DIGITAL COLLECTIONS UPDATE
We are working to upload thousands of newly digitized materials to the digital collections. We appreciate your patience during this process! Please contact the NAHA archivist if you have any questions.
Browse Collections (58 total)
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John A. Johnson Papers (P0691)
Biography/History:
John Anders Johnson was born in Telemark, Norway, on April 15, 1832. He was the oldest of five children who were born to Anders Johnson (1804-188) and Aaste Killing Koven (1808-1893). The family emigrated to the United States in 1844. By 1852, the family moved to Pleasant Springs, Wisconsin – near Koshkonong. Johnson first married Karen Thompson in 1856. Before she died, they had a daughter, Caroline. Both died in 1860. He remarried in 1861 to Kaia Nicoline Kildahl, and had six children together: Frederick, Ella, Ida, Carl, Hobert, and Maurice. Johnson’s brother was Ole Skipness Johnson, a Norwegian-American soldier who served in the Civil War (Scandinavian Regiment).He was founder and president of Fuller & Johnson Manufacturing Company, of Gisholt Machine Company, and of Hekla Fire Insurance Company. In 1896, he was elected president of the National Association of Implement and Vehicle Manufacturers. Johnson helped found Amerika, a Chicago newspaper, in 1873. He wrote frequently on political, economic, and social topics such as tariff-free silver, temperance, slavery, and education.
Johnson was a member of the Wisconsin legislature in 1857 and 1873-1874 and county clerk (1861-1869). His philanthropies included the University of Wisconsin, St. Olaf College, and the Gisholt Home for the Aged. NAHA published John A. Johnson, by Agnes M. Larson, in 1969.
Scope and Content:
View the items in John A. Johnson Papers (P0691)
Papers of a Norwegian-born industrialist, inventor, and philanthropist from Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. Materials include articles, clippings, contracts, correspondence, indentures, patents, pamphlets, receipts, records, reports, scrapbooks, and statements. Besides several pamphlets, publications include Det skandinaviske regiments historie (1869) and Fingerpeg for farmere og andre (1888).
Finding aid to the John A. Johnson papers available online here. -
Irvin B. Anderson Papers (P1724)
Norse-American Games Program from the Irvin B. Anderson papers (P1724) housed in the NAHA Archives. Irvin B. Anderson was a St. Olaf College student, a WWII Navy Veteran, Swift County, (Minnesota)Treasurer, and son of Norwegian Immigrants.
Funding to digitize was provided to the Norwegian-American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008.View the items in Irvin B. Anderson Papers (P1724) -
Helge Høverstad Papers (P0547)
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.
View the items in Helge Høverstad Papers (P0547) -
Gustav M. Bruce Papers (P0463)
Select materials digitized from the Gustav Marius Bruce papers (P0463) housed at the NAHA Archives. Bruce was a Norwegian-born Lutheran clergyman, theological professor, author, editor, and lecturer. Bruce immigrated to Yankton County, Dakota Territory, in 1884; attended Fremont College, Red Wing Seminary, University of South Dakota, Temple University (Ph.D.), and Hartford Seminary (D.D.). He was a minister in South Dakota, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska parishes; teacher in the public schools of Yankton County, Jewell College, and Red Wing Seminary; professor at Luther Theological Seminary (1917-1949); vice-president of the NELCA; and held a number of offices in the church.
View the items in Gustav M. Bruce Papers (P0463)
He was publicity chairman of the Norse-American Centennial, president of Østfoldlaget for 16 years, and of Bygdelagenes Fellesraad for 5 years. He was editor of several religious periodicals, a contributor to newspapers and magazines, and the author of several books on social and educational subjects. Correspondence and reports in this collection deal with Knut Gjerset's proposed encyclopedia on Norwegian Americans, Bruce's work as publicity director of the Norse-American Centennial, Norwegian pioneers in Canada, and bilingualism in the church.
The Gustav Bruce papers are available here. -
Friedrich A. Schmidt Papers (P0588)
History/Biography:
Reverend Fredrich August Schmidt was born on January 3, 1837 in Thüringen, Germany. He graduated in 1853 from Concordia College. Four years later he finished seminary work at Concordia and became minister to a German congregation in Eden, NJ. In 1861, Schmidt became associated with the Norwegian church when he started teaching at Halfway Creek, near La Crosse. The next year, the school renamed itself Luther College and moved to Decorah, Iowa. Schmidt was an instructor at Luther College until 1872. After his stint at Luther College, he took a professorship in Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, which was then supported by the Norwegian synod. Rev. Schmidt headed the faction that left the synod in 1886 and organized "The anti-Missourian Brotherhood." In that year he also became a theological instructor at St. Olaf's College, Northfield, Minnesota, for this faction.Scope and Content:
View the items in Friedrich A. Schmidt Papers (P0588)
Correspondence, clippings, and articles, written in English, German, Latin, and Norwegian. Among the subjects discussed are doctrines concerning absolution, assurance, conversion, and election; position and participation of the laity in doctrinal disputes and clerical leadership in such controversies; Augsburg College and St. Olaf College; and the union movement that led to the 1917 merger. There are only two letters by Schmidt. Among the correspondents are M. O. Bøckman, C. L. Clausen (February 2, 1863), N. J. Ellestad, O. J. Hatlestad, P. P. Iverslie (December 27, 1883), Kristofer Janson (March 31, 1891), J. N. Kildahl, U. V. Koren, Laur. Larsen, A. Mikkelsen, Th. N. Mohn, B. J. Muus, J. A. Ottesen, H. A. Preus, P. A. Rasmussen, Halvard Roalquam, and H. A. Stub.
View the finding aid to the Friedrich A. Schmidt papers here.