Notes and Documents
Norway, Maine
By Walter W. Wright (Volume XV: Page 219)

Dr. Halvdan Koht, in Norwegian-American Studies and Records, volume 13, presents some interesting speculations on the origin of the name of the town of Norway, formerly in Cumberland County, and since 1805 in Oxford County, Maine. Dr. Koht explains how the original petitioners selected "Norage" for the name, and how, evidently at the hands of Massachusetts officials (Maine did not become a separate state until 1820), this was changed to "Northam," and finally to "Norway." This evolution does make it clear that the name "Norway" was not originally chosen by the settlers of the area.

For the sake of the record, however, it should be noted that there are other explanations than those Dr. Koht offers for the selection of "Norage" as a name. William D. Williamson in his History of the State of Maine; from Its First Discovery, A.D. 1602, to the Separation, A.D. 1820, Inclusive, published in 1839, states that the name Norway is obviously chosen from the country in Europe. But this rather categorical statement does not help us.

Norway, Maine, has, interestingly enough, been the subject of three town histories. The first, the History of Norway: Comprising a Minute Account of its First Settlement . . . , by David Noyes, published in 1852, is cited by Dr. Koht. It does not explain the origin of the name. But Dr. Koht allows himself an error when he comments, "It is interesting that nowhere on the title page is a reference to the State of Maine given, an indication that the town that was the subject of the book was the only one of that name in the United States." After all, Noyes's history was written, printed, and bound in Norway, Maine, for the inhabitants of the town. No other Norway could have been considered likely to confuse the readers. Not only were there three other towns of that name in the United States in 1852, but one of them, Norway, Herkimer County, New York, was formed in 1792, just five years before the incorporation of the Maine town. There was an early settlement in Racine County, Wisconsin, known as Norway, and it was there that the first Norwegian newspaper of the Northwest, Nordlyset (The Northern Light), was established in 1847. This Norway was indeed founded by Norwegians, and was one of the earliest such settlements. Norway, La Salle County, Illinois, seems, according to the publications of the Norwegian-American Historical Association, to have been so named by 1847, the land having been settled before that date.

The second history of the Maine town, the Centennial History of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, by William B. Lapham, was published in 1886. It devotes a short chapter of five pages to the naming of the town, and quotes the petition of incorporation, the last sentence of which reads, "We therefore pray that if your Honours think proper, to Incorporate us into a Body Politick by the name of NORAGE and your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray." Lapham comments: "As to the name by which they desired the new town to be called, the subject is not entirely clear. 'Norage' is an unusual name for a town, and a more reasonable conclusion is that 'Norwich,' which is pronounced much like it, was the name agreed upon by thc petitioners, but misspelled by the person who drew the petition."

The third history, A History of Norway, Maine, from the Earliest Settlements to the Close of the Year 1922, by Charles F. Whitman, published in 1924, devotes two pages to the matter of naming the town. Whitman rejects Williamson's statement by pointing out that there were no settlers from Norway, and hence "no one who cared particularly to honor it with the name of the new town." Whitman continues:

It seems quite certain that it was suggested by the name the petitioners requested to be given it. What reasonable explanation can be given for the meaning of "Norage?" It is clearly a misspelling no matter what its significance. There are two explanations. The old English pronunciation of Norwich is as if spelled, Norridge, and it has been urged that this is what the petitioners meant, though whoever drew the petition spelled it incorrectly. There was ample time to find out what was intended and to correct the error. But the suggestion faces the proposition, that no one of the early settlers came from any Norwich, and could not be interested enough to care to honor any place he was not acquainted with, by calling the town by it. And there was the further consideration that there was no other town of that name in the District of Maine. The General Court could therefore have had no objection to giving the new town the name of Norwich.

There is another explanation that seems to have much weight. Norridge is the Indian name for falls. At the lower end of the village, are Steep Falls. These falls at that period, presented the most striking feature in all the country round about, particularly at a freshet pitch of water. This may have been what was meant, but nothing has come down to render the matter certain.

