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)
-
Carl G. O. Hansen Papers (P0543)
History/Biography:
Carl Gustav Otto Hansen was born on March 16, 1871, in Trondheim, Norway to Sivert Christian Hansen (1839-1872) and Marit Megrund (1842-1927). In 1881, Carl, alongside his mother and siblings, emigrated to the United States. They settled in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where Marit’s parents and siblings settled. In 1882, they moved to Minneapolis. Marit supported the family, as she did in Norway, by producing knitwear. In 1887, she married Halver Olson from Verdalen.Hansen studied Latin, Green, history, and composition at Augsburg Seminary from 1887 to 1889, however, he was mostly self-educated. He worked for a time in a print shop and later opened his own place. He married Amalie Marie Edsten (1871-1945), daughter of furniture merchant Aaron Henry Edsten and Johanne Larsdatter Rognerud. Together they had four children: Conrad, Arild, Erling, and Mildred.
From 1897 to 1935, he wrote and edited for Minneapolis Daglig Tidende. From 1935 to 1937, he was in Chicago and employed at Skandinaven. He then edited the Sons of Norway magazine in Minneapolis and served as the educational director (1937-1954). Hansen was a lifelong musician and sang with and directed male chorus groups, including the Norwegian Glee Club of Minnesota (1912-1945). He was also president of the Norwegian-Danish Press Association, and a founder of Det Norske Selskap and of NAHA.Hansen was a music critic, a book reviewer, a biographer of Norwegian Americans, and the author of "My Minneapolis (1956)."
Scope and Content:
View the items in Carl G. O. Hansen Papers (P0543)
Correspondence, articles, lectures, reports, clippings, scrapbooks, and diaries of a Norwegian-born Minneapolis journalist, musician, lecturer, and author. The papers deal with the activities of Norwegian-American singing societies in Minneapolis and other cities, the tribulations of translators, the cultural creativity of Norwegian Americans, the study of the Norwegian language in the Minneapolis public schools and at St. Olaf College, biographies of Norwegian Americans, and other related subjects. "Sagas of Today" (a "Minneapolis Journal'' column) and "For 50 aar siden," "Det Norske Amerika gjennem Hundred Aar," and "Glimt fra Livet i det Norske Amerika," columns that ran in "Minneapolis Tidende," are among the clippings. The collection contains correspondence from significant authors, journalists, and scholars of the day. -
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) -
Carl L. Lokke Papers (P0554)
Biography/History:
Carl Ludwig Lokke was born to Oscar and Carrie Gunderson Lokke in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 28, 1897. Carl had four siblings: Albert Lokke, Edna Lokke Isaacs, Lars K. Gravem, Roy N. Gravem, and Harold H. Lokke. He spent much of his youth in the Northwest, including parts of the Seward Peninsula. In the Kougarok precinct his grandfather was United States Commissioner. There Carl started his elementary education at a Territorial School opened for Inuits. Later he went to Nome High School (1913-1914), and eventually transferred to Olympia High School in Washington (1914-1917).Carl enrolled for military training at the University of Washington (1917-1918), but performed the bulk of his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in German and history. From 1922-1924 he held a teaching fellowship at the University of California and was selected to assist Carlton J.H. Hayes of Columbia University. Eventually Carl went to NEw York for higher education. Columbia University awarded him a fellowship in 1924 and a lectureship in history in 1925.
Starting in 1935 Carl worked at the National Archives. He was an active member in the Society of American Archivists, American Historical Association, Minnesota Historical Society, Norwegian-American Historical Association, and many others. At the time of his passing in 1960, he was on the editorial board of Norwegian-American Studies. Carl was married to Laura Wendt Lokke.
A biography on Carl Lokke was published by H.B. Fant and reprinted by the American Archivist (Society for American Archivists), Vol. 23, No. 3, 1960 July.
