Regional Sociology Commons^™

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.

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 …

Front Matter

The Bridge

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The Bridge

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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 …

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.

Full Issue

The Bridge

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Estimating Impacts Of Industrial Development In Killingly, Connecticut, Daniel A. Lass, Joseph Diamond

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

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Projected Changes In Northeastern Skiing Participation And Supply Capacity As Influenced By A Changing Economy, Marvin Kottke

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

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The Bridge

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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 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.

Front Cover

The Bridge

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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 …

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.

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 …

Book Review, Peter L. Petersen

The Bridge

Located in downtown San Antonio, the Institute of Texan Cultures is a publicly-financed research and information center focusing on the diverse cultural heritage of Texas. More than a million visitors annually crowd its large exhibition hall - originally built as a part of HemisFair '68 - to view on-going displays and presentations on more than two dozen national, cultural, and racial groups who have contributed to Texas history. In addition to the exhibits, the Institute has an extensive publication program. The Danish Texans is the nineteenth work in its ethnic series on The Texians and The Texans. Written by John …

The Acculturation Of The Danish Immigrant, Enok Mortensen

The Bridge

In the very first issue of The Bridge Dr. Otto Hoiberg had a perceptive article on the subject of acculturation. He suggested that a logical concern of the fledgling Danish-American Heritage Society might be to examine this process. I was particularly interested in his challenge because I have observed this process in myself and others for some sixty years, and for most of my adult life I have attempted to describe and to interpret this in lectures and in my books - not least in my stories and novels.

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The Bridge

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Front Cover

The Bridge

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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 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 …

Full Issue

The Bridge

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Table Of Contents

The Bridge

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Editorial Statement

The Bridge

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