It seems quite sure, however, that "Norage" in the petition for the incorporation of the town, suggested the name of Norway.

Either of these two explanations is more logical than Dr. Koht's first suggestion, in Nordisk tidende for September 3 and Decorah-posten for September 4, 1942, that the name was chosen in memory of the northern romanticism current in the second half of the eighteenth century; or his second suggestion, in Norwegian-American Studies and Records, that "Norage" was inspired by a feeling that it would be appropriate to a northern district.

It is of interest that two other towns in Oxford County, each about twenty-five miles from Norway village, are Denmark and Sweden. There have been no published histories for these towns, and I have seen no official reason for their names. By the time they were incorporated, however, in 1807 and 1818 respectively, many towns in Maine had received the names of foreign countries or cities. Norway, as the one hundred and twelfth town in the district to be incorporated, was by no means the first town to bear a foreign name. It was, for instance, preceded by Paris, the adjoining town, incorporated in 1793, generally acknowledged to have been named for the French capital; and by a dozen others, namely: York, Wells, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Brunswick, Newcastle, Topsham, Woolwich, Buxton, Belfast, Bath, Portland, Sterling Plantation, Frankfort. Poland, the last town chartered before Norway's incorporation in 1797, was, according to Williamson, supposed to have taken its name from an Indian chief. So many more towns in Maine were afterwards named for foreign places that the list reads like a veritable gazetteer. Most of the early foreign names, however, are names of English towns, and this fact lends credence to the suggestion that "Norwich''' was the name originally intended. But whether the source of the name is English or Indian, no one can say with certainty. Certainly it is not Norwegian.

Contributors

DR. EINAR HAUGEN, Torger Thompson professor of Scandinavian languages in the University of Wisconsin, has been a frequent contributor to STUDIES AND RECORDS. His latest published book is Spoken Norwegian, the first complete conversational course in Norwegian put out in the United States. He holds at present a research appointment to continue his studies of the history of the Norwegian language in America. In the autumn of 1949 he will initiate a Scandinavian area study program at the University of Wisconsin.

MRS. AILEEN BERGER BUETOW of Flushing, Long Island, New York, interested herself in the dramatic possibilities of Norwegian immigration when, some years ago, she lived in Chicago. At that time she wrote the play herewith printed, parts of which were produced at a theater in that city. The play is published in this volume for the first time.

PROFESSOR C. A. CLAUSEN is now teaching in the Scandinavian area program of the University of Minnesota. In collaboration with Professor Andreas Elviken he has completed the editing of the Bache diary, which will be published by the Norwegian-American Historical Association.

DR. ARLOW W. ANDERSEN is professor of history in Jamestown College. He has written a number of articles on the attitudes of Norwegian immigrants toward public affairs and expects ultimately to bring out a book on this theme.

DR. KENNETH BJORK is professor of history and chairman of the social science division in St. Olaf College. He has contributed often to the present series and is the author of the recently published book entitled Saga in Steel and Concrete. At present he is writing a work dealing with Norwegians on the west coast.

DR. HENRIETTE C. K. NAESETH will be remembered as the co-author of an important article dealing with dramatic societies in Chicago. She is the head of the department of English and chairman of the division of humanities at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Her father was long a professor at Luther College and her grandfather was one of the founders of that college.

MR. JOHN HEITMANN, an attorney of Duluth, Minnesota, writes his appreciation of Baumann on the basis of a long acquaintance and friendship with the poet.

MR. JACOB HODNEFIELD contributes to this volume not only a bibliographical review but also a special article. Long connected with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Hill Reference Library of St. Paul, he has prepared many bibliographical surveys for STUDIES AND RECORDS.

MR. ALFRED O. ERICKSON, a prominent attorney and former judge of the municipal court of Chicago, is a graduate of the University of Indiana and of the law department of Lake Forest University. He is noted both as a successful lawyer and as a skillful public speaker. He contributes an article on his home community in Wisconsin and writes out of warm knowledge and appreciation.

