americaletter SUMMER 2019 | A BENEFIT OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE MUSEUM OF DANISH AMERICA A decidedly food-centric edition CONTENTS 05 Denver Meeting 10 Nordic Colorado State Capitol Building Tour Capitol Building Colorado State Gastronomy 20 Exhibits & Events 22 Family Cookbooks 04 Directors Corner 26 Archival Collections 34 Purple on the Prairie 07 Present & Past 27 Kirkegaard Trust 35 Danish Meatballs Interns Gift 19 Collection 28 Friends Old & New Connection ON THE COVER America Letter Culinary innovation in the Nordic countries Summer 2019, No. 2 has led to worldwide admiration and Published three times annually by the Museum of Danish America inspiration. Read about it on pages 10-18. 2212 Washington Street, Elk Horn, Iowa 51531 Photo: Claes Bech Poulsen 712.764.7001 | www.danishmuseum.org 2 MUSEUM OF DANISH AMERICA staff & interns Interim Director & Building & Grounds Genealogy Assistant Albert Ravenholt Manager Wanda Sornson, M.S. Curator of Danish- Tim Fredericksen E: wanda.sornson American Culture E: tim.fredericksen Tova Brandt, M.A. Executive Director E: tova.brandt Curator of Collections & Emeritus Registrar John Mark Nielsen, Ph.D. Administrative Manager Angela Stanford, M.A. E: johnmark.nielsen Terri Johnson E: angela.stanford E: terri.johnson WEEKEND STAFF Archival Collections Rochelle Bruns Development Manager Manager Jan Greving Deb Christensen Larsen Cheyenne Jansdatter, Beth Rasmussen E: deb.larsen M.L.I.S. Rodger Rasmussen E: cjansdatter Communications Interns Specialist, America Design Store Manager Hannah Bernhard Letter Editor Nan Dreher Kristine Bruun Nicky Christensen E: nan.dreher Emily Cannon E: nicky.christensen Kiara Rodriguez Administrative Assistant Accounting Manager Terri Amaral Jennifer Winters E: terri.amaral E: jennifer.winters Who’s missing? You may note the omission of Genealogy To contact staff, use Center Manager Kara McKeever from this list. At the beginning the prefix shown after E:, of July, Kara left her post at the helm of the genealogy followed by department to embark on a new career as an editor in Kansas @danishmuseum.org City. We wish her the best and will miss her deeply! WHY “AMERICA LETTER?” Letters that were written by immigrants to family and friends back in Denmark are called “America letters” by historians. These letters are often given credit for influencing people to come to America because they were full of details of how good life was here. We call our magazine America Letter because we also want to tell the good news about the museum and encourage people to join us! AMERICA LETTER 3 director’s corner Vær så god! In this America Letter we serve and plated meals. And food with the modern world and people up a tasty exploration of food is something so universal, so seek to balance the best of both. traditions and trends from the everyday, that most of us don’t It’s a story that invites everyone Nordic region. Our new exhibition, think about it very much. We all to participate in thinking about New Nordic Cuisine, is open, and have our own preferences and food and values – you don’t have we are excited to share it with tastes, but rarely do we consider to have ancestors from Denmark our visitors in Elk Horn and with why we eat what we eat. or other Nordic countries. It’s communities across the United a conversation taking place in But food is important to culture, States. many platforms, whether in our to heritage, to economics, to exhibit galleries, on our YouTube A museum exhibition about food health, to the environment, and “Nordic Cuisine” channel, on the is not an obvious topic. After all, to our own personal identities. food blogs that contributed to this we usually don’t allow food or Sharing food is a global symbol project, or in the cookbooks that beverages in museum galleries of hospitality. The phrases preserve food lore for posterity. as part of our effort to maintain associated with food are the bits clean spaces for artworks and of language most likely to linger, With this edition of the America artifacts. And food is usually even after generations: “vaer sa Letter, we invite you to savor not something that can be god,” “mange tak,” “tak for mad.” the traditional flavors and global displayed in its original form; it influences that make their way New Nordic Cuisine takes a look will either be eaten or go rotten. to your table. Enjoy them, invite at the values we express when we In our exhibit we are using a others to taste, and share the make our daily decisions about combination of photographs, stories with your family and what to eat. It’s a contemporary video, faux food, and even carved community. wood to represent different food story where traditions intersect Tak for mad! By Tova Brandt 4 MUSEUM OF DANISH AMERICA 01 EXECUTIVE MEMBERS President Beth Bro-Roof, Cedar Rapids, IA Vice President Peder Hansen, Omaha, NE Secretary Carolyn Larson, St. Paul, MN Treasurer Karen Suchomel, West Branch, IA BOARD