Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Population Movement And Growth In Utah County, Utah 1940 To 1980, Brian W. Maxfield

Theses and Dissertations

Utah County, Utah, and more particularly the Utah Valley area, has undergone an enormous change during the last forty years. Rapid growth and urbanization brings with it the problems of urban sprawl. Controlling this sprawl is determined often times by an effective growth policy. Mapping and analyzing growth patterns and trends is a useful method in determining the effectiveness of the "growth towards the cities" policy of Utah County. Research was conducted by using maps, air photos, and field work in locating the growth history of the county.
Growth has been influenced by several factors among which are the physical, …

A Study Of Divorced Mormon Women In Salt Lake County: The Extent To Which They Use The Agencies And Institutions Available To Help Meet Personal, Financial, And Employment Needs, Melinda G. Stapley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to (a) describe the characteristics of divorced Mormon women residing in Salt Lake County, (b) determine the extent to which these women were aware of and used government, private, and Mormon church agencies after divorce in helping them solve their problems, and (c) determine the extent these women felt each agency was effective.

Responses from the questionnaire indicated that more than half of these women could be categorized as displaced homemakers. Results showed significant decreases in income before and after divorce. The women in this study had higher than national average occupational levels and …

Measuring The Reading Level Of Lds Materials: A Supplement To The Dale Word List, Linda Stahle

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to supplement the Dale word list with a list of terms that are familiar to most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and thus increase the precision of the Dale-Chall readability formula when it is applied to LDS materials. The Dale word list consists of 3,000 words that are familiar to 80 percent of fourth graders. The procedure involved identifying non-Dale words that occur frequently in LDS church publications and testing them on LDS fourth graders in a three-alternative multiple-choice format.

Of the 850 words tested, 249 were identified correctly …

Mental Health Status Of Vietnamese Refugees In Utah County, Utah, David A. Acree

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to measure mental health status of Vietnamese refugees in Utah County, Utah. The test instrument used was the Cornell Medical Index (CMI). Two subproblems were considered: First, to see if refugee complaints on the CMI were predominantly physiological or psychological. Second, to see if there was a relationship between CMI scores and a related list of demographic variables.

Results showed the mean CMI score for the sample under study was well above the suggested score indicative of possible psychological dysfunction. For 80% of participants, psychological complaints were predominant over physical complaints. The only variables showing a relationship …

Attitudes And Attained Esl Proficiency Among First Generation Swedish Mormon Immigrants, Cecilia Nihlen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis project, the relationship between attitudes toward target and native culture groups and attained ESL proficiency among immigrants was evaluated. The subjects were thirty adult native Swedes, all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had spent an average of 29 years in the United States. Fourteen were members of a Swedish-speaking branch, while sixteen were members of English-speaking wards. Significant differences were found in immigrants' attitudes toward the culture groups. High English proficiency related positively with a more positive attitude toward the target culture group. Those demonstrating high proficiency viewed the general native …

Mormon Land Ownership As A Factor In Evaluating The Extent Of Mormon Settlements And Influence In Missouri 1831-1841, Wayne J. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis has been to demonstrate as clearly as possible the full extent of Mormon Land in Missouri during the years 1831-1841. An identification has been made of the names of several thousand of these early Mormons and will further show the scope of Mormonism during this period. This study will add detail to what previous writers have stated about this trying period for Mormonism.

As accurately as possible, the author has identified where the Mormon settlements were, through graphs and charts. It has been demonstrated that the Mormon population extended beyond the traditional areas they have …

Printed Maps Of Utah To 1900: An Annotated Cartobibliography, Riley Moore Moffat

Theses and Dissertations

Old maps are valuable research tools in many fields. Finding and identifying them, however, is often difficult. This annotated cartobibliography attempts to identify all maps of Utah printed before 1900. Entries give the distinguishing features, peculiarities, inaccuracies, and a general description as well as the map's provenance and citations in other lists and bibliographies.

