From the Archives
    by Beulah Folkedahl (Volume 24: Page 278)

In the AMERICAN RELIEF FOR NORWAY Papers are to be found the corporate records, as well as materials concerning the collection and distribution of funds, food, and clothing.

Johannes Halverson, Bjug A. Harstad, and Johannes Tingelstad are among the correspondents found in the papers of ANDERS T. BERG, Sunburg, Minnesota, 1888—1894.

The BRUFLAT ACADEMY AND BUSINESS INSTITUTE Papers include a typescript history of the school by Theodore Gilbertson, one of its graduates.

ANNIE OLSON BRUSTUEN’S typescript, "Pioneer Memories," is a collection of anecdotes from early days in Hegbert Township, Swift County, Minnesota.

Among OLAF A. BU’s Papers are America letters from Ostrander, Minnesota. Bu was a Lutheran pastor there, 1875—1908.

A manuscript by JOHN BUU GULLECKSON gives a description of his journey from Norway to Liberty Prairie, Wisconsin, 1857.

The CLAUS L. CLAUSEN Papers include his emigration diary. A manuscript by T. H. DAHL, Stoughton, Wisconsin, 1883, is a report concerning Lutheran congregations in Stoughton, Whitewater, Madison, Primrose, Blanchardville, and Argyle.

The papers of ARTHUR EIDE are made up of the articles, correspondence, and clippings of a teacher, author, and lecturer among the Eskimos. [279]

The JOHN ELLINGSEN Papers, those of a farmer and mason in Platte, South Dakota, deal with local church life, the snowstorm of 1888, the hard times of the 1890’s, and World War I.

Church, farm, family, health, and patriotism are the subjects considered in the articles and correspondence of EVAN I. EVANSON, a Portland, North Dakota, and Stanwood, Washington, farmer.

PETER O. FLOAN'S typescript article of sixteen pages contains names of early settlers in Goodhue County, Minnesota, and anecdotes concerning methods of acquiring land and establishing churches and schools.

In his travelogue entitled "Alaska," JENS H. FORSHAUG, gold miner and reindeer inspector, comments on life in the North.

The GALE COLLEGE Papers contain a history of the school, 1854—1940, by Arthur F. Giere.

The LARS O. GRONDAHL Papers include his thirty-page typescript autobiography written for the American Institute of Physics.

PETRA HAGEN’S diary as a St. Olaf College student contains comments on the academic and social life at the school.

The CARL G. O. HANSEN Papers deal with the activities of Norwegian-American singing societies, the cultural life of Norwegian Americans, the study of Norwegian, and related subjects.

A volume of typewritten articles and letters by BJUG HARSTAD gives detailed reports of the route of travel and the problems of his expedition from Tacoma to the Yukon during the gold rush.

The MARTIN HEGLAND Papers include correspondence, history, and sermons related to WCAL, St. Olaf College radio station, of which he was director.

The GERTRUDE M. HILLEBOE Papers, about four thousand items, present information concerning the office of dean of women at St. Olaf College. Includes World War II letters.

The church academy, temperance, Hardangerlag, and pioneer life in Minnesota and Wisconsin are the topics discussed in the HANS S. HILLEBOE Papers.

"Brunn-Tytegraph-Chelin Chronicles" is the title of a collection of sketches about pioneer farm life in Muskego and Trempealeau Valley, Wisconsin, by NELLIE S. JOHNSON HOUKOM. [280]

A fifty-nine-page typescript of articles by O. B. IVERSON, surveyor, immigration commissioner, and legislator, contains information about natural resources, logging camps, and settlers in Washington.

A valuable source of pioneer church history is the Jefferson Prairie and Wiota (Wisconsin) and Long Prairie and Rock Run (Illinois) ministerial record book, 1844—1855.

Articles about the history of the Stanwood, Washington, area are among the items in the GUSTAV B. JOERGENSON Papers.

The E. KLAVENESS Papers, the work of a physician, writer, and lecturer, contain correspondence relative to South Dakota politics during the early decades of the twentieth century.

Correspondence, Civil War letters, diaries, clippings, and a biography comprise the papers of LEWIS A. LARSON. He was a Norwegian-born Methodist clergyman.

The CARL L. LOKKE Papers contain much of the source material for his book, Klondike Saga (1965). The collection also has considerable information about the Lars Gunderson family in the Middle West and on the west coast, as well as in Alaska.

Among the valuable items in the JOHN A. JOHNSON Papers are the Civil War letters of his brothers, Ole and Hans, and clippings and articles about the war by Ole, from the Milwaukee Sentinel. There are also Hans C. Heg letters, articles, and other correspondence with leaders in business, church, and state about education, temperance, slavery, agriculture, immigration, religion, tariff, and free silver.

The SIMON JOHNSON Papers consist of typescripts of Johnson’s poems, short stories, novels, and novelettes.

The EINAR JOSEPHSEN Papers contain letters by Theodore C. Blegen, Knut Gjerset, Birger Osland, Kristian Prestgard, and O. E. Rølvaag.

The activities of the Nordfjordlag, an early attempt to found Norwegian-American archives, and a series of anecdotes about church union are some of the topics presented in the R. G. MELAND Papers.