MR. WALTER W. WRIGHT of Baltimore contributes a brief article on Norway, Maine, as a consequence of having read an earlier discussion of this name in STUDIES AND RECORDS by Mr. Halvdan Koht.

Norwegian-American Historical Association

Officers

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Olaf Halvorson, Huntington Park, California, President
Lionel G. Thorsness, Chicago, Illinois, Vice-president
Soren Roinestad, Oakland, California, Second Vice-president
J. Jørgen Thompson, Northfield, Minnesota, Secretary
Birger Osland, Chicago, Illinois, Treasurer

BOARD OF FINANCE

Thorsten Y. Olsen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Egil E. Krogh, Winnetka, Illinois

BOARD OF EDITORS

Theodore C. Blegen, St. Paul, Minnesota, Managing Editor
Kenneth Bjork, Northfield, Minnesota
Clarence A. Clausen, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Einar Haugen, Madison, Wisconsin
Carlton C. Qualey, Northfield, Minnesota

BOARD OF ARCHIVES

Jacob Hodnefield, St. Paul, Minnesota, Chairman
Agnes Larson, Northfield, Minnesota
Karen Larsen, Northfield, Minnesota
O. M. Norlie, Northfield, Minnesota
John Frohlin, Bayonne, New Jersey

LOCAL VICE-PRESIDENTS

C. Martin Alsager, Chicago, Illinois
Helmet Blegen, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Magnus Bjørndal, Weehawken, New Jersey
J. N. Brown, Moorhead, Minnesota
G. M. Bruce, St. Paul, Minnesota
Kristine Haugen, Seattle, Washington
O. I. Hertsgaard, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Frida Bue-Homnes, Crosby, North Dakota
Carl E. Abrahamson, Chicago, Illinois
Peter Myrvold, San Francisco, California
Carl Søyland, Brooklyn, New York
Arne E. Williamson, Chicago, Illinois

Publications of the Norwegian-American Historical Association

STUDIES AND RECORDS

VOLUME I. Minneapolis, 1926. 175 p. "Health Conditions and the Practice of Medicine among the Early Norwegian Settlers, 1825-1865," by Knut Gjerset and Ludvig Hektoen; "The Norwegian Quakers of 1825," by Henry J. Cadbury; "Bishop Jacob Neumann's Word of Admonition to the Peasants," translated and edited by Gunnar J. Malmin; Reiersen's contemporary account of "Norwegians in the West in 1844," translated and edited by Theodore C. Blegen; Cock-Jensen's "An Emigrant Voyage in the Fifties," translated and edited by Karen Larsen; Carl F. Solberg's "Reminiscences of a Pioneer Editor," edited by Albert O. Barton. Price $2.00

VOLUME. II. Northfield, Minnesota, 1927. 137 p. "Norwegian Emigrant Songs," translated and edited by Martin B. Ruud; "Four Immigrant Shiploads of 1836 and 1837," by Henry J. Cadbury; "Immigration as Viewed by a Norwegian-American Farmer in 1869," a letter translated and edited by Jacob Hodnefield; "The Norwegian Pioneer in the Field of American Scholarship," by Laurence M. Larson; "Norwegian Language and Literature in American Universities," by George T. Flom; "Norwegian-American Church History," by George M. Stephenson. Price $2.00

VOLUME III. Northfield, Minnesota, 1928. 133 p. "The Disillusionment of an Immigrant: Sjur Jørgensen Haaeim's 'Information on Conditions in North America,'" translated and edited by Gunnar J. Malmin; "A Doctrinaire Idealist: Hans Barlien," by D. G. Ristad; "Norwegian-American Emigration Societies of the Forties and Fifties," by Albert O. Barton; "Emigration as Viewed by a Norwegian Student of Agriculture in 1850: A. Budde's ' From a Letter about America,'" translated by A. Sophie Bøe, with an introduction by Theodore C. Blegen; "An Immigration Journey to America in 1854," a letter translated and edited by Henrietta Larson; "Chicago as Viewed by a Norwegian Immigrant in 1864,"a letter translated and edited by Brynjolf J. Hovde; "The Historical Value of Church Records," by J. Magnus Rohne; "A Norwegian-American Landnamsman: Ole S. Gjerset," by Knut Gjerset; "The Icelandic Communities in America: Cultural Backgrounds and Early Settlements," by Thorstina Jackson. Price $2.00

