Regional Sociology Commons^™

A New Church In A New Land: The Founding Of Det Danske Evangeliske Lutherske Kirkesamfund I Amerika, Peter L. Petersen

The Bridge

Dana College, Blair, Nebraska, and Grand View College, Des Moines, Iowa, are the two surviving institutions of higher education founded by Danish immigrants in the United States. One part of a year-long celebration of Dana's centennial in 1984 was the publication of a new history of the college and its parent institution , Trinity Seminary. Entitled A Place Called Dana , the book was released October 5 during Dana 's Homecoming observance.

An Immigrant's Provisions For Mortality, Inga Wiehl

The Bridge

It is my experience that we avoid funerals because they remind us of our mortality for which provisions must be made. Our resistance has two causes: we dread - in accordance with the human tendency to resist change - the most profound change of all, from life to death, mortality itself. Secondly, we dislike having to provide for our own departure according to the custom of the country or the taste of the individual.

Contributors

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Front Cover

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The Dano-Norwegian Department Of Chicago Theological Seminary, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

When European emigration to the United States surged anew after the Civil War, American Protestants of several denominations extended both spiritual and economic assistance to those newcomers who, in their perception, most closely shared their own religious traditions. Scandinavian immigrants, nearly all of whom were at least nominally Protestant, naturally received a generous portion of this aid, much of which came in the form of ministerial education. Young men who looked forward to careers as Lutheran pastors had access to ethnic theological colleges anchored in that tradition if not always in their respective national heritages. Norwegian Lutheran seminarians in the …

Contributors To This Issue

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A Place Called Dana The Centennial History Of Trinity Seminary And Dana College 1884-1984, Gail Q. Unruh, Reviewer, Peter L. Petersen

The Bridge

Blair, Nebraska, located some twenty miles north of Omaha, is the home of Dana College and Trinity Seminary. Together, these companion institutions formed one of the focal points of Danish immigrant efforts to establish themselves in their new homeland and to preserve elements of their cultural heritage. In the opening pages of his A Place Called Dana, Peter L. Petersen declares his desire to accomplish four interrelated goals: to write a history of the two associated institutions of Dana College and Trinity Seminary; to illuminate some of the accomplishments of Danish-Americans; to highlight the significant contribution to higher education of …

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

The Bridge

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, …

Contents

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Book Reviews

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Identity Through Remembrance, Axel C. Kildegaard

The Bridge

In 1864, the United States government sent Colonel Kit Carson on a pillaging, murdering foray through Navaho country, what is now northern Arizona. Scot O'Dell tells the story in a charming and moving book for young adults entitled, Sing Down the Moon, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen medal for children's books in 1970. The entire nation of about 10,000 Navahoes were forced to migrate, to relocate. It was a painful journey marked by much suffering and death. To this day it is known as the "long walk;" any child of the Navahoes will tell you the story. Mother or …

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.

Goals And Objectives Of The Danish American Heritage Society

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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.

Full Issue

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Front Matter

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A Midsummer Day, Amy R. Thrall

The Bridge

"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 …

Back Matter

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Back Matter

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Full Issue

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Contributors

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"Our Mission To The Indians": An Account Of A Danish Immigrant Church's Mission To The Cherokee Indians In 1892, John Mark Nielsen

The Bridge

On April 1, 1892, a letter by Detlev Leerskov appeared in Kirkebladet, the church newspaper of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church Association in America, otherwise known to Danish immigrants as the Blair Church. Leerskov, who had emigrated from Denmark ten years earlier, married a Cherokee woman, and settled among the Cherokee in what was then Indian Territory, wrote to tell the readers of Kirkebladet how he had received a copy of their paper from his brother in Hutchinson, Minnesota, and that this had been "the first Christian reading in the Danish language" that he had seen in ten years. Moreover, …

"Laegepraksis I Chicago," Brogede Minder, Morris Salmonsen

The Bridge

The Danish-born physician Christian Fenger, whose career was recounted by William K. Beatty in the last issue of The Bridge, was one of many Scandinavian doctors in Chicago during the boom decades one hundred years ago. In a city bursting with immigrants, some Scandinavian doctors catered to their countrymen, and had in most cases to be content with modest financial and social rewards. Others, like Fenger, affiliated with hospitals and made strong contributions to medical science of the day. By today's standards, the practice of medicine was virtually unregulated; the state of the science was in transition as research and …

Contents

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Jens Kjar: From Horsens To Atlantic, Signe Nielsen Betsinger

The Bridge

Of course things are coming back. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. Prosperity always has followed depression." 1 These encouraging words were spoken by Jens Kjar in Atlantic, Iowa, over twenty-five years ago to a newspaper reporter who was as intrigued by this man as I am. Who was Jens Kjar? How did I come to know about him? And why do I write about him today?

Clausens On The Move: Chicago, St. Ansgar, Virginia, 1870-1873, J. R. Christianson

The Bridge

Few Danes in America have been as influential in Scandinavian American life as Claus Laurits Clausen. From his arrival in Wisconsin in 1843 until his retirement in Minnesota more than forty years later, C. L. Clausen was a central figure in the life of Norwegians and Danes throughout the United States of America. H. Fred Swansen' s biography remains the standard work on Clausen's life in English, but an earlier biography in Danish contains important documentary material, and there are numerous biographical sketches, including a particularly sensitive one by Clausen's son-in-law, Svein Strand.

Front Cover

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Danish Immigrant Contributions To Mainstream American Children's Literature, 1867-1983: An Overview, Karen Nelson Hoyle

The Bridge

On the children's book scene in the United States, Hans Christian Andersen is the dominant figure among Danish authors. More than 800 translated editions of his books exist in the English language. The perennial strength of H.C. Andersen should not, however, draw attention from the notable contributions of Danish immigrants in the United States. Thirteen Danish immigrant authors and illustrators have contributed to mainstream American children's literature in the genres of picture book, historical fiction, and non-fiction from 1867 to the present. Excluded for consideration are translations from Danish, the religious press, the immigrant press, and periodical literature. Trade houses …

A Study Of Retention Between The Cadette And Senior Level Of Girl Scouting In The Kentuckiana Girl Scout Council, Diane M. Weigel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was made in attempt to identify the characteristics of a troop program in which tenth grade girls had been involved and to determine why they did or did not continue in Scouting. A survey instrument was devised and pretested to validate and improve upon the questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed through the mail to 190 girls who had been registered in the Kentuckiana Council Scouting program in 1981. All girls, despite their present status in Scouting were asked to complete and return the survey. The questions pertained to such areas as years involved in Scouting, frequency of meetings, …

Danish Farmers In The Middle West, Erik Helmer Pedersen

The Bridge

A former Danish carpenter and farmer, Niels Madsen, his wife, Anna, and their six children, aged 15 to 3 years, were among the passengers on board the America wooden paddle-steamer "Northern Light" when the ship on May 1, 1869, left Copenhagen. It was bound for New York, but enroute it had to call at Gothenburg in Sweden and Christiana in Norway. The Madsen family had left their native village of Klippinge at Stevns, in the company of about 30 other emigrants, headed by a so-called "yankee," Mr. A. Clausen, who during the spring of 1869 had formed an emigration group. …