Scope and Content:
View the items in Carl L. Lokke Papers (P0554)
Articles, clippings, correspondence, diaries, maps, notes, and photographs collected by an archivist, author, and educator. The material concerns the Lars Gunderson family, and the career of the Monitor Gold Mining and Trading Company of Alaska. The papers formed much of the basis for Klondike Saga, by Lokke, published posthumously by NAHA in 1965. -
Rev. Parelius H. Rognlie Papers (NAHA 2020/015)
Biography/History:
Rev. Parelius H. Rognlie was born near Trondhjem, Norway, December 21, 1858. In 1870 he immigrated with his parents to the United States and lived in Houston County and eventually Lyon County, Minnesota. In 1881 he entered the preparatory school at St. Olaf's college, Northfield, Minnesota, and later attended Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, earning his way by teaching school and doing farm work. In the fall of 1885 he went to Europe in order to receive treatment for his eyes and was operated on at the State Hospital in Norway. When he returned to the United States, he resumed teaching and continued his studies by himself. In 1888 he was admitted to the Luther Theological Seminary, Minneapolis, and graduated June 26, 1891. In February, 1891, he was called as pastor for the Fort Ridgely, Dale, Palmyra and Clear Lake congregations, Renville and Sibley counties, Minnesota. On July 22, 1891, he was ordained at Fort Ridgely and Dale church by Rt. Rev. K. Bjorge, assisted by Rev. S. J. Bergh, Rev. N. P. Xavier, Rev. Thomas Johnsen and Rev. B. Askevold.Parelius Rognlie was married to Ronnaug Marie M. Gullerud. Together they had six children: Ingolf Herman Marentius (March 26, 1896); Katharina Josephine (December 26, 1897); Parelius Monrad (January 28, 1900, died July 2, 1901); Palma Margrethe (born April 8, 1902); Clarence Parelius Monrad (May 6, 1904); Julia Christine (October 4, 1908).
Scope and Content:
View the items in Rev. Parelius H. Rognlie Papers (NAHA 2020/015)
The Rev. Parelius H. Rognlie papers consist of photographs of multiple generations of the Rognlie extended family, personal and professional correspondence, sermons, school notebooks, and various other records that document the life of a pastor in Southwestern Minnesota. Records also include photographs of Nils Xavier, a Sami pastor who originally homesteaded in the Rognlie parsonage.
The catalog record to the Rev. P. Rognlie Papers is available online here. -
Temperance Movement Papers (P0594)
Articles, reports, songs, stories, and pamphlets concerning the temperance movement among Norwegian Americans. There are reports from organizations in Alberta, Canada, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, and articles by Waldemar Ager, Adolf Bredesen, Carl E. Carlson, Theodor H. Dahl, Knut Gjerset, Paul M. Glasoe, and Gjermund Hoyme.
Digitized by the Minnesota Digital Library.
The catalog record for the Temperance Movement Papers is available online here. -
American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation Records (NAHA 2020/014)
History/Biography:
The American Birkebeiner was started in 1973 by Tony Wise, a founding member of the Worldloppet federation of cross-country ski marathons. The race is held in February in Hayward, WI. Wise drew on his Norwegian heritage in starting a race named after a famous event in Norway. The American Birkebeiner, also called Birke, is named after Norwegian Birkebeinerrennet. This race commemorates an important historical event when in 1206 a group of Birkebeiner party soldiers, who fought for Sverre Sigurdsson and his descendants in the Norwegian civil war, smuggled the illegitimate son of Norway's King Håkon Sverresson from Lillehammer to safety in Trondheim.
Scope and Content:
The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation records include various photographs and 35mm slides, video records, board meeting minutes, Wordloppet records, clippings, and more. Financial statements are restricted. Please contact the archivist. -
Olaf Olsen Papers (P0573)
History/Biography:
Ole Olsen was born March 12, 1871 to Marie Gulbrandsdatter (1841-) and Edvart Olsen (1838-) in Oslo, Norway. He had five siblings: Josephine Bertha (1869-), Marie (1873-), Gulbrand (1875-), Helga (1877-), and Harald (1880-). Olaf and his sister, Bertha, arrived in Castle Garden, New York City, on May 26, 1890 before arriving at their final destination. They traveled through Pittsburg, Columbus, Little Rock, Texarkana, Austin, San Antonio, and Pena. Olaf married Emma Noble on June 14, 1905, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Together they had a daughter, Ena/Ina Frances Olsen, born in 1906.Olsen was a shop machinist in Laredo (Texas), Wilmington (Delaware), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). He was also machinist on English ships and served in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Services during the Spanish-American War (1898). After 1900, he worked as an engineer with coastal trade steamship lines. He was also a member of the Socialist Party of America.
Scope and Content:
Correspondence, articles, reports, drawings, diaries, log-books, notebooks, clippings, and pamphlets of a Norwegian-born machinist and engineer. The correspondence deals with such topics as problems in engineering, sea disasters, strikes and labor problems, drought, farm crops, recreation, and religion.In a letter dated September 29, 1890, Olsen describes his journey from Oslo to Laredo, Texas, via ship and rail. Most of the letters by Olsen are to his wife. The articles include biographies of members of Olsen's family and also treat Yukon gold rush experiences. One diary concerns his immigration journey to America.
View the items in Olaf Olsen Papers (P0573)