Gifts from Norway

The Gifts from Norway

by Laurann Gilbertson

Vesterheim is pleased to join with institutions in Norway this year to honor museum pioneer and visionary Anders Sandvig. Sandvig founded Maihaugen Museum in Lillehammer, Norway, and influenced numerous other museums, including Vesterheim.1

Anders Sandvig was born 150 years ago, on May 11, 1862, on the Hustad farm in Fræna, Romsdal, Norway. He would have been a fisherman like his father, but suffered from seasickness. Instead he went to Kristiansund and apprenticed with a goldsmith. He became acquainted with the local dentist and decided to go into the emerging dental profession. He studied in Kristiansund, Oslo, and Berlin and then opened his own practice in Lillehammer in 1885.2

His practice served all of the Gudbrandsdal Valley. As he traveled, he developed an increasing appreciation for the rural culture, folk art, and architecture. He was concerned that the

material culture would disappear from the valley to Stockholm and that the old ways would be forgotten.3 Sandvig started his own collection of rural items in 1887 with the purchase of a wooden tankard from Lesja. The tankard was carved with images of the twelve Apostles and scenes from the Bible. His collection grew quickly and in 1894 he purchased his first building, a house from Skjåk, and moved it into his backyard.

Sandvig began a more systematic approach to collecting in order to have examples of different types of houses and the appropriate objects with which to furnish them. In 1901 Sandvig sold his collection (De Sandvigske Samlinger) to the Lillehammer town council. Maihaugen, a location on the hillside above Lillehammer, became the new home of De Sandvigske Samlinger and the name for the museum that opened to the public in 1904. Sandvig was director of Maihaugen until 1946.4

Postcard showing the interior of the “Norwegian House” inside the museum in Decorah. The furnishings were sent by De Sandvigske Samlinger in 1927 and put on display in 1933. Artist rendering by Charles Phillip Hexom. Vesterheim Archives.

The buildings at Maihaugen, now numbering more than 200, were collected to illustrate changes in architecture over time, the differences in farms from small to large, economic aspects of farming and fishing, and the rural communities in context near urban centers. Maihaugen was the first open-air museum in Europe with complete farmsteads and it remains one of the most comprehensive.

Sandvig was fascinated with handwork, so he collected and exhibited both special-occasion and ordinary objects that showed a range of techniques in construction and decoration. Acanthus carving, a specialty of Gudbrandsdal, is featured in the collection of folk art. Sandvig recreated the workshops of the tanner, silversmith, cooper, printer, painter, carpenter, violin maker, and many other skilled craftsmen important to small communities all over Norway.

Anders Sandvig’s systematic collection and preservation of rural architecture and material culture was the model for regional museums throughout Norway. His role in the history of Vesterheim was different, but nonetheless significant. Through Sandvig, 400 objects were sent as gifts from Norway to become the core of Vesterheim’s folk art collection.

The Museum in Decorah

The collection that makes up Vesterheim NorwegianAmerican Museum was begun at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, in 1877. In the early years, the college’s collection was an assortment of natural history specimens, ethnographic items brought back by Lutheran missionaries serving around the world, relics of historical events, mementos of important people, and reproductions of classical artworks. Several professors who felt that the memory of their immigrant parents should not be forgotten began to collect objects from the pioneer period and pushed for a plan to guide the direction and growth of the museum.5

That plan included collecting and preserving examples of Norwegian fine and domestic art, which had been brought by immigrant families, items that were made by immigrants and showed changing technology of manufacture, and literary works published by Norwegians in America. The Luther College Museum also had an architectural collection, though modest in size compared to Sandvig’s museum. A single building had been moved to the college campus in 1913 making the museum in Decorah the first institution in the United States to collect and preserve buildings by moving them to a museum setting.6

Dr. Knut Gjerset, professor of history and Norwegian language, served as curator from 1921 to 1936. Early in his tenure as curator, Gjerset wrote to Anders Sandvig and sent him a copy of a publication about the museum in Decorah.7 Sandvig was impressed with the young museum and quickly realized, he later wrote, that there was something that the Norwegian people could do “for our brothers and sisters on the other side of the sea.”8

At a museum meeting in Norway, late in 1924, Sandvig proposed the idea of a gift to “show gratitude to the emigrated Norwegian men and women.” He had expected that the gift of artifacts and reproductions from Norwegian museums would be easy to assemble, but found that his idea was met with resistance.9 Some people thought that there was no point in sending artifacts because the Norwegians in the United States were disappearing, assimilating into the American culture completely. Sandvig held his ground. “I am convinced that [a person born in Norway or with Norwegian parents] will appreciate to look at, and study the objects his ancestors used in daily life.”10

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and everyday objects to serve as examples of technical skill and artistry in woodcarving, weaving, embroidery, rosemaling, and silversmithing.

