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Danish Immigrant Materials: The Archives At Grand View College, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

Will Rogers, who claimed partial Indian ancestry, used to like to point out that his ancestors met the Mayflower at the dock. Be that as it may, it is certain that the dock was not crowded. The fact is, as John F. Kennedy once wrote, that this is a nation of immigrants. The vast majority of us are descendants of immigrants. Therefore, the history of this country, particularly at the grassroots level, is a story enacted by the immigrant.

Scandinavian American Archives, J. R. Christianson

The Bridge

The problem of locating and preserving Danish American historical materials has been in the spotlight in recent years. It has been discussed frequently in The Bridge and the Newsletter of the Danish American Heritage Society. In cooperation with Grand View College, the society launched a major project, the Danish Immigrant Archival Listing (DIAL), under Thorvald Hansen's leadership in 1979. That project aims to locate all Danish American historical materials presently deposited in archives and elsewhere throughout the United States, Canada and Denmark.

Four Poems On Death By Nis Petersen, Otto M. Sorensen

The Bridge

Very litte of Nis Petersen's poetry has been translated into English, and yet he is regarded as one of Denmark's finest poets in this century. In the following I offer readers of The Bridge translations and interpretations of four poems that deal with death, a subject that concerned Petersen over a considerable period of time. The reader should be cautioned, however, not to deem the poems typical of the poet. Death is one of many themes that run through his work. I have reproduced the originals here from the poet's Samlede Digte. ed. Hans Brix, Gyldendal, 1951 .

The Danish Colonization Society Of 1879, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

The Danish Colonization Society of 1879 (Den danske Kolonisations-Forening af 1879) is one of several organizations which historians have generally ignored. An analysis of it, however, could illuminate further a number of matters pertinent to the general theme of Scandinavian emigration. Essentially, it was an association that intended to assist economically deprived Danes in securing a collective home overseas as well as passage to it at the least possible expense. The Society was short-lived, apparently disbanding a little more than a year after coming into being. Moreover, the only direct evidence of its activity is its truncated biweekly newspaper, Udvandrings-Tidende …

Reminiscences From A Long Life, Ane Helena Paulsen

The Bridge

My maiden name was Ane Helene Nielsen and I was born in Yestergaard, Lendum Sogn close to Frederickshavn on January 22, 1866. My father's name was Ole Christian Nielsen, Kirkerod, Skaerum Sogn. He died early of tuberculosis. I can scarcely remember him. My mother's name was Mariane Jensen. She was the daughter of Jens Nielsen, Sondergaard, Lendum Sogn, and his wife Johanne Marie Larsdatter of Vang, S4,ndergaard, Tirslev Sogn.

The Partridge, Martin A. Hansen, Inga Wiehl, Translator

The Bridge

"Martin A. Hansen is considered one of the best and most influential Danish writers of the century. Despite his premature death in 1955 at the age of forty-six, he left a rich artistic legacy of novels, short stories, and travel descriptions as well as essays and books dealing with historical, cultural and philosophical themes.

'The Partridge' ('Agerhonen') is the title story of a collection of twelve short stories, all of which emphasize artistic expression as self-revelation. It is the means whereby the artist transforms the world and makes it new. The twelve stories are divided into three parts, childhood, adolescence …

Book Review, Ejnar Farstrup

The Bridge

This well-written and fully documented description of the merging of four Lutheran church bodies springing from German, Swedish, Finnish and Danish ethnic backgrounds is not "popular reading." It is however a description, much needed, of a process in which the heritage of each group is recognized and accepted for what it is in its own right, but also with a keen awareness of the subtle changes wrought by the impact of living in an environment vastly different from the conditions previously known to the original immigrants.

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The Immigrant's Challenge To Dahs, Otto G. Hoiberg

The Bridge

During the half century preceding World War I, 300,000 Danish immigrants came to America, according to an estimate by Kristian Hvidt. Why did they come? Among many reasons, the Homestead Act of 1862 certainly stands out prominently. To the small-acreage farmers and the hired men in Danish agriculture, 160 acres of free, fertile land looked mighty inviting. Enthusiasm for migration was also generated by the glowing "Garden of Eden" advertising campaign conducted by America's railroads - a worthy prototype for today's Madison Avenue. Further, there were the so-called " America Letters" , received from relatives and friends already across the …

Rasmus Sorensen And Danish Emigration, 1847-1863, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

Probably no individual played a more seminal role in the limited Danish emigration to North America before and during the Civil War than Rasmus Sorensen. From the late 1840s until the early 1860s this author, educator, politician, and social reformer led three groups of his countrymen to Wisconsin and, through numerous booklets, speeches, and letters encouraged others to settle elsewhere in the United States and Canada. Yet Sorensen has generally been little more than a supernumerary in the historiography of this transatlantic migration. Its pioneering historian, Peter Sorensen Vig, devoted twelve pages to him in his mammoth compendium, a dozen …

The Danish-Language Press In America, Marion Marzolf

The Bridge

By the time Sophus F. Neble, a journeyman printer from Stubbekobing, Denmark, emigrated in 1883 to seek his fortune in the farmlands of the American Midwest, there was already a rudimentary Danish press tradition in the United States. But at that point in his life, Neble little cared or even knew much about it. He had thrown over his years of apprenticeship in the printing trade for a dream of becoming a successful American dairy farmer in order to win the hand of the young woman he loved.