VOLUME IV. Northfield, Minnesota, 1929. 159 p. "A Contribution to the Study of the Adjustment of a Pioneer Pastor to American Conditions: Laur. Larsen, 1857-1880," by Karen Larsen; "Report of the Annual Meeting of the Haugeaan Churches Held at Lisbon, Illinois, in June, 1854," translated and edited by J. Magnus Rohne; "The Attitude of the United States toward Norway in the Crisis of 1905," by H. Fred Swansen; "Immigration and Social Amelioration,'' by Joseph Sehafer; "The Mind of the Scandinavian Immigrant," by George M. Stephenson; "Three Civil War Letters from 1862," translated and edited by Brynjolf J. Horde; "The Sinking of the 'Atlantic' on Lake Erie," a letter translated and edited by Henrietta Larson; "An Account of a Journey to California in 1852," by Tosten Kittelsen Stabæk, translated by Einar I. Haugen. Price $2.00

VOLUME V. Northfield, Minnesota, 1930. 152 p. "An Early Norwegian Fur Trader of the Canadian Northwest," by Hjalmar R. Holand; "Immigrant Women and the American Frontier," three early "America letters" translated and edited by Theodore C. Blegen; "From New York to Wisconsin in 1844," by Johan Gasmann, translated and edited by Carlton C. Qualey; "Social and Economic Aspects of Pioneering as Illustrated in Goodhue County, Minnesota," by Theodore Nydahl; "Norwegian-American Fiction, 1880-1928," by Aagot D. Hoidahl; "Bjørnson and the Norwegian-Americans, 1880-81," by Arthur C. Paulson; "The Beginnings of St. Olaf College," by I. F. Grose; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME VI. Northfield, Minnesota, 1931. 191 p. "Norwegians in the Selkirk Settlement," by Paul Knaplund; "Claus L. Clausen, Pioneer Pastor and Settlement Promoter: Illustrative Documents," translated and edited by Carlton C. Qualey; "Lars Davidson Reque: Pioneer," by Sophie A. Bøe; "A Pioneer Pastor's Journey to Dakota in 1861," by Abraham Jacobson, translated by J. N. Jacobson; "The Campaign of the Illinois Central Railroad for Norwegian and Swedish Immigrants," by Paul W. Gates; "Norwegians at the Indian Forts on the Missouri River during the Seventies," by Einar Haugen; "The Convention Riot at Benson Grove, Iowa, in 1876," by Laurence M. Larson; "Bjørnson's Reaction to Emigration," by Arne Odd Johnsen; "Alexander Corstvet and Anthony M. Rud, Norwegian-American Novelists," by Albert O. Barton; "The Norwegian-American Historical Museum," by Knut Gjerset; "Norwegian Migration to America before the Civil War," by Brynjolf J. Horde; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, II," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME, VII. Northfield, Minnesota, 1933. 139 p. "Social Aspects of Prairie Pioneering: The Reminiscences of a Pioneer Pastor's Wife," by Mrs. R. O. Brandt; "The Fraser River Gold Rush: An Immigrant Letter of 1858," translated and edited by C.A. Clausen; "O. E. Rølvaag: Norwegian-American," by Einar I. Haugen; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, III," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield; "A Hunt for Norwegian-American Records," by Carlton C. Qualey; "Ole Edvart Rølvaag, 1876-1981: In Memoriam," by Julius E. Olson. Price $2.00

