Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Danish Perceptions And West Indian Realities: Slavery In The Danish West Indies, Karen Fog Olwig

The Bridge

The year 1987 marked the 70th anniversary of the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States of America. With the sale of the three small islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, Denmark had disposed of all her tropical colonies, which at one time had included possessions on the Gold Coast in Africa, the present Ghana, and in southeastern India, most importantly Trankebar.

R. B. Nielsen's Journey From Aarhus To Dannebrog, Harold Jensen

The Bridge

Many years ago, possibly when I was seventeen years of age, my grandfather, Rasmus B. Nielsen (affectionately called R.B.) asked me if I would write the account of his experiences as a young man emigrating from Denmark in 1878, with Dannebrog, Nebraska as his destination and future home. I said I would. We had several sessions at the kitchen table in his home near Nysted by Dannebrog, Nebraska. He sat in his captain's chair, and I in a straight-backed kitchen chair. He dictated in Danish while I jotted down what he said. I filed these notes and for some years …

From Scandinavia To America: Proceedings From A Conference Held At Gi. Holtegaard, Peter L. Petersen, Reviewer

The Bridge

In early September 1983, scholars from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United States gathered at Gammel Holtegaard, north of Copenhagen, for a three-day conference on Scandinavian emigration to the United States. Because a majority of the papers presented at the conference deal with elements of the Danish experience, readers of The Bridge should welcome this belated publication of the proceedings made possible by a grant from the Danish Research Council for the Humanities.

Children Of Danish Roots, L.C. Laursen

The Bridge

Children of Danish Roots is a translation by Willard R. Garred of Stammens B0rn, an article that appeared originally in the 1931 issue of the "Ryslinge Julebog," a Christmas magazine of the Ryslinge Folk High School, Ryslinge, Denmark. The article was written by L. C. Laursen when he lived in the western Nebraska community at Mirage Flats near Hay Springs. After his arrival in the community he named it Ryslinge, a name generally accepted by the settlers and their friends.

Laurs Christian Laursen, Betty Laursen Miller

The Bridge

When my younger brother and I were little, our mother often sang to us, and soon our voices would be joining in with "Venter Paa Far"--Waiting for Father. This song is about two little blueeyed children who press their ' noses against the window pane as they eagerly await their father's homecoming. It ends with a happy rush to the door when they hear him approaching, and the words change to a joyous shout of "Her Kommer Far"--Here Comes our Father.

Reflections On Denmark As It Was, And Emigration To America, Arlow W. Andersen

The Bridge

In the late medieval and modern periods the histories of Denmark and Norway paralleled each other. During much of that interval the Union of Kalmar (1397-1523), which included also a dynastic tie with Sweden, practically insured common political, economic, and religious development. On the threshold of the modern age Sweden broke away from the Union (1523), but Norway was obliged to remain under Danish rule until 1814.

Niels Sorensen Lawdahl: Autobiography, Niels Sorensen Lawdahl

The Bridge

My name is Niels Sorensen Lawdahl. I was born in Sonder Stenderup, Bjert Strand near Kolding. This vicinity was my mother's native soil. Her name was Ane Sofie Hansen Stougaard. Father was from Givskud vicinity near Vejle. His name was Soren Nielsen. I was born January 25, 1864 (the war year). And before very long, I was baptized because of father's impending departure for the army. There was a little brother in the home, two years older than I. He died in Kasson, Minnesota in 1899.

The Plow, The Cow And The Pastor, Karl Marg

The Bridge

That was not so bad, and then, Dagmar was even a queen. I have done that which is worse. I once stole, on a late winter night in Chicago, a pioneer cow with all accessories from Christian Bay. Then I sold the stolen goods to a newspaper in Denmark and got c. 60 kroner out of it. How my conscience has fared since then I will not here relate. I am a Danish Lutheran and I do not confess in a catholic confession booth, and much less would I confess in the modern protestant manner, publicly to Mrs. Somebody in …

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.

