Norway
to America: A History of the Migrationby
Ingrid Semmingsen Semmingsen,
former professor of
American history at the University of Oslo and international expert on
the topic of Scandinavian immigration, has written the definitive
study of emigration from the Norwegian perspective. Translated by
Einar Haugen and first published in 1978 by the University of
Minnesota Press, the book has been recently reissued. The book tells
the story of the migration, from 1815 to 1915, as it affected both
Norway and the United States.
IM
- 8
Paperback $16.95
The
Red River Trails: Oxcart Routes between St. Paul and the Selkirk
Settlement,
1820-1870 by Rhoda R. Gilman, Carolyn Gilman, and Deborah M.
Stultz
If
you heard stories about your grandfather taking the oxcart to St. Cloud
for supplies and being gone for two weeks, this book, recently
re-issued
by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, is for you. It traces the
paths
running through Minnesota, North Dakota and Canada that were used as
international
trade routes for furs and merchandise between St. Paul in the south and
the settlement that was to become Winnipeg in the north. Supplemented
with
maps, sketches, a full index and reference notes, the book is divided
into
chapters featuring six main trails: Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota
Valley,
Woods, Middle and Metropolitan.
"At
the risk of sounding like a full-blown geek, this is about to become my
favorite book. Maps for the Middle Trail even show my little hometown,
right there, two weeks from St. Cloud...a trip that takes about an hour
and a half today!" Suzann
Nelson
G - 01
Paperback $14.95
Between Rocks and Hard Places by Ann Urness Gesme
Now in its fourth printing, it has a beautiful new cover that reflects
the beauty of Norway and does justice to Gesme's thorough
research. Quite a few books cover the lives of Scandinavian
immigrants in the United States. Between Rocks and Hard Places
is one of the few books written for the non-Norwegian reader that looks
at daily life in Norway before mass emigration. Gesme fully
explains the "push factors:" the conditions, customs and traditions in
the early 1800s that drove so many people from their homeland into the
unknown. It is perhaps the most comprehensive book on this topic
designed for the English reader.
G - 05 Paperback
Price: $13.95
Norwegians in Minnesota
by Jon Gjerde & Carlton C. Qualey
Foreword by Bill
Holm
The
farming communities and Lutheran churches formed by Norwegian
immigrants
to Minnesota have been widely documented. Less frequently written about
is their urban legacy; trades, industry, art and culture. This book, a
part of the Minnesota Historical Society's "People of Minnesota
Series",**
goes a long way in filling that gap. IM -
1 Paperback $13.95
Swedes in Minnesota
by Anne Gillespie Lewis
Foreword by Bill Holm
Swedes
in Minnesota
is the newest addition to The
People of Minnesota
series**. Anne Gillespie
Lewis recounts the story of the Swedish
migration to Minnesota through census reports and settlement patterns,
but also through cultural institutions that the Swedish settlers
founded: churches, schools, lodges, Swedish-language newspapers,
businesses, neighborhoods and associations. But, this book also tells
the story of people through their anecdotes and letters, and
through interviews with the immigrants themselves and their
descendants.
IM
- 3 Paperback $13.95
Norwegians in Wisconsin by
Richard J. Fapso
This
perennially popular book, now revised and expanded with
additional historical photos and documents (including selected letters
of Ole Munch Ræder), offers a concise introduction to Wisconsin's
Norwegian immigrants. The narrative examines the mass migration of
Norwegians from 1837, when Ole Nattestad became the first Norwegian
settler in Wisconsin, to the late nineteenth century, when Norwegian
immigration largely came to a close. This chronicle of Wisconsin's
early Norwegian immigrants is part of the Wisconsin Historical
Society's Ethnic Series.
IM
- 6 Paperback $9.95
Swedes in Wisconsin
by Frederick Hale
This
informative book looks at the reasons Swedes left for the New
World, their arduous journeys to North American soil, and their
establishment of communities in Wisconsin. New to this edition are the
selected letters of Swedish novelist and feminist Frederika Bremer,
who visited Wisconsin in 1850. This volume about Wisconsin's early
Swedish immigrants is part of the Wisconsin Historical Society's
Ethnic Series.
