Immigrant Letters

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Letters of Immigrants

Letters of Immigrants

"America fever" was nourished by what Norwegian emigrants wrote to the friends and families. Thus, letters can open a way into immigrant minds too. In the book In Their Own Words Solveig Zempel traces the stories of nine Norwegian immigrants and passes on valuable information from the lives of new settlers. The letters are "vivid stories" that form a colourful mosaic, depicting working, marrying, other outstanding experiences, and passing on private communications. Zempel writes that

immigrants during the period of mass migration faced different problems than the pioneers . . . they endeavoured to find a meaningful place . . . they faced political, social, and personal problems . . . Because the history of this period is so often told in terms of statistics and generalities, we must seek out other sources to help us find those individual personalities concealed within the mass and understand how individual immigrants perceived and experienced the process of migration, assimilation, and acculturation (Zempel 1991, p. xi-xii).

Not all "America letters" were encouraging reading:

I have taken a trip to look around, and have just gotten back. I liked the places I visited very much; the worst thing I could discover about that country is that it is almost completely lacking in trees . . . - A. Hjerpeland, Lanesboro, Minnesota, July 9, 1879 (In Zempel 1991, p. xx).

In the last letter in a collection from Berta Serina Kingestad (1885-1893), her husband Knut had had pneumonia for almost a month, and they had had big snowstorms. "Little Grant is big and healthy. He could walk when he was ten months old. He has five teeth now, and runs around the house and plays with Sven, who is a big tall boy. He goes to school when the weather is passable." - Bertha. (Zempel 1991, p. 53)

My hands have been terribly sore from cutting wood, and now I have a badly swollen finger . . . - From your, Gunnar Høst [1883-1905], Grand Forks, Dakota. April 25, 1885. (In Zempel 1991, 68)
I have finally gotten the underclothes from Miss Keding, and they are absolutely wonderful . . . - From your, Gunnar Høst, Grand Forks, Dakota. August 17, 1885. (In Zempel 1991, 69)
You can have no idea how terrible it is in America right now. Millions of people without shelter and food . . . - Your brother, Gunnar Høst. McIntosh, Minnesota, February 2, 1894 (In Zempel 1991, 74-75). (see app. xx).

Literature
Zempel, Solveig, ed., translation and introduction. In Their Own Words: Letters from Norwegian Immigrants. Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.

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