  Simon Johnson papers, 1907-1925

  Biography/History: 
  Simen Johannessen (later known as Simon Johnson) was born in Øyer in Oppland County, Norway. His family emigrated to the United States in 1881, when he was 7 years old. Johnson, called "The Poet of the Prairie," In 1907, his first novel Et geni was published. His next book, Lonea. Fortælling followed in 1909. Fire fortællinger was released in 1917. Fallitten paa Braastad, written in 1922, tells of a farm built by hard work. The 1925 novel Frihetens hjem was a sequel with a focus on next-generation emigrants. Johnson's third book, I et nyt rige was published in 1914. He was editor of the Grand Forks Normanden, and co-editor of Decorah-Posten. "An Immigrant Boy on the Frontier" by Johnson, translated by Nora Solum, appeared in Studies, volume 23, 1967.

  Scope and Content: 
  Short stories, novels, and poems in print and typescript by a Norwegian-born novelist, short story writer, poet, and editor.

• 
  Agnes M. Kittelsby papers, 1891-1940

  Biography/History: 
  Agnes Kittelsby (1880-1925) graduated from St. Olaf in 1900, and served the college as a professor and preceptress for nine years. She also had stints at St. Ansgar Seminary, Waldorf College, and Augustana College. In 1914 she departed for China alongside her husband, who was St. Olaf’s first Rhodes scholar. There she taught the children of missionaries at the American School Kikungshan in Hunan. Her devotion to both schools lasted until she died in 1925. 

  Scope and Content: 
  Correspondence, a scrapbook, a biography, biographical notes and a diary of an Iowa-born teacher. Much of the material deals with life at the schools she served. She also spelled her surname Kittelsby.

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  Eivind Klaveness papers, 1902-1947

  Biography/History: 
  Eivind Klaveness was a Norwegian-born physician, writer and lecturer; he practiced in Brookings, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. He held many offices: president of Vestfoldlag, of the Minnesota Leif Eriksen Monument Association, of the Scandinavian Republican State League of South Dakota, and was medical director of Sons of Norway and of the Surety Fund Life Company. He founded the Klaveness Corporation (investment bankers representing Klaveness Bank in Oslo); wrote two books, The Enchanted Islands (1939) and Norske læger i Amerika 1840-1942 (1943). He was a frequent radio and after dinner speaker; and was an equally frequent contributor of articles on medicine and politics to newspapers and journals. His correspondence with Richard Olsen Richards of the Richards Trust Company of Huron, South Dakota (3 volumes), reflects the story of that state's politics during the first three decades of the 20th century.

  Scope and Content: 
  A scrapbook, 10 volumes of correspondence (2,408 letters), 9 notebooks, and 43 pamphlets and addresses of a Norwegian-born physician, writer, and lecturer. 

• 
  Leif Erikson papers, 1931-1952

  Correspondence, pamphlets, programs, clippings, minutes, financial reports, and scrapbooks concerned with promoting Leif Erikson as the discoverer of America. Among the papers are those of the Minnesota Leif Erikson Monument Association, incorporated 1931 and dissolved in 1952, after erecting a Bronze statue at the state capitol grounds in St. Paul (October 9, 1949). The official statement by the President of the United States designating October 9 as Leif Erikson Day in recognition of the fact that Leif Erikson discovered the American continent. Proclamations for Ethnic American Day, 1986, and for National Immigrants Day, 1987, are included. Copy of a plan to create a monument to Leif Erikson: "A Proposal to the Norwegian People and Their Fellow Citizens of Chicago" by Arnold A. Tweten & Associates, Public Relations.
  
  Includes Leif Erikson Day 2022 proclamation by President Biden.
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  Nicolay Andreas Grevstad papers, 1892-1925

  Biography/History: 
  Nicolay A. Grevstad was a practicing attorney and editor of Dagbladet (Oslo) before emigrating in 1883. In America he was editor of Nordvesten (St. Paul); leading editorial writer for Minneapolis Daily Tribune; editor of Skandinaven (Chicago) (1892-1911); United States minister to Uruguay and Paraguay (1911-1915); publicity director of Minnesota Safety Commission; chief of the foreign language press publicity service for the Republican National Committee (1919-1925); agent of a Chicago bank syndicate for Uruguay; and editor of Skandinaven (1930-1940). Articles by Grevstad on courts of conciliation in Norway and in America appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (September, 1891 and November, 1893). 

  Scope and Content: 
  Correspondence, articles, reports, and clippings of a Norwegian-born journalist, diplomat, and financier. The correspondence includes dispatches to the United States Department of State and letters concerning American interests in Uruguay and Paraguay, national political problems, Norwegian settlement, and investment opportunities. Among the correspondents are William Jennings Bryan, Gilbert N. Haugen, Nils P. Haugen, E. H. Hobe, Hanna Astrup Larsen, Medill McCormick, Knute Nelson, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, and William Howard Taft. Primary election reform, patriotism of the Scandinavian press.

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  Carl L. Lokke papers, 1872-1965

  View the digital collections to the Carl L. Lokke Papers. 
• 
  Luther College papers, circa 1861-1936

  Biography/History: 
  Luther College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Decorah, Iowa. Established as a Lutheran seminary in 1861 by Norwegian immigrants. It was later made co-educational in 1936. The school is currently an institution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 

  Scope and Content: 
  Bulletins, catalogs, reports, clippings, programs, brochures, and directories.

• Rasmus J. Meland papers, 1903-1959

  Correspondence, clippings, articles, reports, and notes of a Lutheran clergyman. Much of the material concerns the activities of Nordfjordlag and related enterprises. He made early attempts to found a Norwegian-American archives. Included is a collection of anecdotes submitted to Meland by clergymen for "Pioner presters saga," a publication never realized. Among these anecdotes are reminiscences (7 typescript pages) by Mary Nelsen Wee (Mrs. M. O.) under the title "Church Union." Meland was the author of John J. Meland and Marie Brekke Genealogy (1959), co-author of "Norske settlementer og menigheter i Sherbourne, Benton og Mille Lacs Counties, Minnesota" (1903), and editor of several Nordfjordlag annuals.
  
  Includes:
  

  • Book "Norske Settlementer of Menigheder i Sherburne, Benton, og Mille Lacs Countier, Minnesota" (1903)
  • Manuscript material for "Fra Pioner Presternes Saga" (27 July 1928-25 June 1932)
  • Correspondence and reports (8 December 1896-20 October 1923)
  • Correspondence and reports (12 April 1924-1 March 1957).
  • Correspondence regarding a Norwegian-American Archive (11 May 1912-5 May 1914)
  • Correspondence with O. M. Norlie (1922-1958)
  • Clippings (1902-1948, n.d.).