Immigration | Page 29

Painting of Washington Prairie Parsonage

Washington Prairie Parsonage (Herbjorn Gausta)

: “Washington Prairie Parsonage.” Oil-on-canvas painting by Herbjorn Gausta, c. 1880–1889. Used with the permission of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Decorah, Iowa.
Source: Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum

Ellefson Homestead

The homestead of the Ellefson family, immigrants from Norway, in Hendricks (Lincoln County), ca. 1880.

Spinning wheel used by Norwegian immigrants

Spinning wheel made in 1845 in Norway by Ole Johnson Helland, a fisherman. Ole and his wife, Anne Martha Olsdatter, immigrated to the United States in the 1870s and brought the wheel to Fillmore County, Minnesota. There, Ole's son, Henry O. Helland Ulven, met and married Betsey Pederson, daughter of Norwegian immigrants. The couple moved to Dakota Territory, settling in Clear Lake, South Dakota, where Betsey used the wheel for spinning her own yarn and knitting clothing for her family.

Norwegian immigrant's trunk

Wooden trunk with a domed lid made in Norway and brought to Minnesota in 1825. The trunk is painted with rosemaling inside and out and has wrought iron top and side bail handles, as well as side braces and lock plate. "Fidri, Knuds, Datter, Ldjen, Aar 1825" is painted on the front.

Girl in Norwegian costume

Girl in Norwegian costume, ca. 1930.

HOW NORWEGIANS HAVE SHAPED THE STATE

Norwegian Immigration to Minnesota

Driven to emigrate by overpopulation, unfulfilled nationalism, and a fractured economy, hundreds of thousands of Norwegians came to Minnesota between 1851 and 1920, making the Twin Cities the unofficial capital of Norwegian America. Internal religious and social conflicts shaped the group’s experience in its new home as much as Minnesota’s climate and geography.

Gausta, Herbjorn (1854–1924)

Herbjorn Nilsen Gausta, one of the first Norwegian American professional artists, gained critical acclaim during the late nineteenth century for creating images of landscapes, people, and daily Norwegian American life. He may be best known, however, for his religious work, which comprises over 400 rural church altar paintings.