Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Chapter Iv: Danish Social Life In Chicago -- The Dania Club

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Chapters IV and V assumes that one can use ethnic associations to trace the evolution of an ethnic community. This viewpoint has frequently been substantiated by historians studying such diverse ethnic groups as the Cleveland Slovaks, the Boston Irish and the Chicago Italians. 1 These historians recognized that ethnic societies took diverse forms, depending on their constituents and their goals. A thorough study of Danish institutions, then , would require an examination of social, religious, professional, political, national, cultural, charitable, fraternal, athletic, and mutual-benefit societies.

Chapter V: Danish Religious Life In Chicago -- Trinity Church

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When the Danes came to America, the Church of Denmark did not follow on their heels. The Danish Church believed that most Danish emigrants were dissenters, not supporters of the established Lutheran church. The Church viewed Danish immigration as too small to support churches, even in a city as large as Chicago. The few Danes in America might join Norwegian congregations, thereby maintaining ties with a similar form of Lutheranism. 1 The problem of not having churches to attend was somewhat unusual among immigrants. Catholic groups were welcomed by the international Catholic Church, wherever they settled. Such Protestants as the …

Conclusion: Chicago And The Evolution Of The Danish Community

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As contemporaries and historians noted, the development of the ethnic American depended upon a unique blend of two cultures. This study has illustrated that fact, beginning with the sources of immigration. We found that immigration resulted from a complex interplay of European and American factors, which influenced not only the immigrant and his community, but the old culture as well. For example, the existence of plentiful American farmland led to an immigration to American farms. As American produce then rose in volume, more was exported to Europe, contributing to an agricultural crisis in Denmark. That in turn generated a new …

Marcus Lee Hansen: America's First Transethnic Historian, Moses Rischin

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In a world in flux, the historian must strike a balance between change and tradition. The historian of American immigration and culture particularly sits poised on the knife's edge, seeking universal categories of analysis and understanding while immersing himself in a loving study of distinct peoples, places, and ways of life in disarray. He is the boomer engineer committed to democracy and equality, progress and growth, mobility and technology, science and medicine, individualism and freedom. But he is also the artist, priest, and guardian of culture, the admirer of fragile arts and crafts and tastes perfected over generations, of customs, …

A Midsummer Day, Amy R. Thrall

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"Where was Chris?; Why didn't he hurry?" He knew Greta was to be the overseer of the dinner. It was Midsummer's Day; she had to be in Linden by nine o'clock to organize the work in the kitchen. The four girls, up since dawn, harassed her with questions; too young to understand that "sol er oppe" meant "sun is up," signifying a blessing to the earth in bringing life to the crops and flowers. The sun doesn't set in Denmark on June 24th until eleven at night and rises at two in the morning. Having lived through the long and …

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

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"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 …

Questioning Our Danish Heritage: The Evolution Of An Ethnic Identity, Otto N. Larsen

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Here we are over one-hundred persons ranging in age from 9 to 90 gathered for the first Pacific Northwest Danish Cultural Conference. Given the title of my remarks, I had better start with a question: why are we here?

The general answer must be that we are here to re-kindle the experience of our heritage, to learn more about it, and to enjoy our common bond. It is often said that whenever Danes get together they have a good time, even if they are melancholy about it.

The Feilberg Letters: A Danish Family's Reflections On Canadian Prairie Life, Jorgen Dahlie

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So wrote Aksel Sandemose, noted Danish-Norwegian writer and himself an immigrant to Canada in 1927. When he spoke of iron determination and perseverance, he might well have been describing the Ditlev and Julie Feilberg family, a small part of whose experiences in Canada are recounted in the excerpts which follow. Without making too extravagant a claim for the uniqueness of any one immigrant encounter with a new land, one is nonetheless forced to acknowledge that each individual or family brought with them their own special cultural and intellectual resources. A reading of the Feilberg letters reveals that this family had …

Some Thoughts On Acculturation, Otto G. Hoiberg

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Three years ago an important work entitled Flight to America - The Social Background of 300,000 Danish Emigrants was published by Kristian Hvidt(1), Head Librarian of the Danish Parliamentary Library in Copenhagen. Dr. Hvidt's painstaking demographic study of 58 handwritten volumes of data ralating to America-bound Danish emigrants between 1868 and 1914, together with computer analysis, revealed a wealth of interesting information relating to the age, sex, family status, occupation, motivation and other characteristics of the people concerned.

Heritage, Johannes Knudsen

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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 …

Danes Came To Central Wharton County In 1894 Bringing Church, Language, Culture, John L. Davis

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The grass reached to the bottoms of the wagons when the first group of Danes came to central Wharton County, Texas, in 1894. Land had been bought by J. C. Evers, an agent for the Danish Folk Society, to be resold to immigrants. The Dansk Folkesamfund was interested in founding an agricultural settlement in which the Danish culture and language, and the Lutheran church, might be preserved. Like many people who came to Texas, the settlers were looking for a new place to live - a place they could farm and raise their children .