Norwegians in America

NORWEGIANS IN AMERICA AND PERCEPTIONS OF BELONGING C. 1840–1870 Henrik Olav Mathiesen MASTER’S THESIS History DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CONSERVATION AND HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2015 Title: Norwegians in America and Perceptions of Belonging, c. 1840–1870 Thesis submitted for master’ degree in history, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo Copyright: Henrik Olav Mathiesen, 2015 Print: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo ii Acknowledgments In letter after letter, emigrants writing home to Norway explained that in America, one “cannot expect any harvest from the land until one year has passed, and not enough until the end of the second year.” Yet one need not even leave Blindern in order to appreciate the meaning of these words. Unlike so many pioneers, immigrants and scholars, I have not made the trip across the Atlantic. The work of Theodore C. Blegen, Orm Øverland, and Steinar Kjærheim and many, many others to gather, transcribe and translate such letters have made it possible for me to rummage some eight hundred America letters, both in Oslo and in London. Moreover, Google Books, Bokhylla.no, Hathi Trust, and the Internet Archive are incredible tools, and so is the National Library of Norway’s website “the Promise of America”: together they give access to most of the main sources for the history of Norwegian migration to America. Offline, the Norwegian- American collection of the National Library is an entire library of itself. But while I appreciate that microfilmed versions of all the major Norwegian American newspapers have been procured by the National Library, I nonetheless blame twenty volumes of poorly photographed antebellum weeklies, all set in black-letter typeface, for my eventual need of having to procure glasses. There are many persons who took an interest in my project, and gave of their time. Dr Joanna Cohen and Dr Daniel Peart at Queen Mary, University of London supervised the undergraduate dissertation which is the foundation of this thesis. Dina Tolfsby, former research librarian at the National Library of Norway, advised me on sources at various stages of my research. Editor Bruce Baker and two anonymous reviewers of American Nineteenth Century History provided essential criticism, helping me hone my initial argument. Håvard Brede Aven, Erik Tobias Taube, Christine Mathiesen, and Henrik Melsom read parts of or the complete manuscript and provided valuable feedback, as well as comforting words. My greatest debt, however, is to my thesis advisor, Professor Odd Arvid Storsveen, whose sparkling conversation is as memorable as it is instructive, and whose wealth of knowledge extends far beyond the fields of history. During the first year I was researching this topic, Professor of Modern French History Julian Jackson took a few of his students to Paris for a couple of days, and chance had it that there was an extra spot. What a trip. And, on a late autumn afternoon last year, Sindre Holbek finally managed to drag me away from my desk and onto the football field, with the consequence that I, iii despite a four-year long career as junior footballer, finally scored my first goal. My fellow students at the reading rooms of IAKH, my “partners in crime” on the editorial boards of Fortid and Historikeren, and the historians who in various ways contribute to make history such an interesting pursuit have all ensured that my studies have been a continous source of enjoyment. In the meantime, my family has kindly tolerated my absence – and the soporific monologues accompanying my occasional presence. For all these peoples’ friendliness, lenience, and moral support, I am grateful. And few are so lucky to have their own Willy Wonka in their family. Chocolate makes everything bearable, and I have enjoyed unlimited access. As two students of belonging cited in this dissertation observe, having a few close friends “may make a world of difference to the person’s health and happiness.” And indeed. Thanks to Leo for teaching me how to write letters of my own, and not simply letting me spend my time reading the mail of others long gone. Thanks to Peter for using beer as an excuse to engage in conversations about art, philosophy, and The Big Lebowski – variations on a theme. Thanks to Miriam for sharing cups of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and what the world in general has to offer, and for all those moments when, failing to get on with my work, I instead enjoyed the best company there is. And of course, thanks most of all to Maja, my very own Norwegian American, for tolerating all those random facts of superannuated character at one o’clock in the morning. iv CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS III A NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS VII ILLUSTRATIONS VIII INTRODUCTION 1 THE TOPIC OF INVESTIGATION 1 THE STATE OF THE FIELD: NORWEGIAN IMMIGRANTS AND BELONGING 2 CASE OR EXCEPTION? STUDYING GENERAL QUESTIONS OF MIGRATION IN SPECIFIC GROUPS 6 THE MANY WAYS TO BELONG: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES 7 TRACING PAST MENTALITIES: SOURCES AND METHODS 10 OUTLINE OF THE ARGUMENT 13 1. MIGRATION, HOME, AND BELONGING: COMMUNICATING EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES 15 DIVIDED HEARTS, OR DIVIDED OPINIONS? INTERPRETING THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE 16 THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF BELONGING 20 THE PROBLEMS OF READING EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES FROM LETTERS 26 EMOTIONS AND THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF CORRESPONDENCE 29 NORMATIVE DESCRIPTIONS OF HOMESICKNESS: ESTABLISHING AN EMOTIONAL COMMUNITY 34 CONCLUSION 41 2. THE POSSIBILITIES OF BELONGING: IMMIGRANTS AND COLONIZATION 42 BECOMING SETTLERS: THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 43 EARLY PERCEPTIONS OF AMERICA AS A COLONIAL SPACE 45 THE CONTINGENT ASPECTS OF IMMIGRANTS’ SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA 48 IMMIGRANT SETTLERS AND COLONIZING VISIONS 52 DE-EXCEPTIONALIZING THE AMERICAN WEST 54 UNIVERSALIZING THE PROMISED LAND: CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON COLONIZATION 57 THE LAW OF THE LAND: IMMIGRANTS AND STRATEGIES FOR LAND ACQUISITION 61 IMMIGRANT SETTLERS AND THE CIVIL WAR 62 v IMMIGRANT SETTLERS AND FRONTIER THREATS 65 IMMIGRANT SETTLERS AND THE DISPLACEMENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 67 EMERGING NARRATIVES OF SETTLER BELONGING 72 CONCLUSION 78 3. THE LIMITS OF BELONGING: NORWEGIAN IMMIGRANTS AND THE AMERICAN NATION 80 AMERICAN NATIONALISM AND IMMIGRANT IDENTITIES 81 CALLING NAMES: LABELS OF ETHNICITY 84 LABELING THE INDIGENOUS 91 NATIVISTS AND NORWEGIANS: THE KNOW NOTHINGS 93 CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTIONS OF CULTURAL CHANGE 100 CONCLUSION 107 4. HOMEMAKING MYTHS AND THE PLURALIST ALTERNATIVE 109 EARLY HISTORICAL INTEREST 109 TERRITORIALIZING “HOME” 110 SECOND GENERATION NORWEGIANS AND THE IMMIGRANT CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICA 113 THE PLURALISTIC PRESENT AND THE MONOGENETIC FUTURE 115 GERMANIC ORIGINS AND THE PLURALISTIC PAST 117 CONCLUSION 119 CONCLUDING REMARKS 120 BIBLIOGRAPHY 125 APPENDIX 141 vi A note on abbreviations and translations FATN 1 – Fra Amerika til Norge. Edited by Orm Øverland and Steinar Kjærheim. Vol. 1, Norske utvandrerbrev 1838–1857. Oslo: Solum, 1992. FATN 2 – Fra Amerika til Norge. Edited by Orm Øverland and Steinar Kjærheim. Vol. 2, Norske utvandrerbrev 1858–1868 (med et tillegg av brev 1836–1857). Oslo: Solum, 1992. FATN (trans.) – From America to Norway: Norwegian-American Immigrant Letters, 1838– 1914. Edited and translated by Orm Øverland. Vol. 1, 1838–1870. Northfield, Minnesota: NAHA, 2012. LTC – Theodore C. Blegen, ed. Land of Their Choice: The Immigrants Write Home. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955. NAHA – Norwegian American Historical Association NAS – Norwegian-American Studies NASR – Norwegian-American Studies and Records SR – Studies and Records The sources, many of which are included in the appendix, have been transcribed verbatim, complete with typographical mistakes. I have not inserted [sic] or the like. All citations from newspapers and the letters of FATN 1 and 2 have been translated by me, unless otherwise indicated. Where other sources have been translated, it is indicated. Where possible, I have cited from the translated versions of letters and other sources, but where I have found the translation wanting, or alternatively if no translated version was available, I have included the original text in the footnotes. For quotations longer than four lines, or otherwise considered relevant for the reader, however, see the appendix, as indicated. vii Illustrations Figure 1: Andreas Larsen Dahl (photographer), Norwegian Family with Possessions, Madison, Wisconsin, ca. 1870–1879. WHI-1972. Wisconsin Historical Society. Page 22. Figure 2: “A Wisconsin farmer’s house ten years ago.” Billed-Magazin, 40, September 4, 1869. Page 74. Figure 3: “The same farmer’s house at present.” Billed-Magazin, 40, September 4, 1869. Page 74. viii INTRODUCTION Norwegian emigrants quickly established their own newspapers in America. Of these, it was Emigranten [the Emigrant] which arose to a hegemonic position in the Norwegian Midwestern community during the 1850s. Already in its fourth issue Emigranten began printing a translated history of the United States. The Norsemen have always treasured their own history, and were still doing so after having emigrated to America, the editor remarked introductorily. While celebrating their national history was to be encouraged, he reminded his countrymen that “we should not forget that America, for now and for the future, is even more ours and our children’s fatherland […] Therefore it must be our duty, as it is to our own advantage, that we embrace this country with the greatest amount of love and involvement.”1 The topic of investigation From the start, Norwegian immigrants readily admitted to having “adopted” a “new fatherland” when they wrote letters home to Norway. It is also well established that Norwegian immigrants, like all other immigrant groups of the nineteenth century, have adapted and found themselves at home in America. 2 And as Orm Øverland has shown, in the late nineteenth century all immigrant groups would eventually engage in a process of mythmaking to demonstrate for Anglo-Americans that they too had a place in American history and American society – that they belonged in America.3 But the creation of homemaking myths did not necessarily reflect how immigrants perceived themselves to belong in America.

Load more