Bold
Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence
Hunt One copy
available now; new shipment should be available Dec. 14
The Vikings, Roald Amundson, Fridtjof
Nansen, Thor Heyerdal ...Norwegians whose names evoke a spirit of
exploration and adventure. Add a new name, Helga Estby.
Helga went through many of the
hardships experienced by Scandinavian immigrants — adventurers in their
own right — but Helga went a few steps more, 3500 miles more . . . on
foot.
Born in Oslo, Helga came to
America with her mother and step-father at the age of eleven settling
in New York. At a young age Helga gave birth to Clara, married
and moved to Minnesota. She eventually bore nine children, had a
difficult life on the prairie, and moved with her family to the state
of Washington in time for the 1893 depression.
Lured by an offer from a
mysterious sponsor, Helga was promised $10,000 — money which could
prevent foreclosure and save the family homestead — if she
could walk to New York City. Helga and her daughter Clara
left Spokane in April 1896. During the journey they faced
extreme temperatures, hunger, exposure and even shot a man in
self-defense, but they also met with mayors, governors and other
important people, including President-elect McKinley. They arrived in
New York City on Christmas Eve, 1896. What followed was an
American tragedy. You'll have to read the book to get the rest of
the story.
Bold Spirit was written by Linda
Lawrence Hunt, Associate Professor of English at Whitworth College in
Spokane, who researched Helga's life and journey for her Ph.D.
dissertation.
I -
44
Paperback $16.95
Historical
Novels
Grass of the Earth by
Aagot Raaen
First
written in the early 50s, this book has been republished by popular
demand.
One isn't sure where nonfiction leaves off and fiction begins, but my
brother-in-law
in the Northwood, North Dakota area recognizes the names and places
described.
The book recounts the settling of the Red River Valley from the late
1880s.
I
- 03 Paperback $15.95
Sigrid Nilsdatter's Family
by Maxine Shulstad This
wonderful new book is more than a family history. It traces 200
years
of Maxine's ancestor's lives, loves, trials and victories.
Contains
family photos and other treasures, including Sigrid's trunk.
I
- 38 Paperback $18.95
The Emigrants by Johan Bojer
This
is the Norwegian version of emigration to homesteads in North Dakota.
Written
in 1925 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian emigration, the
book was, and perhaps still is, required reading in "Grad School."
I
- 08 Paperback $12.95
The
Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
Considered
one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg
chronicled
the joys and tragedies of Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson's lives
as early Swedish pioneers in America. First published between
1949
and 1959 in Swedish, the four books were considered a single work by
Moberg,
who intended that they be read as documentary novels. Book 1 introduces
Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their three young children, and eleven
others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty,
religious
persecution, and social oppression of Småland in 1850.
I
- 09-1 Paperback $17.95
each
The
Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
2 opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York
City.
Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by
riverboat,
steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chisago County.
I
- 09-2 Paperback $17.95
each
Unto
a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
3 focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new
homeland
and struggle to survive on their new farm.
I
- 09-3 Paperback $17.95
each
The
Last Letter Home by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
4 portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of the Civil War and
Dakota
Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota's growing
Swedish
community of the 1860s-90s.
I
- 09-4 Paperback $17.95
each
Ole
Edvart Rølvaag
Ole E.
Rølvaag immigrated to the U. S. in 1896 from
Dønne, an island in
the North Atlantic, where his ancestors had
been fishermen and seafaring people for
generations. Rølvaag, too, was a fisherman for several years as
part of the
family operation.
However,
at the age of 20 — after little formal education — he emigrated to South Dakota to work on his uncle's
farm and
attend AugustanaCollege. He next attended St.OlafCollege where he received his BA
degree,
and returned to Norway studying for a year at
the University of Olso.
Returning
to America in 1906, Rølvaag
joined the faculty
of St. Olaf's College. Two years later became a U.S. citizen. During his
teaching years
he began chronicling the lives of Norwegian immigrants.
His
works have been described as realistic portrayals of Norwegian settlers
on the
Dakota prairies, but also called "grimly pessimistic." Unlike many
writers of immigrant novels, Rølvaag's focus was not only on the
hardships of
farming and adjusting to a new country and a new language, but also on
the
clash of cultures and the loss one's values.
Of his
many books — all written in his native language — most of his works
have been
translated into English and several in other languages.
