200 Norwegians

In the 23rd episode of 200 Norwegians, we will dive into the story of Elisabeth Koren, one of the most important chroniclers of the Norwegian-American experience. Born into a prominent family, she left Norway in 1853 to join her husband, pastor Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, on the American frontier. Through her remarkable diary, she documented the Atlantic crossing, pioneer life in Iowa, and the everyday e...

In the 22nd episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Walter Mondale, a Norwegian-American who lost one of the biggest elections in U.S. history, but still helped reshape American politics. Mondale was born in 1928 in Minnesota, the son of a minister, and grew up in a household shaped by modest means, strong values, and a deep belief in education. Over time, he rose through the ranks of Amer...

In the 21st episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Peder Sather, a Norwegian immigrant whose name today is written into the landscape of the University of California, Berkeley. Sather was born on a small farm in Odalen, Norway, in 1810. Orphaned young and without the prospect of inheriting the farm, he left for America in 1832—long before mass Norwegian emigration had begun. Starting with...

In the 20th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Magnus “Wolf” Larsen, a Norwegian-American boxer whose career rose quickly—and unraveled just as fast. Born in southern Norway in 1901, Larsen grew up in a family of Travelers and experienced violence and instability from an early age. After coming to the United States, he emerged as a powerful amateur boxer, winning both the New York Sta...

  In the 19th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of a man who became the face of an entire sport.   Long before skiing was mainstream in the United States, Stein Eriksen helped transform it from a niche activity into a lifestyle. This episode traces how a boy who grew up near the forests of Oslo, raised by ski-obsessed parents and shaped by war, discipline, and relentless training, went...

In the 18th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American thinker who spent his life trying to understand why wealthy societies so often lose their way. Veblen died in 1929, alone in a small cabin in California. No obituary appeared. His name had largely vanished from public conversation. Then the stock market crashed—and suddenly America remembered him. Bo...

In the 17th episode of 200 Norwegians, you learn about Knut Hovden. He was born on a storm-beaten island outside Bergen in 1880, a frail boy who couldn’t join the fishermen at sea. Instead, he watched, listened, and learned. While others hauled nets, he studied the science behind them. That curiosity carried him from a small coastal village to Norway’s leading fish-preservation school — and eventu...

The sixteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Campbell Norsgaard, the photographer who risked his life to document Norway under Nazi occupation—and later captured its rebirth. Imprisoned by the Gestapo for taking forbidden photos, Norsgaard escaped and went on to become the official photographer for the Royal Norwegian Air Force at Little Norway in Canada. His lens followed the war ac...

In this episode of 200 Norwegians, we explore how one man’s brushstrokes brought a fading folk art back to life. With insights from Patti Goke, a Vesterheim Gold Medalist, and Håkon Lysne, president of the Lærdal Historical Society, we trace the journey of the Father of American Rosemaling—from the fjords of Norway to the heart of the Midwest.

In the 14th episode of 200 Norwegian, we tell the story of Leif Erikson—the first European to reach North America—and how his place in U.S. history was revived a thousand years later. We trace Helge Ingstad’s 1960 search to L’Anse aux Meadows, where turf-house ruins and later carbon dating confirmed a Viking-age settlement, bringing the sagas of Vinland out of myth and into evidence. Along the way...

The thirteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Ole Evinrude, the man who invented the first successful outboard motor. Born in Norway and raised in Wisconsin, Evinrude struggled through failures and setbacks before his persistence led to an invention that changed boating forever. From a melting ice cream cone on a hot summer day to a machine that revolutionized life on America’s lakes...

In the 12th episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Guri Endreson Rosseland, a Norwegian settler caught in the Dakota War of 1862. When Dakota visitors came to her Minnesota farm, the encounter turned violent—her husband was killed, her daughters taken, and her son gravely wounded. Hiding with her youngest, Guri emerged to nurse her boy back to life and lead her children through a burning, war-torn f...

In the 11th episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll meet one of Norway’s greatest athletes of all time: figure skater Sonja Henie. Not only did she dominate the sport with an unbeaten streak of three Olympic gold medals and ten world championships, she also reinvented herself as a Hollywood star and global diva with her lavish ice shows and musical skating comedies. How did she transform figure skating?...

In the tenth episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Ole Edvart Rølvaag—from stormy Dønna to the American Midwest—where he carved the immigrant experience into the American psyche with a number of novels, including his masterpiece: Giants in the Earth. This wasn’t just a prairie saga; it was a deep dive into the immigrant soul. With his granddaughter and professor in Norwegian literature, Solveig Zem...

In the ninth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll discover the legacy of a Norwegian abolitionist, Hans Christian Heg. Heg was only eleven when he boarded the ship that carried his family across the Atlantic. The Heg family were Haugeans, part of a Norwegian lay movement that defied the religious monopoly of the state church. In Muskego, Wisconsin, they carved out a new life as farmers, publishers, a...

Episode 8 of 200 Norwegians is a special live recording from Norway House in Minneapolis, featuring renowned Norwegian-American historian and Professor Emeritus at St. Olaf College, Odd Lovoll. Lovoll has authored numerous books on Norwegian-American history and is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in the field. In this conversation, we talk about his childhood in Norway during...

The seventh episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of legendary football coach Knute Rockne. What made him so great? How did he achieve the highest winning percentage in college football history? What was the Rockne system? And why was he called the "Coach for a Nation"? We trace Rockne’s journey from the snow-covered village of Voss to the bustling streets of Chicago. Learn how the 1893 Chicag...

In the sixth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear the story of Belle Gunness—the most dangerous Norwegian church lady in American history. Follow her journey from Selbu, Norway, to the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana, where she built a deadly empire of matrimonial ads, life insurance scams, and disappearing suitors. Discover how an immigrant woman became one of America’s most prolific serial kill...

He never wanted his picture taken. He never accepted a higher salary than the average seaman. Andrew Furuseth was a humble, yet remarkably effective leader. That’s why he was—ironically—given the not-so-humble title: The Abraham Lincoln of the Sea. In this episode, we trace his roots—back to Norway’s golden age of sail. We’ll journey across the oceans, round the Cape, and land in the lawless boomt...

In the fourth episode of 200 Norwegians, we share the remarkable story of Margarethe Cammermeyer — the colonel who took on the U.S. military after being discharged for being a lesbian. Cammermeyer's life reads like a Forrest Gump-style journey through modern history. Born in Nazi-occupied Norway to parents active in the resistance, she went on to serve in the Vietnam War, became a top-ranking offi...

In the third and final chapter of the Cleng Peerson saga, you will hear what happened when the father of Norwegian emigration joined a cult and married a woman 26 years his junior. You will also learn about his final walk toward the Texas sun—and why Clifton, in Bosque County, is called the Norwegian Capital of Texas. This episode features Kirk Mies, Marty Ray, Thomas Mannes, and Chris Ardis.

In this second episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear how Cleng Peerson’s grand plan failed—and how, in the end, President John Quincy Adams stepped in to rescue the Sloopers after their arrival in America. We’ll explore the brutal early years in Kendall, New York, a place that came to be known as the "Black North." Then, we’ll follow in Peerson’s footsteps as he pushes west in search of a new set...

In this first episode, you'll hear the story of Cleng Peerson, the father of Norwegian emigration. Discover his humble beginnings, and how an unlikely chain of events—spurred by the Napoleonic Wars and an unhappy marriage—set him on the path to becoming a Moses figure for a group of persecuted Norwegians. The episode also follows the journey of the Norwegian Mayflower across the Atlantic, where a...