The Hyphenated Norwegian
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
VESTERHEIM IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE: THE HYPHENATED NORWEGIAN- AMERICAN AND REGIONAL IDENTITY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, 1890-1950 By HANS-PETTER GRAV A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of History MAY 2018 © Copyright by HANS-PETTER GRAV, 2018 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by HANS-PETTER GRAV, 2018 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of HANS-PETTER GRAV find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. LAURIE MERCIER, Ph.D., Chair ROBERT BAUMAN, Ph.D. JEFFREY SANDERS, Ph.D. LUZ MARIA GORDILLO, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has been many years in the making. It all began in 2004 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Chandra Manning, Gina Hames, Carlton Benson, and Beth Kraig instilled in me a desire to pursue history as a profession. I completed a second major in history during the course of one academic year, and I do not believe I could have done it that quickly without the encouragement of Chuck Nelson and David Gerry at the Office of International Student Services. Important during my time at PLU was also the support of Helen Rogers, a close friend and an experienced history major. While my interest in Norwegian Americans’ relationship with Norway and Norwegian culture began during my time at PLU, it was during my years pursuing a Master’s degree at Montana State University in Bozeman that this project began to take shape. I remain indebted to Robert Campbell, Billy Smith, and Brett Walker, in particular, for the guidance and wisdom received, but the lessons learned from Timothy LeCain, Michelle Maskiell, Mary Murphy, Michael Reidy and Robert Rydell are not forgotten. Jim Meyer, we never worked in the same history field, but the conversations we had off campus still inspire me. In my years at Washington State University, one name stands out. Without the tireless guidance, timely encouragement, and friendly nudging, from Laurie Mercier, this dissertation would never have been finished. Jeff Sanders and Bob Bauman, my coursework with you helped provide direction for this dissertation. Luz Maria Gordillo, you challenged me to think more critically about gender. In addition to the members of my committee, many more deserve my gratitude. Ken Anderson, Linda Campbell, Annette Bradstreet, Ginny Taylor and Jamie Hankins are only some of the university staff to whom I remain indebted. iii In my archival research, I have received invaluable help from many archivists. Conversations with archival staff and chance encounters sometimes led my work in fruitful new directions. Gary Lundell of the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections and Scott Daniels of the Oregon Historical Society deserve special mention. Kerstin Ringdahl of the Pacific Lutheran University Archives & Special Collections, and Brad Richardson of the Clark County Historical Museum, also offered valuable help. Amy Boxrud, Gary De Krey, and Jeff Sauve, I still remember fondly the three weeks I spent with the Norwegian-American Historical Association at St. Olaf College. Odd Lovoll, befriending you made my Northfield stay in the summer of 2015 particularly memorable. You made my stay both fruitful and enjoyable. One of the chapters of this dissertation is entirely the result of a chance encounter. In January 2015, I spent a weekend cross-country skiing near Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor. I had stopped for a break near a lunch-spot ski cabin when Tim Gibbons overheard my Norwegian accent. In the conversation that ensued, I learned about the Scandinavian immigrant history of Pacific Northwest skiing, and about Gibbons’ and Tor Hanson’s work as co-curators on the then upcoming Deschutes Historical Museum ski exhibit “Winter Comes.” Gibbons also put me in touch with Dave Moffett, John Lundin, and Kirby Gilbert of the Washington Ski and Snowboard Museum who provided ideas for the development of my chapter on Norwegian ski culture in Oregon and Washington. Finally, the many student peers who have crossed my path on two campuses of Washington State University were invaluable in my own maturation as a graduate student and in the development of this dissertation project. I owe my thanks to many, but Andrea Hetley has remained a particularly steady friend throughout the entirety of my WSU program. Aaron iv Whelchel, I never knew you while you were a graduate student, but you have been an indispensable resource as a colleague and also a good friend. May the force be with you, and live long and prosper! Last but not least, Angelique Harding, your constant support and unwavering belief in me, the ways you challenged me to think, and our talks on a treadmill or yoga mat, kept me on track toward the finish line. v VESTERHEIM IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE: THE HYPHENATED NORWEGIAN- AMERICAN AND REGIONAL IDENTITY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, 1890-1950 Abstract by Hans-Petter Grav, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2018 Chair: Laurie Mercier Norwegian-American migrants to the Pacific Northwest built a cohesive ethnic community there from the 1890s that persisted through World War II. They were drawn to the Pacific Northwest by its geographic resemblance to Norway, and its extraction industries, such as logging and fishing, that were familiar to them. The place in terms of its geography, soil conditions, climate, and resources, fed into local Norwegian-American constructions of the Pacific Northwest as a transplanted, new Norway. This ethnic environmentalism reflected the ways that constructed memories of Norwegian geography and the Norwegian past helped define the group’s ethnicity, but it also represented one aspect of the case they made for belonging in America, and the Pacific Northwest. The geography and resources of the Pacific Northwest figured into Pacific Northwest identity construction for the region’s population across ethnic lines. Hence, for Norwegian migrants, the Pacific Northwest as place could be used to assert both one’s Norwegianness as well as one’s Americanness as an Oregonian or Washingtonian. Additionally, winter recreation, winter sports, and the promotion of strenuous exercise in the great outdoors represented a vi Norwegian cultural transplant that helped shape regional identity and regional symbols. Simultaneously, Pacific Northwest Norwegians’ constructions of race figured into the evolving Norwegian-American identity. As Protestant Nordics they benefited from white privilege. They understood themselves as Norwegians of unquestionable American citizenship, and asserted their capacity for self-government in response to the racialized and gendered construction of American citizenship. When their loyalty occasionally came into question, it simply presented an opportunity to trumpet their perceived racial superiority. Ethnicity consistently came to expression through celebration. Every year, from 1890 to 1950 (and in fact up to the present day), local Pacific Northwest Norwegians descended upon Seattle’s Seventeenth of May celebration in commemoration of Norway’s Constitution Day. While the celebration’s format varied from year to year, ebbed and flowed with nationalist waves from Norway and the United States along with internal forces of disunity within the ethnicity itself, it proved a remarkably persistent vehicle in which the community showcased its unity, coherence and strength to both the younger generations and other Americans. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER PROLOGUE ........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: ALMOST NORWAY: NORWEGIAN MIGRANTS AND THE PROMISE OF A NEW SCANDINAVIA IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST..........................................................................................16 CHAPTER TWO: “GOOD AMERICANS BORN OF A GOOD PEOPLE:” RACE, WHITENESS, AND NATIONALISM AMONG NORWEGIAN AMERICANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST............................................................61 CHAPTER THREE: IMAGINING, REMEMBERING, AND NARRATING NORWAY: SEATTLE’S CELEBRATION OF THE NORWEGIAN CONSTITUTION DAY, 1890-1950 ...............................................................................119 CHAPTER FOUR: THE MULTORPOREAN BIRDMEN AND THE SLAT-RIDERS OF THE 1930S......................................................................................156 CHAPTER FIVE: MARIE VOGNILD LUND, DORTHEA DAHL AND AUGUST WERNER: THE ART OF NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL CREATION...............................................................................................217 EPILOGUE......................................................................................................................264 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................277 viii Dedication For Angelique ix PROLOGUE On May 23, 2015, I found myself among scores of excited parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and an unusual amount of press, as I attended Pacific Lutheran University’s commencement ceremony in Tacoma, Washington. King Harald V of Norway had accepted the invitation to give the commencement