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The Bridge

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Dealing With The "Third Enemy": English-Language Learning And Native-Language Maintenance Among Danish Immigrants In Utah, 1850-1930, Lynn Henrichsen, George Bailey, Jacob Huckaby

The Bridge

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, over 22,000 Scandinavians joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter referred to as the church or the LDS church) and migrated to Utah.1 Well over half of these Scandinavians, 12,350 (not including children age 12 and under), were Danes.2

This influx of people who spoke a language other than English and came from a cultural background different from that of the original Anglo-American settlers of Utah presented some perplexing challenges. Even Brigham Young, the territorial governor and LDS church president, found them difficult to resolve. According to local folklore, …

The Global Dane: Writing Soren Kierkegaard's Biography*, Joakim Garff

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When Professor C.K.F. Molbech was asked the year after Kierkegaard's death to sketch a biographical portrait for a planned German translation of Either/Or, he went to his friend, the philosopher Hans Brochner, for advice and suggestions. Brochner, who knew the deceased personally, pondered it and then replied: When one restricts oneself to external events, there is of course very little to say about his life at all: he was born May 5, 1813, he was a student at the University in 1830, took his degree in theology in 1840, he submitted his doctoral thesis in 1841, and he died in …

Whose Memory Is It After All?, Inger M. Olsen

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The EU (European Union) constitution was issued May 2005 and its preamble states that the writers have "let themselves be inspired by Europe's cultural, religious and humanistic inheritance which is the foundation for the development of the universal values: the individual human being's inviolable and inalienable rights as well as freedom, equality and constitutional state"1 2 The preamble goes on to mention the painful experiences that Europe has undergone and the fact that Europe is once again united. The final note states that Europe "wishes to develop further the public life's democratic and open character and work for peace, justice …

Karin Michaelis: Famous Danish Novelist And Humanitarian Rebel With A Cause, Merete Von Eyben

The Bridge

Consider the following question: Which Danish author was not only one of the most famous European authors in the early part of the twentieth century, but also one of the most widely read female ones; had all of her books translated into German and some of them into as many as 30 other languages; wrote the most notorious bestseller of that period; celebrated her 60th birthday at a banquet hosted by Austrian PEN in Vienna where she was awarded both an Austrian and a Czechoslovakian medal and honored by the German language papers as Europe's Conscience; had her books banned …

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The Bridge

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Front Cover

The Bridge

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Nineteenth-Century Emigration From Sollerod, A Rural Township In North Zealand (Sjaelland), Niels Peter Stilling

The Bridge

In 1985, Erik Helmer Pedersen wrote that "the history of Danish emigration to America can be seen, in very broad terms, as the story of how a small part of the population tore itself away from the national community in order to build a new existence in foreign lands. Those who write the history of the emigrants must, on the one hand, see them as a minority in relation to the Danish whole, and, on the other hand, must reconstruct that little part of the history of American immigration which concerns the Danes."

This article attempts to do just that …

Captain S. S. Heller And The First Organized Danish Migration To Canada, Erik John Nielsen Lang

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The first, largest, and only organized migration of Danish settlers to Canada in the 19th century was directed to the settlement of New Denmark in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The active recruitment of Danish migrants was a shift of focus for the provincial government, which had before relied almost exclusively on British settlers. Established in 1872, New Denmark's location placed it amongst the traditional ethnic groups of Victoria County: French-Canadian, English, Scottish, and Irish. Danes would not have chosen to migrate to the province at all had it not been for a Danish emigration promoter whose life, motivations, …

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Preface

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Contributors

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Contents

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Conference Opening Remarks, Lene Balleby

The Bridge

When I first heard about this year's conference, it was being launched as a celebration and recognition of two of Denmark's most famous sons: Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kirkegaard. But looking at the extensive program for the upcoming days, it is clear that this program is also meant to present a much wider picture of the richness and scope of Danish culture and that it will indeed live up to its title: "Danish Culture, Past and Present."

Picturing Karen Blixen--Artist, Charlatan, Heretic, And Iconoclast: European Storyteller In The American Marketplace, Marianne Stecher-Hansen

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In one of her stories, published in 1942 at a midpoint in her literary career, Karen Blixen addresses the difficult relationship of the artist to the public:

All human relationships have in them something monstrous and cruel. But the relation of the artist to the public is amongst the most monstrous. Yes, it is as terrible as marriage. (Winter's Tales 291)

Matie's Dagbog [Matie' S Diary], Matie Eliva Petersen-Larsen

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Matie begins her diary, "I think I will begin a diary of this my most exciting year, so I will not forget a small thing. But for now I must hurry to my stateroom and pack my luggage." That was September 7, 1900, on a ship headed for Cuxhaven, Germany, her ultimate destination being the island of Als, Denmark, where her father's relatives lived. Matie had been given this year-long trip as a gift from her parents for helping to raise her eight brothers and sisters, younger than she, and for teaching them to read and write English, as Danish …

Danish Churches And Congregations In Indianapolis, 1868-1885, Barbara R. George

The Bridge

A look at the population make-up of Indianapolis and Indiana during the time period from the end of the Civil War (approximately 1865) until the 1880s shows that the Danes had little impact in the relatively small Indiana immigration picture. Indiana was less influenced by foreign born than any other northern state. Although ranking ninth in the number of German-born residents in 1880, Indiana ranked thirteenth in the number of foreign born, and was sixth in total population. As a state it was not particularly aggressive in promoting itself as a viable destination for immigrants, and ranked only in front …

