Arts and Humanities Commons^™

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, …

Twenty Years Old, Arnold N. Bodtker

The Bridge

It was 20 years ago thst the Danish American Heritage Society (DAHS) came upon the scene. I used the term " came upon the scene" advisedly. Reflecting on the circumstances and discussions that led to the formation of the Society makes the term seem appropriate. It had been noted from time to time in the decases before that when Scandinavian American historians and writers assembled and the role of the Scandinavian immigrant was considered, The Danish Americans were conspicuous by their absence. In contrast,the Norwegian American Historical Association was formed in 1925, and has had a distinguished existence since then. …

The Relevance Of Our Heritage, Johannes Knudsen

The Bridge

Are the traditional fellowship values of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, of Grand View College and the Folk Schools, viable today? This is the most important question facing us as a group, and it is expressed in our theme through the term "relevance." We must therefore ask what relevance means. According to the dictionary it means that something is "lifted up again" or that it "bears upon the matter at hand." When this definition is applied to personal or group values, it means that these values continue to be alive and important or that they are lifted out …

Goals And Objectives Of The Danish American Heritage Society

The Bridge

To promote an interest in Danish American contributions to American life.

To encourage research in the life and culture of Danish Americans. To serve as an agency for the publication of studies of Danish American contributions to American life.

To provide a means of communication and education for individuals interested in the activities of Danish Americans.

Enok Mortensen And The History Of Danish Immigration To America, Eric Helmer Pedersen

The Bridge

Enok Mortensen is probably best known in Denmark through his activity as a guest lecturer at Askov Folk High School in the 1960s and 1970s. Within the confines of a small group of Danes with friends and family in America he also had a name as a writer of fiction. It is true that his first work Mit Folk (1932), a collection of short stories, was published in Askov, Minnesota, but his next, the novel Saledes blev jeg hjeml0s (1934) was published in Holb

The Danish Immigrant, Signe Nielsen Betsinger

The Bridge

In 1979 I had the opportunity to travel with a group to China where I had the good fortune to visit Tachai, a model agricultural commune. Up until the mid-1940s, generations of the inhabitants in this area had been impoverished. They had lived in caves in hills. Their crops had been destroyed over and over by drought, flooding, insects, and hailstorms. In 1945 land reform was insituted and the peasants set up the first mutual aid team in China. By 1953 they had a ten-year plan for reclaiming the land and building new homes. Just when the plan was finished …

Danish-American Literature In Transition, Dorothy Burton Skardal

The Bridge

Danish-American literature was written by Danish immigrants in the United States mainly about and for members of their own group. Their lives were lived in constant psychological and cultural flux undergoing the pressures of assimilation; therefore their literature both grew out of and recorded multifaceted processes of transition. Today the literature Danish immigrants wrote is itself in transition: long unread or forgotten, it is now being rediscovered by Americans of Danish heritage. This brief introduction to the main Danish-American writers is meant to stimulate still more to reclaim their heritage preserved in Danish-language fiction and poetry.

Goals And Objectives Of The Danish American Heritage Society

The Bridge

To promote an interest in Danish American contributions to American life.

To encourage research in the life and culture of Danish Americans.

To serve as an agency for the publication of studies of Danish American contributions to American life.

To provide a means of communication and education for individuals interested in the activities of Danish Americans .

In Debt To Heritage Denmark, Hermansen-Jensen, Nysted, Otto G. Hoiberg, Reviewer, Elise Hermansen Olsen

The Bridge

This is the life story of the late Elise Hermansen Olsen, as portrayed in autobiographical materials edited admirably by her still-active husband, Dr. C. Arild Olsen. It mirrors the various interrelated ways in which Elise "lived her Danish heritage" - by use of the Danish language in speech and song, by a deep appreciation of that country's literature, by perpetuation of its characteristic customs, and by living a life geared to its distinctive values.

Greenland 1948-1985: From Reorganization To Home Rule And Beyond, Bent Thygesen

The Bridge

This article is not, strictly speaking, Danish American in content. However, Greenland has long been a concern of the United States. Secretary of State Seward who purchased Alaska from the Russians in 1867 gave some serious thought to the acquisition of Greenland also. Since the early days of World War 11, United States troops have been stationed in Greenland as part of our strategic defense system. The Danish American Heritage Society has always taken a broad view of what is Danish American, and we believe this article fits into that broad view.

The Fixed Frame And The Live Show, Johannes Knudsen

The Bridge

Television has developed a trick of ending a story or a sequence by showing a fixed picture of the final frame, giving a rather vivid expression to the immediate or concluding situation. Sometimes this picture is amusing, even ludicrous, evoking a smile; sometimes a tear lingers on.

Heritage, Johannes Knudsen

The Bridge

The term "heritage" brings up associations of "heredity" and this again reminds us of genes and the genetic code. Heritage in this sense is terribly important. We are programmed by our genes. Our appearance and condition are pre-determined in many ways, ranging from the color of our eyes to the state of our health and the potential of our mind, and including negative as well as positive features. Genetic heritage can be a blessing and it can be a burden. It has the greatest significance for the individual, but is also an important corporate factor. Ethnic groups have genetic features …

Dark Nights And Long Days: Myths Of The North, Erik S. Hansen

The Bridge

The following is a "retelling" of the major tales of Norse mythology. It seemed that a periodical of a society devoted to heritage might well pay homage to the deepest roots of our history, to the beginnings of it al/, to the earliest records of our forefathers and foremothers, who first grappled with who they were and where they came from . The author notes that "people need to be reminded that the Norse gods were not just a bunch of unruly pagans -- they were GODS in their own day, and not only that, they were a lot like …