The maps are listed chronologically and include all maps located in research collections in Utah, and in the catalogs of the Library of Congress and the Bancroft Library. Although the first entry is dated 1777, the first map of Utah made from actual observation, earlier maps …

Front Cover

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Editorial Statement

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Georg Strandvold: A Progress In Journalism, Olga Strandvold Opfell

The Bridge

A bronze plaque that honors Georg Strandvold's memory hangs in Rebild's Blokhus, succinctly summing up the influence he had in his time on thousands of Danish Americans: Skirbent og redaktor i i Amerika i 57 ar. Trofast talsmand for Danmark.

That long career was also versatile. During those 57 years Georg Strandvold wrote for the best known Danish newspapers in the U.S. - Norden, Nordlyset, Den Danske Pioneer, Ugebladet, Dannevirke, Bien - and worked on two American dailies, the Racine Journal and the Grand Forks Herald. For 31 years he also sat on the editorial staff of Decorah-Posten, the largest …

Hands Across The Sea: Soren Qvist In Danish And American Literature, 1625-1947, Otto M. Sorensen

The Bridge

Anno 1632. Severinus Jani Qvist, pastor in Weilbye and Homme in Aarhus Bishopric, was innocently beheaded and his innocence afterwards established, and this transpired in such a way that the footprints of divine providence, as the precious stones of history, can clearly be perceived.

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.

Principles And Polemics A Chapter In The History Of Grand View College, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

Early in 1894 the Danish Lutheran Church in America was divided by a schism . At that time the Synod lost a substantial number of pastors and congregations while some other congregations, and even families, were divided by the split in the Church. That traumatic event did have one beneficial side effect, however. The conventions for the Church became much more peaceable and, for the next few years, the Church was unified and could work with undivided attention to perform the tasks at hand.

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 …

Dansk Folkeblad, Nancy Ruth Bartlett

The Bridge

In the fall of 1895 an ambitious Danish-American businessman named George Johnson took over the editorship of a Danish language newspaper being published in the town of Greenville, Michigan . (It is not known how long the previous editor, C.N. Miller, had been running the paper) . George Johnson stated in his first editorial (26 September, 1895) that it was his intention to fulfill the need for a Danish paper in the state of Michigan. In his paper Danish language readers were to be supplied with local, national, and foreign news, advertisements, and a means for Danish-Americans to voice their …

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

The Bridge

Readers of the previous issue of The Bridge (no. 3, 1979) will have made the acquaintance of the Ditlev and Julie Feilberg family. Their arrival in Saskatchewan some seventy years ago and their subsequent experiences in Canada have been documented in a series of letters sent to relatives in Denmark. In eloquent, often poignant language, the letters tell an absorbing story of the immigrant's hopeful expectations - and of the often harsh reality - in a new land.

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Front Cover

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Editorial Statement

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

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 …

Bleeding Feet, Humble Hearts: Danish Mormon Migration 1850-1860, Jens Patrick Wilde

The Bridge

The early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a chronicle of several migrations. The Mormon migration most familiar to Americans began in New York state, from where Joseph Smith, prophet-founder of the church, moved with his followers in search of a place where they might build a community, a holy land. The way stations on the journey from New York to Salt Lake City, now the headquarters of the church, were Kirtland, Ohio; Independence and Far West, Missouri; and Nauvoo, Illinois. These attempts to found religious communities had their origin in Mormon doctrine, which implied …

Editorial Introduction, Gerald Rasmussen

The Bridge

Most Danish immigrants to the United States of America headed for the northern tier of the Middle Western states. The majority stayed there. The autobiographical pieces that follow present the accounts of three Danish immigrants to the Middle West. Each one is personal and subjective. Each of the writers came from different provinces in Denmark, and from different environments within those provinces. Readers will note that the three accounts represent three eras - the 1890's, the 1920's and late 1940's. Curious readers will perhaps explore whether the differences in chronological time of the uprooting, as well as the different backgrounds, …