VOLUME, VIII. Northfield, Minnesota, 1984. 176 p. "Tellef Grundysen and the Beginnings of Norwegian-American Fiction," by Laurence M. Larson; "The Seventeenth of May in Mid-Atlantic: Ole Rynning's Emigrant Song," translated and edited by Theodore C. Blegen and Martin B. Ruud; "Johannes Nordboe and Norwegian Immigration: An 'America Letter' of 1837," edited by Arne Odd Johnsen; "The First Norwegian Migration into Texas: Four 'America Letters,'" translated and edited by Lyder L. Unstad; "Norwegian-Americans and Wisconsin Polities in the Forties," by Bayrd Still; "The Emigrant Journey in the Fifties," by Karl E. Erickson, edited by Albert O. Barton; "The Political Position of Emigranten in the Election of 1852: A Documentary Article," by Harold M. Tolo; "The Editorial Policy of Skandinaven, 1900-1903," by Agnes M. Larson; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, IV," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield; "Fort Thompson in the Eighties: A Communication.'' Price $2.00

VOLUME IX. Northfield, Minnesota, 1936. 181 p. "Immigration and Puritanism," by Marcus L. Hansen; "Svein Nilsson, Pioneer Norwegian-American Historian," by D. G. Ristad; "The Sugar Creek Settlement in Iowa," by H. F. Swansen; "Pioneer Town Building in the West: An America Letter Written by Frithjof Meidell at Springfield, Illinois, in 1855," translated with a foreword by Clarence A. Clausen; "A Typical Norwegian Settlement: Spring Grove, Minnesota," by Carlton C. Qualey; "Marcus Thrane in America: Some Unpublished Letters from 1880-1884," translated and edited by Waldemar Westergaard; "The Missouri Flood of 1881," by Halvor B. Hustvedt, translated by Katherine Hustvedt; "The Collection and Preservation of Sources," by Laurence M. Larson; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, V," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME X. Northfield, Minnesota, 1938. 202 p. "Language and Immigration," by Einar I. Haugen; "Two Early Norwegian Dramatic Societies in Chicago," by Napier Wilt and Henriette C. Koren Naeseth; "A School and Language Controversy in 1858: A Documentary Study," translated and edited by Arthur C. Paulson and Kenneth Bjørk; "A Newcomer Looks at American Colleges," translated and edited by Karen Larsen; "The Norwegian Quakers of Marshall County, Iowa," by H.F. Swansen; "The Main Factors in Rølvaag's Authorship," by Theodore Jorgenson; "Magnus Swenson, Inventor and Engineer," by Olaf Hougen; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, VI," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME XI. Northfield, Minnesota, 1940. 188 p. "A Doll's House on the Prairie: The First Ibsen Controversy in America," by Arthur C. Paulson and Kenneth Bjørk; "Scandinavian Students at Illinois State University," by Henry O. Evjen; "Stephen O. Himoe, Civil War Physician,'' by E. Biddle Heg; "A Pioneer Church Library," by H.F. Swansen; "Norwegian Emigration to America during the Nineteenth Century," by Ingrid Gaustad Semmingsen; "Jørgen Gjerdrum's Letters from America, 1874-75," by Carlton C. Qualey; "The Introduction of Domesticated Reindeer into Alaska," by Arthur S. Peterson; "The Unknown Rølvaag: Secretary in the Norwegian-American Historical Association," by Kenneth Bjørk; "The Sources of the Rølvaag Biography," by Nora O. Solum; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, VII," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME. XII. Northfield, Minnesota. 1941. 203 p. "Norwegian-American Surnames," by Marjorie M. Kimmerle; "Norwegian Folk Narrative in America," by Ella Valborg Rølvaag; "A Journey to America in the Fifties" by Clara Jacobson; "James Denoon Reymert and the Norwegian Press," by Martin L. Reymert; "Recollections of a Norwegian Pioneer in Texas," by Knudt Olson Hastvedt, translated and edited by C. A. Clausen; "Norwegian Clubs in Chicago," by Birger Osland; "Buslett's Editorship of Normannen from 1894 to 1896," by Evelyn Nilsen; "Ole Edvart Rølvaag," by John Heitmann; "Ole Evinrude and the Outboard Motor," by Kenneth Bjørk; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, VIII," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield. Price $2.00

