ARNE : His work bridges two cultures S D D O D D I V A D Y B O T O H P

by David Dodds their agricultural way of life. Brekke, cally if they could speak English to the now 85, a former University of North - tourists. he of Arne Brekke’s youth Dakota (UND) languages scholar and From 1920 to 1940, a 13-mile rail - Tis the one of postcards and travel longtime Grand Forks, North Dakota, way was constructed through the Flåm guides. businessman, and his family were no Valley. It wasn’t long before railcars It’s the iconic representation of Scan - different. would be bringing as many as 650,000 dinavia: lush green agrarian valleys Travel promotion is in Brekke’s tourists a year. Eventually, a new high - lorded over by snow-capped peaks blood, and for more than 50 years he’s way between Oslo and added a feeding ancient streams and rivers that made a living at it. He’s the founder of million more by car. flow into the world-famous fjords, Brekke Tours & Travel, a successful Cruise ships started packing the forming a mirrored reflection of Grand Forks-based business that spun tight coastal inlets to the point that Mother Nature’s terrestrial masterpiece off his UND scholarly work on lan - many more had to be turned away for above. guages and Scandinavian place names lack of room, Brekke says. This was the view from Brekke’s as well as the strong connections he’s homeland doorstep in the Flåm Parish maintained in his native Norway. Love of language Valley, in the present-day municipality Brekke didn’t set out to be one of the In addition to being a good host and of by the famous “Sogne world’s most prolific and successful tour guide for these world visitors, young Fjord,” the world’s longest and deepest. operators. The tracks along that path Brekke had a knack for languages. For generations, Flåm Parish has were laid, figuratively and literally, be - Today, he rattles off German, Swedish, been a fertile land for farmers and fami - fore he was born, with the construction French and Icelandic as languages he’s lies that lived off the land. But once the of the Oslo-Bergen Railway across the able to communicate in effectively. secret of its beauty escaped, and once high mountain range in western Nor - As a boy during the Nazi occupation the Norwegian government made ac - way. A construction road was built of Norway, he was called “young profes - cess to the region easier with new high - through the Flåm Valley to supply ma - sor” by German foot soldiers in need of ways and railways to and from terials for the railroad, and when the his translation help, Brekke recalled. population centers such as Bergen and railway was finished in 1909, the road The exposure to so many foreign Oslo, the rest of the world started com - continued to be used by tourists by tongues from tourists and others al - ing en masse. horse and buggy on their way to the fa - lowed him to practice and hone his gift, And the folks of Flåm have obliged mous fjord country. especially when it came to English. He visiting throngs by building hotels and During this period, the farmers of speaks affectionately and appreciatively offering tourist facilities to supplement the region did much better economi - of an aunt who hailed from England and who gave him his first formal tute - “heritage tours” to and from Norway. secure copies of all known Norwegian lage in the English language. In a career that spans 57 years, bygdebøker. At last count, the collection “That English helped me so much Brekke estimates that he’s chartered to numbered about 1,340*. “We are getting later in life,” Brekke said. Norway more than 200,000 tourists— closer to having a complete collection With a solid background in English, many seeking their ancestral roots— of all bygdebøker in one building,” he Brekke headed abroad to pursue his ed - and countless others to other points says. “That is truly amazing!” ucational goals in the heart of America around the globe. He has also helped a and the epicenter of Scandinavian im - large number of Norwegians to visit Culture bridge migrant culture. He landed at Luther America. Brekke said the next goal, working College in Decorah, Iowa, in 1949. Offi - Since 1956, Brekke says there’s only with Special Collections archivists, is to cials there were so impressed with been one year that he was unable to re - make the entire list of bygdebøker avail - Brekke’s proficiency in English that they turn to Norway at least once, though in able online**. Library staff have created worked out an arrangement to provide some years he’s made five or six trips. a website (library.und.edu/special- him free room and board. In 1977, Brekke received the St. Olav collections/bygdebok) for people to find He would go on to receive his bache - Medal from Norway for his work to fos - information about the individual publi - lor’s degree in English from Luther Col - ter relationships between people of cations in the collection. The website is lege and a master’s degree in English Norwegian descent and their ancestral used by people throughout North from the University of Colorado in homeland. America and also by researchers in 1952. He did graduate work at Cornell Norway. University and returned to Luther Col - The collection Brekke still communicates nearly lege in 1954 to become head of the Nor - Brekke’s desire to foster these rela - daily with friends and colleagues in wegian Department there for three tionships extends beyond his travel Norway, pounding out letters in Nor - years. agency to another of his great passions. wegian. Sometimes it’s to request more It was during his stay at Luther Col - In 1980, Brekke began spearheading bygdebøker; other times, it’s simply to lege that Brekke organized his first es - a project to greatly bolster the Norwe - keep in touch. Whatever the reason, corted tour of Europe as a way to fund a gian genealogical research materials of Brekke explains the true value of his ac - return visit to his homeland. Brekke the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of tivities is that it enables him to keep up said this arrangement was the “very Special Collections within UND’s to date with the Norwegian language, modest” beginning of what would be - Chester Fritz Library. At the time, Spe - which, like all living languages, is ever- come his travel business later in life. cial Collections had only two sets of evolving. Brekke got his Ph.D. from the Uni - “bygdebøker,” compiled histories of ge - It also allows him to keep doing versity of Chicago in 1962, becoming nealogical, cultural and geogaphical in - what he does best—bridging cultures, an expert in comparative Germanic and formation about local areas. something he’s been doing his entire Indo-European languages and place So with the acumen of a scholar, life. “It has been a great ride so far, and name research. Again, he found himself Brekke began penning letters in his na - it’s been so much fun.” sought after by others: “I was able to in - tive Norwegian to representatives of terpret names that other people couldn’t Norway’s nearly 450 municipalities. Editor’s note: This article first ap - interpret,” he said. With each letter, he requested dona - peared in UND Discovery magazine’s tions of bygdebøker. Autumn 2012 edition. We are reprint - Birth of a business “Within a year, we had secured ing it here with permission; the au - To finance his studies, Brekke main - about 200 more volumes, and we had thor is editor of that magazine. tained his role as tour operator, leading about 600 in three years,” Brekke said. summer tours throughout Europe. He used his chartered trips to Nor - *As of May 2014, that number has Brekke joined the UND faculty in way to promote the bygdebøker project, grown to 1,457. It is expected to surpass 1962, teaching primarily German and often garnering attention through Nor - the milestone of 1,500 volumes later this Norwegian classes. That same year, wegian media that took part in the year. Brekke connected with a Sons of Nor - trips, and as a way to transport the sets **See article on next pages for update. way lodge in North Dakota and worked back to Grand Forks. out a deal to organize charter flights to In recognition of his contributions, Norway for the lodges. the Chester Fritz Library named the “That’s when the numbers started Bygdebok Collection in honor of Arne becoming very large for us,” said in 2010. And thanks to Arne and his Brekke, describing a burgeoning travel daughter, Dr. Karen Hoelzer, the Arne business model. His success in this ven - G. Brekke Endowment was started to ture directly led to the formation of his fund ongoing support for the collection business: Brekke Tours & Travel, a full- and its activities. service travel agency specializing in Brekke continues to do his part to Scan Gen NUMBER 6 IN A SERIES R E F R O T S I N I W N N A O J Y B O T O H P UND collection brings gift of family history to world