Life On Lilac Hill Sketches Of Karen And Chresten Pedersen's Prairie Years, Karen M. Kadgihn

The Bridge

A jackrabbit was sunning himself on a rock in the warm March sun, stretched out and went to sleep. Suddenly a noise awakened him and he jumped quickly away at right angles to where the noise had originated. From a safe distance he stopped, sat up to see what had disturbed his siesta, wiggling his ears and nose as he watched another of those strange creatures going by his sunning rock. What were they? They had been passing in increasing numbers, and had actually made parallel tracks right by his rock!

Peter Lassen: Danish Pioneer Of California, Franklin D. Scott

The Bridge

"The Dane Peter Lassen," or " Peter Lassen, a Danish Blacksmith," appears in almost every memoir dealing with early northern California. His Danishness was obvious, though no one bothers to explain why. Was his speech the telltale feature? The man was almost thirty years of age when he left Denmark, and he had had no opportunity to learn English while his tongue was ductile. He came to California in the spring of 1840, at the beginning of a decade of decision. At that moment Indians inhabited the land, Russians were still established on the California coast, Mexicans held title to …

Louis Pio In America, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

Since I have been working with the Danish Immigrant Archives, and especially with the Danish Immigrant Archival Listing project, it has become increasingly clear to me that those immigrants who become a part of the Danish Church represent but a small fraction of the Danes who came to this country. Sometime in the Danish Church we have, I fear, been so wrapped up in ourselves that we have lost sight of the great majority of Danes who emigrated to America and who, in one way or another have left their mark. Examples are numerous but I think of one little …

The Emigration Of Soren Kierkegaard, Howard V. Hong, Edna H. Hong

The Bridge

John and Jane Doe, USA, are pretty well aware that Denmark exports the best butter, bacon, and cheese in the world to the world. But perhaps not even Jens and Tina Jensen, second and third generation Danish-Americans, realize the extent to which the second-to-none thoughts of a nineteenth century Dane have emigrated and are emigrating to the whole wide world . Indeed, they are valued more by the world than by Danes in Denmark, who can hardly conceal their surprise that the world now pays more attention to Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1865) than to Hans Christian Andersen . The Danes …

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 …

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 .

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.

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 …

Immigrating To America, Andrew Christensen

The Bridge

To get the proper backdrop for this article, let me quote a few statements from the introduction of an outstanding book on immigration to America, sponsored by the Rebild Society and written by Kristian Hvidt, the Chief Librarian of the Danish Parlimentary Library:

"In the course of the fifty years preceeding the outbreak of World War I in 1914, well over 300,000 Danes left their homeland to become immigrants; ninety percent of them settled in the U.S.A. The illuminating facts stated in human terms show that our grand and great-grandparents saw every tenth one of their countrymen leave their land …

The Remigrants, Edward F. Sundberg, Gerda Sundberg

The Bridge

"Why did you emigrate to the United States?" Gerda asked.

Mr. R. let a smile play with his lips. " It was an accident," he said.

"Tell us about it," she encouraged.

He told the story of his emigration. Gerda and I listened. Our recording machine captured his words on a cassette tape.

"Now tell us about moving back to Denmark."

Gerda and I were interviewing in Denmark as a part of the research project, RIBBONS OF MEMORIES, an American-Scandinavian Ethnic Heritage Oral History Program.

The World Of Robert Storm Petersen, Allen E. Hye

The Bridge

Thirty years after his death in March, 1949, Robert Storm Petersen is still regarded as Denmark's greatest humorist; in fact, he is enjoying an astonishing revival in Scandinavian popular culture. T-shirts, advertising campaigns, key chains - all bear his likeness or that of his loveable cartoon characters. Even a museum has been established (Pile Alle 2, 2000 Copenhagen F) to promote his memory and humor. Since its founding in the fall of 1977, the museum, under the direction of Jens Bing, has been sorting and cataloging books, paintings, memorabilia, including the humorist's extensive pipe collection, and the some 60,000 drawings …

Notes On The Early Mormon Mission In Denmark, Donald K. Watkins

The Bridge

Jens Patrick Wilde's article in this issue of The Bridge vividly describes the hardships, grief and sometimes disaster that accompanied the Mormons during their famous trek across the Great Plains to Utah in the 1850s. Less well known is the role of the Northern European immigrant in this difficult passage to the Great Basin. Scandinavian immigrant participation in the growth of Utah and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was especially great in the period 1850-1890, and in the decade before the Civil War Mormons made up the largest identifiable segment, 19%, of the some 10,000 Danes in …