VOLUME XIII. Northfield, Minnesota. 1943. 203 p. "Pioneers in Dakota Territory, 1879-89," edited by Henry H. Bakken; "An Official Report on Norwegian and Swedish Immigration, 1870," by A. Lewenhaupt, with a foreword by Theodore C. Blegen; "Memories from Little Iowa Parsonage,'' by Caroline Mathilde Koren Naeseth, translated and edited by Henriette C. K. Naeseth; "A Norwegian Schoolmaster Looks at America," an America letter translated and edited by C. A. Clausen; "A Singing Church," by Paul Maurice Glasoe; "A Norwegian Settlement in Missouri,'' by A. N. Rygg; "Carl G. Barth, 1860-1939: A Sketch," by Florence M. Manning; "Pioneering on the Pacific Coast," by John Storseth, with a foreword by Einar Haugen; "Materials in the National Archives relating to the Scandinavian Countries"; "The Norwegians in America,'' by Halvdan Koht; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, IX," compiled by Jacob Hodnefield; Notes and Documents: "Norway, Maine," by Halvdan Koht. Price $2.00

VOLUME XIV. Northfield, Minnesota, 1944. 264 p. "A Migration of Skills," by Kenneth Bjørk; "An Immigrant Exploration of the Middle West in 1839," a letter by Johannes Johansen and Søren Bache, translated by the Verdandi Study Club; "An Immigrant Shipload of 1840," by C. A. Clausen; "Behind the Scenes of Emigration: a Series of Letters from the 1840's," by Johan R. Reiersen, translated by Carl O. Paulson and the Verdandi Study Club, edited by Theodore C. Blegen; "The Ballad of Oleana: a Verse Translation," by Theodore C. Blegen; "Knud Langeland Pioneer Editor," by Arlow W. Andersen; "Memories from Perry Parsonage," by Clara Jacobson; "When America Called for Immigrants," by Halvdan Koht; "The Norwegian Lutheran Academies," by B. H. Narveson; "Pioneering on the Technical Front; a Story Told in America Letters," by Kenneth Bjørk; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, X," by Jacob Hodnefield; Notes and Documents: "Karel Hansen Toll," by A. N. Rygg. Price $2.00

VOLUME XV. Northfield, Minnesota, 1949. 238 p. "A Norwegian-American Pioneer Ballad," by Einar Haugen; "Our Vanguard; a Pioneer Play in Three Acts, with Prologue and Epilogue," by Aileen Berger Buetow; "An Immigrant's Advice on America: Some Letters of Søren Bache," translated and edited by C. A. Clausen; "Lincoln and the Union: a Study of the Editorials of Emigranten and Faedrelandet," by Arlow W. Andersen; "Thorstein Veblen and St. Olaf College: a group of Letters by Thorbjørn N. Mohn," edited by Kenneth Bjork; "Kristian Prestgard: an Appreciation," by Henriette C. K. Naeseth; "Julius B. Baumann: a Biographical Sketch," by John Heitmann; "Erik L. Petersen," by Jacob Hodnefield; "Scandinavia, Wisconsin," by Alfred O. Erickson; "Some Recent Publications relating to Norwegian-American History, XI," by Jacob Hodnefield; Notes and Documents: "Norway, Maine," by Walter W. Wright. Price $2.00

TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION SERIES

VOLUME I. Ole Rynning's True Account of America. Translated and edited by Theodore C. Blegen. Minneapolis, 1926. 100 p. Contains historical introduction; original text of Rynning's book about America as published in Norway in 1858; and a complete English translation. Price $1.00

VOLUME II. Peter Testman's Account of His Experiences in North America. Translated and edited by Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1927. 60 p. Contains historical introduction; facsimile of Testman's account of America as published in Norway in 1889; and a complete English translation. Price $1.00