Three Tales Of Two Towns: How Fano Entered The Golden Age Of Sail, Anne Ipsen

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Fano is a magical island off the west coast of Denmark, justly famous for its endless white beach along the North Sea. Towering dunes, whose slopes are covered in lyme grass, ring the center of the island where the heath is home to an abundance of creatures and plants. The colors of the sky and water, the heather and grass change in rhythm with the seasons. The solid houses of the two towns, Nordby to the north and Sonderho at the southern tip, bear witness to the wealth brought home from the seven seas by generations of seamen sailing their …

Culture For Sale In Solvang, California: A Little Bit Of Denmark, Disney, Or Something Else?, Hanne Pico Larsen

The Bridge

Danish educators coming from a Danish settlement in the Midwest founded Solvang in 1911. During the first 20 years or so, Solvang looked like an average Pacific Coast American town - but underneath lurked Danish, Grundtvigian values and philosophy. Little by little, the picture changed. After World War II, many original buildings representing these Danish values, such as a Folk High School and an assembly hall, even if not particularly Danish looking, were demolished in order to provide space for new "Danish-style" buildings in the commercial center of town. A Danish-style architecture was introduced and since then, the town became …

Between Patrons And Populace: Danish-American Sculptor Carl Rohl-Smith And The Iowa Soldiers' And Sailors' Monument In Des Moines, Aase Bak

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Carl Rohl-Smith (1848-1900) received one of his most important commissions in America with the "Iowa Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument" (completed 1897). But his position became difficult as he had to navigate between the different interests of patrons and general public.

"A Danish artist cannot imagine the hardships that being an artist in a foreign land entails. Most of the decisions concerning art are made by the populace." Thus wrote Danish journalist Henrik Cavling (1858-1933) in his travel book Fra Amerika (From America) from 1897.1 He was talking about the Danish-American sculptor Carl Rohl-Smith and the problems he encountered when he …

The History Of Wind Technology In Denmark, James D. Iversen

The Bridge

Wind--a phenomenon we do not always understand or pay much attention to, perhaps because we cannot see it, only its effects. And its effects can be devastating, such as the terrible destruction due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the United States in August and September, 2005. As a member of the American Association for Wind Engineering, I am aware of that organization's attempts to influence local government agencies in the southeastern coastal areas of the United States in the improvement of building codes so that buildings can better withstand the destructive power of the wind.

Grundtivigianism In America, Yesterday And Today, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

It has been said, "In Denmark, everyone is a Grundtvigian whether he knows it or not." This certainly is not the case in America. Indeed, there are very few Grundtvigians in this country, and the prospects for increasing that number are very slight. This is not because the followers of Grundtvig have been "hiding their light under a bushel," but because the vast majority has not accepted it as light.

Danish Nobel Laureates In Literature With Special Emphasis On Johannes V. Jensen, Erik M. Christensen

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Religion, Philosophy, and Art are related. Sometimes more than other. They are so much in family, in fact, that they are able to become one. This may even happen without being intended or even realized, but we also have, in Western civilization, instances where the artist very clearly meant his work to represent a unity of Religion, Philosophy, and Art. The greatest known instance of this is, of course, Dante Alighieri's poem La Divina Commedia (ca. 13071320), the story of his wandering through Purgatory, down to Hell, and up to Paradise where his ideal love for Beatrice allows him to …

Gunnar Johansen: The Gentlemanly Dane, Solon Pierce

The Bridge

It is about three score and five years ago now since a certain Dane came to Dane County, Wisconsin-a decisive step, he later recounted on many occasions, "that I have never regretted." To this native Midwestern observer, it was a perfect fit. There was something homespun and authentic in the nature of the man -a sense that he was cut from the same cloth.

Hans Christian Andersen In Musical Translation, Jean Christensen

The Bridge

Those of us who work in two cultures are fascinated by the peculiar demands and limitations of translating the sensual and intellectual qualities of one language to those of another, and by the challenges of transferring ideas from one historical time to another. A similar challenge exists for today's composers who set out to transform a text into music, but this is a process that also involves other considerations, for music has the additional potential to project multidimensional time and space. H.C. Andersen was no stranger to musical renditions of his work during his lifetime. In fact, because of his …

The Jean Hersholt Collection Of Anderseniana At The Library Of Congress, Kristi Johnson, Taru Spiegel

The Bridge

Hans Christian Andersen was already well known in the United States during his lifetime. Though he wanted to meet his American admirers, fear of accidents at sea kept Andersen from crossing the Atlantic. Three quarters of a century after the author's death, another Dane ensured that a part of Andersen's legacy would remain permanently in America. The Danish American actor, author, and humanitarian, Jean Hersholt, together with his Danishborn wife, Via, donated a treasure trove of Anderseniana to the Library of Congress in 1951. The Library's preeminent collection of Scandinavian materials is often overlooked amidst the institution's 130 million items …

Christian Petersen: From Denmark To The New Deal To Campus Sculptor, Lea Rosson Delong

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Christian Petersen (1885-1961) was a Danish-American sculptor (Figure 1) whose accomplishment and importance in the history of American art is being increasingly understood and recognized.1 The first goal in this presentation is to present a small portion of his work and to discuss why his reputation is growing and, at the same time, weave in aspects of his Danish background.