by Jo Ann Winistorfer G. Brekke Bygdebok Collection.” way. Unique among countries, Norway Several stacks of bygdebøker laid out has compiled and published farm and e arrive at Chester Fritz Library on a table catch Arne’s eye. “We’ve been family histories since the last century, a Won the University of North Dak- expecting these books, and what a coin - project that continues. ota (UND) Campus in Grand Forks, cidence that they have arrived today, in What makes these books such valu - North Dakota, promptly at 1 p.m. time for your visit,” he says. able tools for those seeking their Nor - Our guide is Dr. Arne Brekke, owner Despite his age (he’s 87), he’s as ex - wegian roots is that they often contain of Brekke Tours & Travel and the Grand cited as a little kid at Christmas. He sits histories of farms and names of those Forks guru of a Norwegian phenome - down at the table and thumbs through living there through the ages. Some of non known as bygdebøker. We (Arne, one of the just-arrived volumes. the history dates back a thousand years, writer Larrie Wanberg and I) ride the “Do you realize the magnitude of when the farms were first established. elevator to the fourth floor—the “pent - this collection?” he tells us. “It’s one of house,” Arne jokes, exiting at the Elwyn the largest accumulations of bygde - Crash course on bygdebøker B. Robinson Department of Special bøker in the world, even bigger than We’re joined by Michael Swanson, Collections. those in Norway!” assistant archivist and primary contact Arne ushers us into a room full of In fact, researchers in Norway refer of the bygdebøker department. He’s also bookcases containing many hundreds to the UND collection website for in - president of the Minnkota Genealogical of volumes, arranged in sets of several formation, he says. They have no col - Society. on up to a dozen or more. Each set rep - lection this complete in their country. According to Michael, the bygde - resents a specific area of Norway. A bygdebok (pronounced big-da- bøker are usually listed according to the A photo of Arne hangs on one wall, book, plural bygdebøker) is a history of name of the kommune (community), with a heading proclaiming, “The Arne a bygd (region or community) in Nor - the administrative divisions within each placement of the three extra Norwegian letters—Æ (æ), Å (å or aa) and Ø (ø)—at the tail end of the alphabet. While Michael adds information when each new set of bygdebøker come in, he and Arne both credit Will Mar - tin, web services librarian (who is also a