VOLUME III. America in the Forties: The Letters of Ole Munch Ræder. Translated and edited by Gunnar J. Malmin. Published for the Norwegian-American Historical Association by the University of Minnesota Press, 1929 244 p. Contains a series of informal travel letters written in 1847 and 1848 by Ole Munch Ræder, a Norwegian scholar, who was sent by his government to America to make a study of the jury system. These letters, describing his experiences and recording his observations, were given contemporary publication in Den norske rigstidende, a newspaper of Christiania, Norway, and are now brought together in an English translation under the supplied title, "America in the Forties." Price, paper, $2.00; cloth, $2.50

VOLUME IV. Frontier Parsonage: The Letters of Olaus Fredrik Duus, Norwegian Pastor in Wisconsin, 1855-1858. Translated by the Verdandi Study Club of Minneapolis and edited by Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1947. 120 p. Contains introduction and five chapters: From a Frontier Parsonage; America Is Not Norway; Wilderness Church; Panic and Hard Times; A New Field. Price $2.50

SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS

Norwegian Sailors on the Great Lakes: A Study in the History of American Inland Transportation. By Knut Gjerset. Northfield, Minnesota, 1928. 211 p. Contains eight chapters: Introduction; Early Conditions and Some Norwegian Pioneer Sailors and Captains in Lake Michigan Ports; Shipowners and Shipbuilders; The Ascendancy of Sailing Vessels; A Period of Transition; Duluth and Superior; Lake Captains in the Period of the Ascendancy of Sailing Vessels and Later; Lake Captains in Active Service. Price $2.50

Norwegian Migration to America, 1825-1860. By Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1931. 413 p. Contains sixteen chapters: Introduction; The Genesis of the Movement; The Beginning of Western Settlement; Ole Rynning and the "America Book "; The Spread of Western Settlement; Rising Emigration and Westward Expansion; Emigration Causes and Controversy; Southern Colonization and the Western Settlements; Early "America Letters"; The Norwegian Government and the Early Emigration; "America Books" and Frontier Social and Economic Conditions; Emigrant Gold-Seekers; Oleana: A Colonization Project in Pennsylvania; Emigrant Songs and Poems; Currents and Cross Currents of the Fifties; On the Eve of the Civil War; and an appendix: "Sloop Folk" Problems. Price $3.50

Norwegian Sailors in American Waters: A Study in the History of Maritime Activity on the Eastern Seaboard. By Knut Gjerset. Northfield, Minnesota, 1933. 271 p. Contains twelve chapters: Early Traders and Voyagers; Norse Discoveries in the West; The Era of National and Maritime Decline; The Period of the White Sails; Norwegian Sailors in the Steamship Era; Norwegian-American Yachting Sailors; Fisheries and Fishermen; Norwegian Pilots, Ship Chandlers, Shipbuilders, and Ship Brokers; Life and Labor at Sea: Andrew Furuseth and the Seamen's Act of 1915; Religious and Social Work among Norwegian Seamen in America; Norwegian Seamen in the United States Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard Service; General Observations. Price $2.50

The Civil War Letters of Colonel Hans Christian Heg. Edited by Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1936. 260 p. Contains a biographical essay by the editor and six chapters: From Madison to Island No. 10; In Camp and on the March; From Iuka to Perryville; The Battle of Murfreesboro; Camp Life near Murfreesboro; The Chickamauga Campaign. Price $2.50

Laur. Larsen: Pioneer College President. By Karen Larsen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1936. 358 p. Contains seventeen chapters: Family and Childhood; Kristiania Days; A Pioneer Parsonage; The Frontier Missionary; Called to New Work; Professor at Concordia College; Luther College Born in Storm and Stress; Building the College; Formative Years after the War; With Friends and Family; A Leader in the Church; From Latin School to Liberal Arts College; As the Students Saw Him; The Home in the Old College; The College President of the Nineties; A Norwegian-American; Finishing His Work; and a bibliographical note. Price $3.00