MEMBERS Anders Sand, Kansas City, MO board of directors Bente Ellis, San Jose, CA Carl Steffensen, Houston, TX Carol Bassoni, Gilroy, CA Carol Svendsen, Denver, CO meeting Connie Hanson, Glendora, CA Craig Molgaard, Little Rock, AR The June meeting was held David Esbeck, San Diego, CA JUNE 13-15, 2019 in Denver, currently home to David Hendee, Northfield, MN DENVER, CO three members of our board of Eric Olesen, Racine, WI directors: Gerry Henningsen, Gerry Henningsen, Monument, CO Carol Svendsen, and Pete West. Glenn Henriksen, Armstrong, IA Our days were spent taking care Karen Nielsen, Overland Park, KS of museum business and of Lars Matthiesen, Edmonds, WA course, ended with hygge. Marnie Jensen, Nebraska City, NE Merlyn Knudsen, Elk Horn, IA Former board member Cindy Peter West, Denver, CO Larsen Adams and husband, Randy Ruggaard, Hudson, OH Gary, invited the group to Toni McLeod, Mesa, AZ their home in Littleton for an enjoyable dinner one evening, EX-OFFICIO with the beautiful Rockies as the Dennis Larson, Decorah, IA backdrop. Our reception for the John Mark Nielsen, Blair, NE Danish-American community was Kai Nyby, LaPorte, IN well attended by many museum Nils Jensen, Portland, OR 01. Reception We greatly enjoyed By Terri Johnson hosting members from the Denver area at the SpringHill Suites on Friday. AMERICA LETTER 5 02 members, and we also had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to some new fans! Six new board members were 03 elected to serve and will officially begin their terms after the annual meeting in Elk Horn this October: Dennis Gray (North Carolina), Dan Jensen (Ohio), Elly Jorgensen (Kansas), Chris Kofoed (Iowa), Merlyn Knudsen (Iowa), and Mike Nielsen (Iowa). Current members elected to a second, three-year term are Marnie Jensen (Nebraska), Karen Nielsen (Kansas), Anders Sand (Missouri), and Carol Svendsen (Colorado). A special thank you to Carol Svendsen for her many ideas, suggestions, and contacts in the Denver area, which helped make this another interesting and successful board meeting. 02. Director & President 03. Dannebrog Tova Brandt and The reelected Anders Beth Bro Roof Sand proudly waves during the full board Dannebrog at a park meeting. Photo: luncheon. Photo: 6 MUSEUM OF DANISH AMERICA David Hendee. David Hendee. new interns 01. Kiara Rodriguez Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park Intern 02. Hannah Bernhard Collections I am a Nebraska native and Assistant student at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. This I started as a collections intern 01 December, I will graduate with at the museum on June 3. I’m a bachelor’s in environmental originally from north-central Iowa science with a concentration in and grew up in a farming family life sciences. I have focused most near Algona. I attended Loras of my courses in prairie ecology College in Dubuque, graduating in and wish to continue to seek out May with a degree in History and opportunities in the field of prairie Business Administration and a restoration and management. minor in International Studies and Rhetoric & Public Writing. I started my internship on May 6 and will be working for the My interest in public history museum until the middle of grew throughout my education August. During my internship I will after doing internships in fields be in charge of site monitoring, like historical preservation, invasive species control, archives, and museum studies. progression documentation, I’m very excited to learn more entry garden maintenance, and about museum work, Denmark, solidifying my plant identification and the Museum of Danish 02 skills. I am also learning about America during the next six different aspects of prairie months! I’ll be working with fellow restoration including working with intern Emily on the photograph contractors and nurseries. collection. I love seeing the variety of “snapshots” from other times This opportunity is an amazing and places! way to understand the field in a hands-on manner. I am very Thanks to all the folks at the excited to be working here and museum, its supporters and am grateful to Peter Ørum and visitors, and my internship Midwest Groundcovers for sponsors: the Danish Club of making it all possible. Tucson! BLOG Our interns share their experiences at https://danishmuseuminterns.tumblr.com/ AMERICA LETTER 7 where are they now? WE ALWAYS ENJOY HEARING FROM FORMER INTERNS. HERE, WE SHARE UPDATES FROM 10-YEAR ALUMNAE OF THE MUSEUM’S VITALLY IMPORTANT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM. Carla (Clark) Mackey Former Collections Assistant I had just graduated from Dana temp at Nelnet in Lincoln, NE College when I started the doing inventory for the Firstmark internship at the museum. I was Services Department for private figuring out what I wanted to do student loans. From there I was with my life and thought that this hired permanently, and nine years internship would help me decide if later I find myself still at Nelnet.