R linguist), for designing the site. E F R O

T Linguistics plays a role S I

N Trying to find whether a bygdebok I

W exists for the areas of your Norwegian N N

A ancestors involves some homework. O

J And that’s where Arne’s skills as a Y

B linguist and an expert in comparative O

T Germanic and Indo-European lan - O

H guages come into play. A special inter - P Arne points out the bygdebøker for the community of Luster in og Fjordane est of Arne’s is finding the original fylke (green books above his hand) as being the “most professionally done.” meanings of place names. While historians and others may use “folk entymology” to reconstruct the fylke (district or province). areas as well. The map can be zoomed meanings, Arne stresses that “linguis - Michael explains that bygdebøker to view more details. tics” are needed to ferret out the true are grouped into three categories: Clicking on one of the communities meaning. That may entail going back to • General —a general history of the listed at the right takes you to a graph some of the earliest sources to interpret area. Typically organized into chapters showing all the bygdebøker available for it correctly. “You need to check the ear - by time period and/or by topic, these that community—and to another liest spellings, the earliest documents,” books may include short sections of in - smaller map with finer details of the he says. terest to genealogists such as the early area, including individual farms. Arne points to the nine volumes for development of the farms, descriptions A click on “Alphabetical” under the the kommune of Luster, in Sogn og of local customs, and perhaps special word “Places” in the guide yields a long Fjordane fylke. These bygdebøker are listings of individuals or emigrants. list of communities and parishes (or “the most professionally done,” he says. • Farms —histories of the main sokns/sogns) covered by the bygdebøker. Unlike any others, they include sum - farms in an area. These books usually This list also helps one to understand the maries in English. Luster is located include information on farm owners and their families—the most useful type of bygdebøker to genealogists. • People —typically, name indexes by David Dodds representing those living in an area. Usually in the form of alphabetical list - ings, sometimes the names are arranged into family units or pedigree charts. Michael boots up a computer in the corner and takes us on a tour of the website: library.und.edu/specialcollec - tions/bygdebok. G

