Norwegian Newspapers in America: Connecting Norway and the New Land by Odd S. Lovoll, and: Norske aviser i Amerika (review)

Lovoll’s book on Norwegian language newspapers in America first appeared in English in 2010, followed by a Norwegian edition two years later. This oeuvre is the sixth in a row of major works by Lovoll on Norwegian America—the highlight being The Promise of America: A History of the Norwegian-American People (1983)—and a majority of them both in English and Norwegian editions. Initially, this latest study states that the Norwegian ethnic press functioned as a bridge to the homeland and as “both a preserver of Norwegian culture and an Americanizer” (x). Lovoll’s hypothesis in his study is that these two aspects did not conflict, both roles were played out simultaneously. He quotes eminent historian Jon Gjerde’s term “complemetary identity” that “pledge allegiance to both American citizenship and ethnic adherence” (5) and proposes this as his own point of departure for his study.

This perspective that the newspapers’ role implied no contradiction between ethnic pride and assimilation into the American society is intoned throughout Lovoll’s study. This multitude of newspapers, 283 in all, includes publications that lasted less than three years as well as those that lasted up to a hundred years. It started with Nordlyset as the first in 1847, and by 2010 the sole survivor is Norwegian American Weekly. The presentation involves both time and space—the pioneer days, the building of a community, the flourishing in the Midwest, the rising of a “national” press, the important public issues, the golden age, a changing final role—and presents a narrative of the development of the Norwegian-American press and its functions. Thus, it moves chronologically and spatially, following the expansion of Norwegian immigration into the mid- and northwest as well as spreading to both coasts. There is a great variety in the content of the newspapers: news from the homeland and from other Norwegian settlements, discussions and quarrels about issues within the ethnic group, especially of religion and politics, announcements and information for practical purposes, and information about their new homeland, including excerpts from the American constitution translated into Norwegian.

A short presentation of the book shows chapter 1 dealing with the pioneer years. Many of the features mentioned as typical throughout the years are already evident here: news from home and information about the new land as well as controversies over church and religion and eventually politics. Next to the short-lived pioneer Nordlyset, Lovoll deems Emigranten as the most influential of the pioneer papers. They also supplied the emigrants with good reading by serializing prominent Norwegian writers like Bjørnson. In chapter 2, the expanding immigrant community is in focus and in particular the impact of the Civil War in which the patriotism is expressed in the Norwegian 15th Wisconsin regiment led by colonel Hans Christian Heg. Lovoll quotes the grand old man of Norwegian American historiography, Theodore Blegen, writing that the war between the states “made a contribution to the larger immigrant transition to American life” (47). Issues that are highlighted during this period are the peculiar debate on slavery, admittedly a social evil, but whether or not it was wrong in a strict biblical sense was hotly debated. Furthermore, the risk or the benefit of sending the children to the American “common” school, which the Norwegians did to a large extent, was debated. With Chicago as an increasingly important Norwegian-American hub, Lovoll discusses immigrant radicalism with special focus on the role of Norwegian pioneer socialist leader Marcus Thrane’s years in the immigrant press in Chicago.

Chapters 3 and 4 cover the flourishing heydays of the Norwegian language press and its development in time and space concurrent with the immigration movements. As political engagements grew stronger, the newspapers reflected this tendency and entered into discussions and promotion of issues. Political affiliations are varied, and sometimes...