A typescript of an article that appeared in Decorah-Posten concerns Guldbrand Mellem, pioneer farmer, at Northwood, Iowa, who was considered the largest landowner in the state in the 1870’s. [281]

ELIAS MOLEE'S autobiography includes a chapter on his childhood days in Muskego, Wisconsin.

The manuscript of an article by OLE A. MYRVIK, a North Dakota farmer, comments on covered-wagon travel, landsharks, disease, schools, prices, and crops.

The NORA LODGE Papers consist of pamphlets, photographs, and nine record books. The Chicago society was organized in 1860.

Letters from St. Olaf College students and annotated bibliographies of Elling Eielsen and the Beaver Creek settlement in Illinois add value to the O. M. NORLIE Papers.

The NORSE-AMERICAN CENTENNIAL Papers give a detailed description of the management of the celebration in St. Paul, as well as data on observances in other cities.

The minutes, correspondence, and reports in the NORSKDANSKE PRESSEFORENING I AMERIKA Papers deal with such subjects as immigration, the correct usage of Norwegian, and the preservation of Norwegian culture.

The articles in the JACOB OLSON Papers give information about pioneer life in Bosque County, Texas, and refer to Cleng Peerson and the Civil War.

Original records in manuscript form, from 1848 to 1851, some of them written by Johan Gasmann, are among the PINE LAKE SCANDINAVIAN CONGREGATION Papers.

MATHILDE RASMUSSEN’S "A Brief History of the P. A. Rasmussen Family," a typescript in forty-five pages, includes material on parish and synod activities, as well as on life in the parsonage at Lisbon, Illinois.

The OLAF RAY Papers contain materials on his attendance, as the official representative of the Sons of Norway, at the millenary celebration of the Duchy of Normandy in 1911.

The D. G. RISTAD Papers, largely from the period 1920 to 1988, deal with such subjects as church union, Grundtvigianism, church-school problems, the Norwegian-American Museum, the Norwegian-American Historical Association, the Norwegian-American exhibit at the Century of Progress in Chicago, and the restoration of the Trondhjem Cathedral.

America and Civil War letters, 1850—1863, constitute the correspondence to KNUD O. RULLAND, of Coon Prairie, Wisconsin. [282]

Among the OLA J. SÆRVOLD Papers are manuscripts entitled "Prestehjemmenes plads i vort folkeliv" and "Kirken og det norske sprog i Amerika."

Twelve record books are included among the SCANDINAVIAN LUTHERAN SEAMEN’S MISSION Papers, San Francisco.

Two America letters, 1855—1867, from ASLAK N. SMELAND, Four Mile Prairie, Texas, describe geography, government, Indians, and life in the immigrant settlements.

The S. ENGELHART SØNNICHSEN Papers contain professional documents, correspondence, and blueprints by a Los Angeles architect.

In the YNGVAR SØNNICHSEN Papers are photographs of the paintings of this Seattle artist.

The CHRIS SOLUM Papers, which deal largely with Scandinavian American Fraternity and Sons of Norway matters, also include a copy of a letter by Hans C. Heg to James Denoon Reymert.

Issues of the Stavanger Mirror constitute the STAVANGER BOARDING SCHOOL Papers. The school was founded in Le Grand, Iowa, in 1890, by the Society of Friends.

The JACOB STEFFERUD Papers contain information regarding the Norwegian-America Line, Nordmanns-Forbundet, and Camp Little Norway in Ontario.

The OLAF B. STEPHENS (Hustvedt) Papers are those of a farmer, district school teacher, and book store proprietor. They consist largely of reminiscences from Wisconsin, Dakota, and Luther College.

One of the articles on NILS OTTO TANK is a typescript of twenty pages by Nels C. Lerdahl.

Both correspondence and articles are found in the T. G. THOMSEN Papers, giving anecdotal accounts of land claims, Indians, farm life, and schools in pioneer Aitkin County, Minnesota.

The ANDREW TOLLEFSON correspondence, 1881-1906, was written mainly from Montana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It deals with farm and ranch life and with the Norwegian-American colleges.

The record books of the Valley Grove Lutheran congregation [283] of Nerstrand, Minnesota, contain minutes for the years 1868--1916 and a history for the period from 1855 to 1920.

The ANDREW A. VEBLEN Papers consist of manuscript material for the Valdris Book (1920). They also include Smile, Ruste, and Thompson family genealogies, a description of a journey from Valdres to Whalen, Minnesota, and letters from Nils Brandt, Juul Dieserud, Nils Flaten, J. C. M. Hanson, and Ole Juul.

Articles, poems, and stories constitute the major portion of the MARTIN E. WALDELAND Papers.

Programs, reports, historical data, photographs, record books, and catalogues comprise the WILLMAR SEMINARY Papers.

Among the CLENG PEERSON Papers are photostats and transcripts of his letters, Texas warranty deeds, and documents dealing with emigration.

In the THEODORE JORGENSON Papers are diaries, also speeches given during World War II and during his campaign for United States senator in 1946. They also contain lectures on Henrik Ibsen and translations of Norwegian literary works.

Among the items in the OLE G. FELLAND Papers is an autobiography written in 1927-1935. Also included are letters from Oluf Glasøe, I. F. Grose, Otto C. O. Hjort, Olaf Mandt, Ole A. Mellby, Bernt J. Muus, J. A. Ottesen, and Johan W. Preus.