The first thing to pop up is the home R E

page, which contains a digital map of B N Norway. Clicking on the fylke of inter - A W E est on the map (or listed under “leg - I R R

end),” takes you to a more detailed map A L

showing communities in that region. Y B

On the right-hand side is a listing of O T

all the communities in that fylke that O H are featured in bygdebøker housed in P the UND collection. Corresponding Michael Swanson (right), assistant archivist, and I listen as Arne proudly proclaims blue pins on the map point out those the UND bygdebøker to be “among the largest such collections in the world.” along the , fed by meltwaters the immigrant’s origin. from Jotunheimen and the Jostedals - Not all Norwegian families kept the breen glaciers. farm name. When North American What was the meaning of the mu - laws at the turn of the last century nicipality word Luster in Sogn? “Norsk forced them to choose a stable sur - stadnamnleksikon,” the official lexicon name—one that didn’t change with of Norwegian place names, edited by each generation, some Norwegians Jørn Sandnes and Ola Stemshaug in dropped the farm name and chose the 1976, suggests the meaning as “the patronymic (ending in -son or -sen); R E

warm fjord, the mild fjord or the quiet others chose the farm name. F R fjord,” in comparison to the neighbor - Names were also Anglicized, further O T S ing Årdal Fjord. distorting the Norwegian name. And to I N I

However, Arne came up with a new further complicate things, the Norse al - W N interpretation by applying the science phabet has three additional letters not N A

of comparative linguistics—and the sci - found in English that fall at the end in O J ence of glaciology. Derived from the an alphabetical listing in Norse. Thus a Y B

Latin lustro/lustrare, which means “to kommune such as Ådal (also spelled O T O

make bright, illumine,” it refers to the Aadal) would be found after the “z,” not H P reflection of light in suspended particles at the beginning of the alphabet. Arne points out that many of the bygde - of sand, silt and clay in water, carried by The name of the farms have not bøker contain pictures of Norwegian glacial water into the Luster Fjord! changed since ancient times. However, farms along with their histories. the same farm name may be found in What’s in a name? multiple fylker (plural of fylke), so it’s Speaking of place names, often the important to establish the parish or of the business. last name of searchers with Norwegian community in which the farm is located. Brekke Tours’ secret weapon is Jean roots can yield clues as to the place of Brekke Tours has extensive informa - Marthaler, a genealogist from St. origin of their ancestors. tion on all aspects of Norway: the loca - Joseph, Minnesota. For a fee of $75, When Norwegians immigrated to tion of all farms; detailed information Brekke’s will arrange for her to do re - North America, most carried with them on the 448 municipalities; current in - search. The firm can then make any de - three names: their given name (exam - formation on persons employed in the sired travel arrangements. ple: Knut), patronymic name (Teman - communities (mayors and cultural di - If requested, Jean also makes contact son, meaning “son of Teman”), and rectors), and access to the latest ge - with the searcher’s relatives in Norway. farm name (Størodden, meaning “from nealogical information. And, if possible, Brekke Tours guides a farm called Størodden”). In many cases, Brekke Tours can them to the home farm. Not all places When Knut moved to another farm help Norwegian-Americans find their are readily accessible during tours. (let’s say Gravli), he would be identified places of origin in Norway. And when Some can only be reached by boat or by the name of the new farm, thus be - they do, “These people want to go there helicopter, but Brekke’s has organized coming Knut Temanson Gravli. The to see where their families came from,” such “off-the-beaten-path” tours before. farm name thus points to the place of he says. That benefits the tourism side Arne tells this story: “A guy in