Rølvaag is most
famous for his epic trilogy that was considered by the Nation magazine
as
"the fullest, finest and most powerful novel that has been written
about
pioneer life in America." Giants in the
Earth is the most famous of all of Rølvaag's novels.
Giants in the Earth byOle Rølvaag
Subtitled
"The Saga of the Prairie," Rølvaag's award-winning Giants
in the
Earth, was written in 1927. This classic about the lives of Per and
Berit Hansa
describes the hardships common to settlers from hunger to severe
weather issues
to grasshopper plagues and finally to Berit's insanity.
PF - 01 $14.95
Peder Victorious
by Ole
Rølvaag
Written
in 1929, Peder Victorious, subtitled "A Tale of the Pioneers Twenty
Years
Later," is the second book in this trilogy and brings the immigrants
into
the twentieth century. For Rølvaag's second generation
of
"vikings of the prairie," the
battle against the land has been won, but they are faced with a second
struggle
— to adapt and become Americans.
PF - 02 $19.95
Their Fathers' God
by Ole
Rølvaag
Their
Fathers' God, the final book in the trilogy, was written in 1931, and
the
emphasis is on intense and dramatic projections of the Minnesota and Dakota prairies and
the whole
westward movement in America.
Against
a backdrop of hard times and mixed feelings brought on by the Populist
and anti-monopolist movements occurring in America,
Rølvaag's characters
must now deal with social and business schemers and ruthless
competition in the
midst of scarcity. The immediate issue facing the family now is typical
of yet
another struggle facing many families at that time as they tried to
deal with
the drought and the Great Depression — religious faith, skepticism
about it, or
a lack of it.
PF - 03 $19.95
The Boat of Longing
by Ole
Rølvaag (Not part of the Trilogy)
This
novel, written in 1921, was intended to be the first book in
Rølvaag's trilogy.
It follows some of the same themes Rølvaag used in his other
books (a young
fisherman leaving Norway to seek his fortune in America and the human
cost of
moving to a new land) along with themes of hardships used by many
authors of
immigration stories: the long and unpleasant voyage, aching
homesickness,
fierce elements of nature, and the difficulties of trying to succeed in
a new
country — especially when one doesn't understand the language or
culture.
However,
unlike Rølvaag's other works, this story takes place in an urban
setting (Minneapolis, and more specifically
the area
Minnesotans refer to as "Snooze Boulevard") where temptations
abound,
and the struggles differ from those on the prairie. When this
book became
available in English in 1933, it received wide praise from literary
critics in America. The Christian Science Monitor
referred to it as "a poem rather than a novel," and felt the book
contained "sustained beauty of expression." Of all his novels, The
Boat of Longing was Rølvaag's favorite.
PF - 04 $13.95
Cutbank
Girl by Erling Rolfsrud
Immigrant
homesteaders speak only Norwegian causing interesting situations.
Writings about children's games, escapades, school and work.
R
1- 03 Paperback $8.95
Petticoat
Pioneer by Erling Rolfsrud
A
novel inspired by Rolfrud's immigrant mother. Fiction based upon
experiences of single women and widows who homesteaded, often beginning
in sod huts.
R 1- 04 $10.95
Order
by using the 'Place an
Order' form or you may order by
phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'
Norway
to America: A History of the Migration
by
Ingrid Semmingsen 
The
Red River Trails: Oxcart Routes between St. Paul and the Selkirk
Settlement,
1820-1870 by Rhoda R. Gilman, Carolyn Gilman, and Deborah M.
Stultz 
Norwegians in Minnesota
by Jon Gjerde & Carlton C. Qualey
Swedes in Minnesota
by Anne Gillespie Lewis 
Norwegians in Wisconsin
Swedes in Wisconsin
Grass of the Earth by
Aagot Raaen
Sigrid Nilsdatter's Family
by Maxine Shulstad This
wonderful new book is more than a family history. It traces 200
years
of Maxine's ancestor's lives, loves, trials and victories.
Contains
family photos and other treasures, including Sigrid's trunk.
The Emigrants by Johan Bojer
The
Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
The
Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
Giants in the Earth by 
Peder Victorious
Their Fathers' God
The Boat of Longing
