UND Special Collections donates Norwegian genealogy books to Norway House

GRAND FORKS – Over his nearly 25-year career with UND Special Collections, Curt Hanson estimates that he’s helped thousands of people – especially those of Norwegian descent – research their family histories.

And now his department has made it possible for genealogy enthusiasts in the Twin Cities area – heavily populated with Scandinavians – to see and study original documents that may shed light on their lineage.

The Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections has donated 150 rare Norwegian genealogy books – called “bygdebøker,” roughly translated as “farm books” or “village books” – to Norway House, a Norwegian cultural center in Minneapolis.

The donation consists of duplicates of bygdebøker materials from the UND collection, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, in the country, said Hanson, who heads the UND Special Collections department.

With more than 1,600 volumes, the Arne G. Brekke Bygdebøk Collection rivals some of Norway’s collections and is a valuable source of information for genealogists, Hanson said.

These books are not widely circulated, and many are written exclusively in Norwegian, so finding specific volumes outside of Norway is a rarity – that has made them a frequently requested source at the library, according to the UND Today publication.

While many of the books are untranslated, aspiring genealogists need only a few words to navigate the texts and connect to their history.

Each bygdebøk contains records of the number assigned to each farm, “who lived there and what they did for a profession,” Hanson said. Families voluntarily submit this information for publication.

“I think it’s equivalent (in the U.S.) to when county histories get written,” he said. “They put out a call (for information). Some books contain lots of pictures; some don’t.”

“In Norway, ownership of the farm would be transferred to the oldest son,” Hanson said. “Sometimes the farm is further divided.”

The late Arne Brekke, for whom UND’s bygdebøk collection is named, was a native Norwegian, a longtime UND language teacher and scholar, and a local businessman. He helped the library start its collection – located in the Family History Room on the fourth floor of the Chester Fritz Library – and is largely responsible for how extensive it is today, Hanson said.

Mike Swanson, a former Chester Fritz library archivist, laid the groundwork for the collection, Hanson said.

“We’ve been collecting bygdebøker since the ‘80s, because North Dakota has such a large population with Norwegian ancestry,” he said.

UND Special Collections staff members sometimes draw from an endowment fund to purchase these books, Hanson said. But books have also been donated by families and by “libraries that had book collections and wanted to get rid of them.”

Sometimes, he and his colleagues reach out to sources in Norway to track down and request specific books.

Over time, the library acquired more duplications than it knew what to do with, Hanson said. With space being “at a premium, we took duplicates and placed them in storage in our vault.”

When Swanson learned that Norway House was undergoing a building project and expanding its own library, he suggested that UND offer its duplicates to that facility. Swanson retired in April.

The books were “just gathering dust” here, Hanson said.

The Norway House expansion, which opened in October 2022 with a ribbon-cutting event attended by Queen Sonja of Norway, includes a space for genealogical research materials and other historical texts.

The mission of Norway House is to connect American patrons to their ancestry and heritage, said Race Fisher, a development associate at the facility.

At Norway House, the UND donation will be stored in “the Special Collections Room, along with the collections of several Bygdelags (that) specialize in a particular region of Norway,” Fisher said. “(The donation) has filled in a lot of gaps in our modest, but growing collection.”

It is through family history research that Norwegian Americans can make “profound and lasting connections” to Norway,” Fisher said. “The bygdebøk collection from UND will help more Norwegian Americans in the Twin Cities area discover their roots in Norway, deepening their connection to their heritage, Norway today, and within the Norwegian-American community.”

“We at Norway House are so grateful for the collaboration with the Special Collections staff,” Fisher said, “and are looking forward to more collaboration in the future.”

Over the nearly 25 years he’s worked in assorted positions with UND Special Collections, Hanson estimates that he’s helped thousands of people find answers to various questions about their family roots.

“Some people have traced their family records back to the 1500s or 1400s,” he said. How far back “depends on local records.”

Hanson and his colleagues not only work with people outside the university, they also frequently assist UND students and staff members.

“Most people have an idea of what area their family is originally from,” Hanson said, which is helpful when they begin their search.

Much of the interaction with patrons is conducted via email, because many people can’t travel here, he said. In-person visits are welcome too.

“We’ve had patrons from Norway,” he said. “They’re probably visiting people here.”

UND Special Collections staff members also receive requests from patrons who are planning to travel to Norway, and are looking for information to make family connections there.

Hanson suspects that part of the surge in interest about family history in recent years can be attributed to the pandemic, when people turned to hobbies and other projects to cope with the stress of isolation.

“COVID had an impact,” he said. “Some people took up (hobbies such as) wood-working, but a lot of people took up genealogy.”

People who have been assisted by UND Special Collections staff “are very thankful that we have these (books),” Hanson said. “If you’re a genealogist, you’re always looking to expand that family tree.”

He’s pleased that UND will be able, through its donation to Norway House, to help more people discover their family history.

Delivering the books in person to Norway House – his first visit to the facility – this summer, Hanson found it to be “very impressive,” he said. “It shares a parking lot with a Norwegian Lutheran church that still offers a Sunday service in Norwegian.”

Looking back on that trip, Hanson said, “I can’t get over the fact that I’m not Norwegian – I’m Swedish and Irish – but I’ve been helping Norwegian-Americans all these years.

“I was chuckling all the way to Norway House.”

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