The Changing West and Other Essays. By Laurence M. Larson. Northfield, Minnesota, 1937. 180 p. Contains eight essays: The Changing West; The Norwegian Element in the Field of American Scholarship; The Convention Riot at Benson Grove, Iowa, in 1876; Teller Grundysen and the Beginnings of Norwegian-American Fiction; The Norwegian Element in the Northwest; Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen; "Skandinaven, Professor Anderson, and the Yankee School "; The Lay Preacher in Pioneer Times. Price $2.50

Norwegian Settlement in the United States. By Carlton C. Qualey. Northfield, Minnesota, 1938. 285 p. Contains nine chapters: Migration Factors; The Sloopers Go West; Pioneering Wisconsin; On into Iowa; "A Glorious New Scandinavia "; The Giants' Country; North Dakota and Beyond; Michigan; Islands; and an appendix and a bibliography. Price $3.00

The Log Book of a Young Immigrant. By Laurence M. Larson. Northfield, Minnesota, 1939. 318 p. The narrative presented in this volume is the story of an American immigrant, born in Norway, who came to the United States as a boy, knew pioneer life on the Iowa prairies, and rose through his own efforts to become a distinguished scholar and author, the head of the history department in a great university, and the president of the American Historical Association. Price $8.00

Norwegian Migration to America: The American Transition. By Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minnesota, 1940. 655 p. Contains eighteen chapters: From Old World to New; Frontier Ordeal; Language and Immigrant Transition; The Religious Impulse and the American Churches; The Emerging Church; Aspects of Everyday Life; Pioneer Folkways; The Immigrant and the Common School; Launching an Immigrant Press; The Press and Immigrant Life; New World Sailors; Canadian Interlude; The Era of the Civil War; The Slavery Controversy and the Church; People in Dispersion; Changing Frontiers; The Problem of Higher Education; Frontiers of Culture; and an appendix: John Quincy Adams and the Sloop "Restoration.'' Price $3.50

A Long Pull from Stavanger: the Reminiscences of a Norwegian Immigrant. By Birger Osland. Northfield, Minnesota, 1945. 263 p. Contains twenty chapters: A Youth in Norway; We Emigrate to Chicago; Working for Wacker; Norwegian Clubs in Chicago; The Norwegian National League; The Organization of the Norwegian America Line; American Shareholders; The Norwegian America Line and the World War; Differences and Resignations; An Assignment Abroad; An American Military Attaché at Work; Germans, Russians, and Others; Christiania in Time of War; Norwegian Charitable Organizations in Chicago; A Century of Progress Exposition; The Norwegians and the Fair; The Norwegian-American Historical Association; The Tenth Anniversary of the Historical Association; A Royal Visit; Back after Fifty Years. Price $2.50

Saga in Steel and Concrete: Norwegian Engineers in America. By Kenneth Bjork. Northfield, Minnesota, 1947. 504 p. Contains fourteen chapters: A Migration of Skills; Pioneering the Technical Fronts; A Philadelphia Story; Spanning America's Rivers; A Revolution in Tunneling; Building to the Skies; Men in Metallurgy; Putting Science into Production; Of Power, Paper, and Ships; Engineers and Engineering; Machines--Their Makers and Masters; Architects, Scholars, and Chemists; The Engineers Organize; Toward a Social Philosophy. Price $4.00

A SUGGESTION

A permanent endowment fund for the Norwegian-American Historical Association is being built up to insure the carrying on of the work that has been started. It is imperative that this fund should be increased generously and it is hoped that in not a few instances gifts and bequests will be made to the association for this purpose. The treasurer has suggested the following form of bequest:

Being in sympathy with the movement to preserve the records and make public the historical facts pertaining to the Norwegian-American people, I hereby give and bequeath unto the Norwegian-American Historical Association, incorporated under the laws of Minnesota, the sum of ............................... dollars, to be paid in due course of the administration of my estate.

Signed .......................................