UND website: library.und.edu/special-collections/bygdebok Clicking on the fylke (in this case, Nordland) on the main map (far left) takes you to a map with blue pins indicating communities in that fylke with bygdebøker. A click on one of the pins (or on the listing of kommuner to its right) whisks you to a graph showing bygdebøker available for that area—in this example, Sømna in Nordland. Chicago lost contact with his family in Norway and Minnesota. He meets a guy Do your homework first! in Wisconsin who asked him, ‘Have you tried Brekke Tours in North Dakota?’ ” Key to finding the bygdebøker that may contain information on one’s family The man did just that! Jean is determining the area one’s ancestors came from in Norway. Marthaler’s research determined there That may involve checking for records such as birth, marriage and death were three brothers who emigrated certificates, church records, U.S. and Canadian censuses, county or province from Norway originally. A fourth histories and old newspapers, or asking older relatives. brother came later with his wife and Websites such as the Digital Archives of Norway (digitalarkivet.uib. no) nine kids. The Chicagoan was de - provide free access to searchable databases and images of primary records, scended from the latter group. helpful tools for tracing one’s Norwegian roots. “I then connected them to family Another important resource is the bygdelag (pronounced big-da-log ), an or - and took them to Flåm,” Arne says. It ganization comprised of people whose ancestors originated from a particular turned out the man was a shirt-tail rela - district in Norway and immigrated to North America. tive of Arne’s! For example, the bygdelag covering the three northern districts of Nord - land, Troms and Finnmark in Norway is called Nordlandslaget. This group will How to access bygdebøker be holding its annual stevne (meeting) in Grand Forks on June 24-26. When you establish the correct For more information on bygdelag (plural bygdelagene ), visit the Norwe - bygdebøker for your family’s history gian-American Bygdelagenes Fellesraad" (NABF) site. NABF is the national and find the title, author, call number council for the 29 (currently active) affiliated Norwegian-American bygdela - and type of book (general, farm or peo - gene. Each lag has a genealogist who can be contacted for genealogical infor - ple), how can you access the book? mation. For details, log on to www.fellesraad.com. First, you can contact Michael Swan - son with your request. He can then ei - ther photocopy or scan information when it comes to the genealogy informa - the books are donated for free; others from the book dealing with your family. tion they provide. Plus, not all commu - may be purchased at a discount. Still Why hasn’t the UND Library nities published such books. And since others are paid for in full. scanned these books in their entirety so these are secondary sources, they can researchers can download them? Copy - contain errors. Despite this, these are Giving thanks right restrictions prevent that. “Even among the most valuable of Norway’s Arne gives credit to all those who the Family History Library in Salt Lake resources for finding family history. have helped to make the collection a re - City, Utah, is trying to get permission ality. Among them is the University of to digitize these books,” Michael says. Funds readily available North Dakota. “Without their help, we But thus far, this hasn’t happened. New bygdebøker continue to be couldn’t have done it,” he says. A few bygdebøker can be down - published across Norway. Some of these Many of those he has led on tours loaded from other websites. To learn are completely new books, while others through Norway have also donated to which ones are online, do a “google” update and correct information pro - the cause. Area businesses have con - search for “bygdebøker online.” vided in previous editions. tributed as well. And help from Norway Another source for bygdebøker is in - Arne continues to keep close tabs on has been invaluable. terlibrary loan. While no library has the any new printings, and to solicit miss - Arne himself has gleaned honors as collection that UND has amassed, some ing volumes or books not yet in the col - a result of this project. In October 2011, have other bygdebøker in their archives. lection. The goal for the immediate the North Dakota Library Association And some loan out their books. future is 1,500 books—as of this writ - presented Arne with its Major Benefac - To find out if such a book is available ing, the collection is 43 books short of tor Award. He was nominated by UND for the area of your ancestors, talk to hitting this mark. When that milestone Library Director Wilbur Stolt for being your local librarian, who can check to number is reached later this year, Arne the “driving force behind the growth of see if a particular bygdebok can be ob - will send out news releases proclaiming the Library’s Norwegian Bygdebok Col - tained through interlibrary loan. When the fact. Arne will celebrate the accom - lection.” it arrives, you can browse through the pllishment at his lake home near Park Arne beams with pride over his “ba - bygdebok before returning it. Rapids, Minnesota, one of his “hubs of bies,” the bygdebøker that march across The fact that UND does not lend its heritage” (the other two, he says, are the shelves surrounding us. Instead of bygdebøker benefits those who visit the Brekke Tours and the UND Library). passing out cigars, he dishes out praise. library in person: They can be as sured Arne has deposited funds in Norwe - “This is a collection of world fame, the books they need to research are there gian kroner in a bank in Norway, which of global reach,” Arne says. “People and not out on interlibrary loan! can be transferred electronically for have called us from Norway to Aus - Researchers should keep in mind purchase and shipment of books to the tralia. They say, ‘There’s nothing any - that not every area’s books are equal UND Bygdebok Collection. Some of where in the world like this.’ ”