Sketches From Our Family Life In The Early Nineties, Dagmar, The Eldest Of The Flock

The Bridge

In the late Fall of 1890, Father went to the United States to get a job and to make a new home for us all. From Brooklyn the Reverend Anderson helped to send him on his way west, since he had been a farmer. At Chicago the Reverend Nielsen sent him to the Danish School and settlement at Elk Horn, Iowa, where he studied a little English and hired out on a farm, there to learn more English by practical experience.

Jonas Bronck Most Famous Among The First Danes In New York, Ebba Tang Frandsen

The Bridge

Information for this article is excerpted from Carlo Christensen's book, De Forste Danske i New York, Nyt Nordisk Forlag - Arnold Busch - Kj!6benhavn, 1953. Carlo Christensen was for many years Cultural Attache with the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C., a position in which he served with great distinction. Carlo Christensen states in the Forward that the book is the result of research carried on for 20 years in his spare time, and that there is still much material to be researched.

Homage To Hans Christian, Henrik Nordbrandt, Nadia Christensen, Translator

The Bridge

Now I understand all the statues you had to pose for how hard it's been to sit still, casting shadows

over the lawn, where children like those now clambering on your bronze must have played laughing, in a twitter of birds

while you, shut out from the game, tried desperately to resemble the picture of yourself that made you seem most harmless.

One Of Many, Dagmar Potholm Petersen

The Bridge

On an early spring evening in the year of 1891 a young man stood leaning against the rai I of the steamship Tekla of the Danish Tingvalla Line, his dark hair blowing in the breeze and his blue eyes riveted on the scene before him. He was entirely oblivious to the commotion around him, even to the boisterous calls of his shipmates, "We're there - at last we're there - soon we'll be picking up gold from the streets and licking honey from the trees."

Danes Worldwide Archives Contains Treasures Of Immigrant Life, Marion Marzolf

The Bridge

A typical four-room apartment in an average Danish neighborhood in Aalborg, Denmark, houses an extraordinary treasure for those interested in their Danish roots. It looks like an ordinary apartment from the outisde, but once the door is opened by Curator Inger Bladt, it is clear that housed here are the living memories of many of the 300,000 Danes who left their homeland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to seek work, land, fortune and fate in foreign countries, mainly the U.S.

"Heinrich Tonnies", Egon P. Bodtker

The Bridge

Heinrich Tonnies has been known to Danish archivists and photo-historians primarily for his topographical views of Aalborg. His pictures made Aalborg the second most photographed city in Denmark in the 19th century. Alexander Alland has ensured Tonnies a place among recorders of social history by the exhibit in Aalborg he arranged in 1975. For this redirection of our attention we in D.A.H.S. and others are indeed thankful.

The Wayfarer, Enok Mortensen, Nanna Mortensen, Translator

The Bridge

He stood on the deck and shivered in the raw morning air. It was beginning to get light but the dawn was veiled in a heavy wet fog. There was no rain but the air itself seemed like one big mass of cold wetness. He couldn't see anything at all but he kept standing there, nevertheless.

Do Your Homework!, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

I once heard a young American ask a Danish visitor whether or not he was acquainted with the inquirer's uncle in Denmark. It quickly developed that the only thing which the young man knew about his uncle was his family name. Incredible as it may seem, such things happen and though to a lesser degree, they happen frequently when a search is made for overseas ancestors. Denmark is a relatively small country and the unspoken assumption is often made that everyone there knows everyone else and, therefore, one need only know the name and the fact that an ancestor came …

Oscar W. Lund (1862-1953) A Memoir, Harald Hans Lund

The Bridge

He was twenty years old when he stepped aboard the S.S. Hekla in Copenhagen to work his way to a country where he had no acquaintances and did not know the language. Fifteen days later Oscar Lund landed in New York City.

"There were streets which it was almost impossible to cross because of the great number of vehicles of all sorts," he notes in his diary. "One feels that he has come to the great free America."