Butter box with lid (smørøsje) from Bråtådalen, Skjåk, Gudbrandsdal.

Vesterheim LC1547—Gift of De Sandvigske Samlinger (Maihaugen).

Anders Sandvig at Maihaugen.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

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Sandvig’s interests at his own museum

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spectacular

Sandvig might not have envisioned how his gift would benefit the Norwegian people. Almost everything in the Kristiansund Museum (now Nordmøre Museum) was destroyed in April 1940 during the bombing of the city by German troops. By sending artifacts to America, twenty-eight museum-quality pieces were saved.

Detail of a baptismal swaddling band (reiv), from Stangvik, Nordmøre before 1830.

Vesterheim LC0678—Gift of Kristiansund Museum (Nordmøre Museum).

While Sandvig and a committee were working in Norway, in the United States the Norwegian-American Historical Association formed in 1925 and in 1926 established an archive in Northfield, Minnesota, at St. Olaf College. At the same time, the museum at Luther College changed its name to the Norwegian-American Historical Museum.11 Working together, these two institutions would preserve and promote Norwegian heritage in America, and the newly renamed museum would gratefully accept the gifts from Norway, called Amerikagaven, on behalf of the Norwegian-American people and would act as custodian of the objects in perpetuity.12

The Gifts from Norway Arrive

Amerikagaven was intended to honor the century of Norwegian immigration in 1925, although the gift would not arrive in Iowa until 1927. Sandvig wrote excitedly to Gjerset with the good news that the first shipment had left Oslo on March 11, 1927.13 The Norwegian State Railway and the Norwegian American Line provided transportation of the shipment at no cost. Twenty-seven crates, weighing a total of 8,000 pounds, arrived on five trucks in April.14

This first shipment included 149 artifacts and four books from Sandvig’s collection. “I ask you to receive the gift from De Sandvigske Samlinger,” requested Sandvig, “with the warmest wishes for your museum and its growth. The large and fine task which you are on the point of accomplishing by giving the emigrated Norway a glimpse of communities’ and our country’s old culture cannot be rated highly enough.”15

There were also 12 objects from Hadeland Folkemuseum in the first shipment.

“The Mother Country is indeed paying a great honor to her American children by allowing their priceless curiosities to leave their native home,” wrote [Luther] College Chips. 16 This college newspaper kept students and faculty updated as the shipments continued to arrive from Norway.

Hallingdal Folkemuseum sent only one crate in 1927, but it contained 26 objects including several fine examples of rosemaling.

In 1928, the college newspaper announced that the shipment from Kristiansund Museum had arrived and that shipments were expected from Glomdalsmuseet in Elverum, Kristiansand Museum, Drammen Museum, Opplandenes Folkemuseum in Hamar, and Ålesund Museum. A total of 124 artifacts arrived in 1928.17

In 1929, Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo sent six crates. Most of the 30 artifacts inside had origins in Vest-Agder and Setesdal, but there were also artifacts from Nordfjord, Gudbrandsdal, and Telemark.

Sandvig’s generosity inspired another large gift of objects from Norway. In 1938, Dr. Thor Kielland proposed to fellow members of the Association of Norwegian Museums that each institution donate one or more artifacts to the museum in Decorah. Kielland hoped to supplement the collections that were established by Sandvig. This time, the idea was met with enthusiasm. Thirty-nine museums gave a total of 60 artifacts. Eight additional museums donated money toward shipping

costs.18 Crown Prince Olav and Princess Märtha formally presented this shipment of gifts on May 7, 1939, when the Royal Couple visited Decorah, Iowa.

The Gifts from Norway on View

In 1933, the Norwegian-American Historical Museum expanded into a large building in the center of Decorah. The move was due in part to increased size of the collection after the gifts from Norway, though the space at Luther College had been barely sufficient even before the artifacts began to arrive.

In the first shipment, Sandvig had sent furnishings for a Norwegian house that duplicated one at Maihaugen. He sent both careful reproductions and artifacts, including a soapstone fireplace and a magnificent framskap cupboard that boasted acanthus decorations carved by Jakob Rasmussen Sæterdalen and scenes from the Old Testament painted by Peder Olsen Veggum. Sandvig’s intention was that these objects furnish rooms or a house that visitors could fully experience.19

The Norwegian House, beautifully furnished with artifacts and quality reproductions from De Sandvigske Samlinger, was located on the first floor of the new museum building. Visitors could then compare the Norwegian interior to the modest interior of an immigrant’s log house on the second floor. They could see that immigrants lived with some objects that they had brought from Norway, some objects that they had purchased on arrival to the United States, and some objects that they had made for their new home in America.