Danes And Danish On The Great Plains: Some Sociolinguistic Aspects, Donald K. Watkins

The Bridge

The number of Scandinavians in the upper Midwest in 1850 was insignificant compared to the tens of thousands who arrived annually after the Civil War; but the early settlements, primarily in northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin, typically served as way stations for the Scandinavians who came later, staying near the Great Lakes for shorter or longer periods of time before moving westward where more favorable conditions beckoned. It is in this connection one finds the nominal beginnings of a Danish presence in the prairie states, the region of the country most favored by the somewhat more than three hundred thousand …

Hans Christian Andersen's Life And Works: A Danish-American Perspective, Inga Kromann-Kelly

The Bridge

What meaning can Hans Christian Andersen's life and works, spanning almost the entire 19th century, have for the Danish-American of the twentieth and future centuries? What follows is the perspective of only one Danish-American; others may hold quite different views based on their familiarity and experiences with this internationally known and much revered figure. My intent is not to provide a definitive answer to the above question, but rather to stimulate thought on the subject.

Art? Among Danes In America?, Aase Bak

The Bridge

The Danish American Heritage Society has as one of its objectives to "encourage Danish American expression in the arts, humanities, and social sciences." It is to be hoped that the Danish American Heritage Society will have more luck in its endeavors to promote the arts than did another organization with somewhat similar aims. I refer here to Dansk Folkesamfund (Danish People's Society) and the abortive attempt to launch an art committee under its auspices in 1897.

Overgaard, Arizona - How Come?, Ole Overgaard

The Bridge

Have you ever heard about a little town in Arizona by the name of Overgaard? Probably not. I hadn't, until I suddenly saw the name on a map. I, a Danish journalist from the city of Aalborg, and family were planning a trip to the USA, and we decided to find out how our family name got to Arizona. After seeing the beautiful Grand Canyon, we went along Highway 40 to the city of Holbrook. From there it is only 50 miles to Overgaard. It is a very small town, but with a lot of vacation homes in the big …

Book Review, Egon Bodtker

The Bridge

This short book tells the reader what life was like for one young man in a small village in Denmark in the first two decades of this century. As the author writes in the Foreword: " it is a collection of reminiscences, a mosaic of people and places seen from a long distance, both geographically and chronologically." This sensitive sketch of a childhood and adolescence in the first two decades of the twentieth century will make all readers aware of the monumental changes in the world from then until now. While many of the individual behaviors can be related to …

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The American Career Of Henry Bouquet, 1755-1765, Louis M. Waddell

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

It has not been our good fortune to experience this afternoon the bright invigorating October day I had anticipated. I wanted to introduce Henry Bouquet by a reference to his reliance on the beautiful October climate as he fearlessly marched fifteen hundred soldiers into dangerous Indian lands in Ohio, in 1764. Bouquet relied on the clear dry weather to speed his march, and on the absence of foliage to protect his men from any surprise attacks like the one that had decimated General Edward Braddock's military column, of roughly the same size, at a crossing of the Monongahela River on …

Rabbit Trails And Our Parents' Dreams: Two Poems (1940), Leonard S. Rohrer

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

A little rabbit, centuries and centuries ago, Awoke in a great world and wondered where to go; It was a large and grassy world, green and sweet , And bunny's wiggly nose smelled good things to eat; He made a little trail while searching his daily meals, But never once suspected the dangers at his heels.

In Memoriam Michael Hoffman (+1908), Christian B. Hoffman

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Michael Hoffman was born at Altendorf, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland, on December 15, 1837. He died at his home near New Basel, Dickinson County, Kansas. It is a far reach from the mountains of the little republic to the great central plains, the very heart of the great republic. The life, the struggles and hardships, the hopes and ambitions and the accomplishments of this man are typical of the development of our country.

Swiss American Notes

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

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Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

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Auguste Lambelet (1838-1919): A Soldier Of Fortune, Jane H. Dein

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Readers of Mari Sandoz' Old Jules will remember that this enthusiastic pioneer not only helped newcomers to the frontier file claims but also sent off to family, friends and journals a blizzard of letters extolling the rich soil of Nebraska and the free land available to anyone willing to work it. Among the Swiss attracted to Nebraska by this fervent praise was Auguste Lambelet, who gained American citizenship and title to his homestead in Knox County in 1889. While even after forty years of residence in Nebraska, he never learned English, his descendants, many of whom still live in the …

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The Seventeenth Annual Meeting Of The Swiss American Historical Society

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

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