Spoon box (skjelaup) from Fåberg, Gudbrandsdal, ca. 1800.

Vesterheim LC1586—Gift of De Sandvigske Samlinger (Maihaugen).

Anders Sandvig’s vision for a collection to help immigrants remember their homeland was vitally important and remains important for future generations learning about their heritage. “May these objects work so that the Norwegianness in you will not die too soon, and the connection with the homeland will because of this be tighter. Receive this gift as proof that we follow you all in our hearts, even though the big Atlantic Ocean parts us,” Anders Sandvig wrote.20

Visitors, regardless of ancestry, can learn about emigration through the ordinary and extraordinary objects in Sandvig’s gift.

Bentwood box (kyrkjeøskje). Translated inscription: “I stand here in service to my owner, Gunil Tonetta Olsdatter Bulien, 1885.”

From Lista, Vest-Agder.Vesterheim LC1192—Gift of Norsk Folkemuseum.

The body of this stave-constructed tankard dates from the late 1700s. The cover was made more recently and the addition of paint is newer still. Stave tankard (stavkanne) from Kvarberg, Vågå, Gudbrandsdal. Vestherheim LC0282—Gift of De Sandvigske Samlinger (Maihaugen).

Endnotes

Vesterheim’s institutional identity has long been linked to the gifts from Norway because these artifacts have been the core of the collection and exhibitions. The logo for Vesterheim, since 1971, is taken from a tankard, which was among the items sent from Maihaugen in 1927. The sun motifs on the side, traditionally used to symbolize light, warmth, goodness, and good luck, seem appropriate to represent a museum that has benefited from the kindness of many generous Norwegian museums. Spouted tankard (tutekanne) from Kvarberg, Vågå, Gudbrandsdal. Vesterheim LC1533—Gift of De Sandvigske Samlinger (Maihaugen).

1 A related essay on Sandvig’s contribution to Vesterheim NorwegianAmerican Museum will be included in a book honoring Sandvig, published by Maihaugen in 2012.

2 Arnfinn Engen, “Anders Sandvig,” Norsk Biografisk Leksikon, http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Anders_Sandvig/utdypning.

3 Arthur Hazelius was busy collecting objects from Norway and from other Nordic and Baltic countries for his ScandinavianEthnographic Collection, later called Nordiska Museet (The Nordic Museum), in Stockholm. In recent years, Nordiska Museet has transferred many of their Norwegian objects to Norwegian museums in order to focus their collection on Swedish materials.

4 Kåre Hosar, “Fra samling til museum,” Skjulte Skatter: Maihaugens Årbok 2008, 18-23.

5 Knut Gjerset, “The Norwegian-American Historical Museum,” Norwegian-American Studies and Records 6 (1931), 153.

6 Marion John Nelson, “Material Culture and Ethnicity: Collecting and Preserving Norwegian Americana before World War II,” in Material Culture and People’s Art Among the Norwegians in America (Northfield, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1994), 128.

7 Knut Gjerset, Luther College Museum (Decorah, Iowa: Luther College, 1923). There is no evidence that Sandvig ever visited the museum in Decorah nor did Gjerset visit the museum in Lillehammer.

8 Letter from Anders Sandvig to Knut Gjerset, 19 March 1927. Vesterheim Archive.

9 Ibid.

10 Letter from Anders Sandvig to Knut Gjerset, 25 November 1930. Vesterheim Archive.

11 D.G. Ristad, “The Norwegian-American Historical Association,” Studies and Records 1 (1926): 152.

12 Knut Gjerset, “The Norwegian-American Historical Museum,” Norwegian-American Studies and Records 6 (1931): 156.

13 Sandvig, 19 March 1927.

14 College Chips, 1 December 1926; College Chips, 27 April 1927.

15 Sandvig, 19 March 1927.

16 College Chips, 1 December 1926.

17 College Chips, 2 October 1928.

18 “Norske Museers gave til Luther College’s Museum in Decorah, 1939.” Vesterheim Archive.

19 Letter from Anders Sandvig to Knut Gjerset, 28 April 1928. Vesterheim Archive.

20 Sandvig, 19 March 1927.

About the Author

Laurann Gilbertson holds a B.A. in anthropology and a M.S. in textiles and clothing from Iowa State University. She has been the Textile Curator at Vesterheim for 19 years and Chief Curator for 2 years.

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