Scandinavian Immigration
Immigration to the US Resources | Other Resources
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| Stereograph in On the Trail of the Immigrant, by Edward Steiner, 1906. |
Immigration to the US from the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland increased dramatically in the late 19th century, due to mounting economic pressures and overpopulation. In the late 1860s, for example, Sweden was struck by crop failures and famines that stimulated massive emigration. High unemployment and a lack of open land for new farms caused increasing numbers of Norwegians and Danes to emigrate to the US. The Homestead Act of 1862, which gave free land to settlers who developed it for at least five years, was a particular magnet for Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes. Facing internal political instability as well as persecution by the Russian government, Finns in large numbers began to emigrate to the US at the beginning of the 20th century.
Scandinavian immigrants settled primarily in the Midwest. Norwegians favored Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. Danes settled primarily in the agricultural regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas, while Swedes settled across the entire upper Midwest. Finns built their new lives on the farms and lumber mills of the upper Midwest, the mines of the West, and the factories of the industrial Northeast: Michigan was the heartland of Finnish America.
Though not as numerous as German or Irish immigrants, Scandinavians still arrived in massive numbers. 1,000,000 Swedes (1868-1914), 800,000 Norwegians (1825-1925), 300,000 Danes (1820-1920), and 230,000 Finns (1890-1924) forever transformed the culture of the American Midwest.
^ TOPImmigration to the US Resources
Listed below are digital resources from the Immigration to the US collection about, or related to, Scandinavian immigration. These resources represent only a selection of what exists on these topics. More physical materials on these topics may be available at the owning repositories, some of which are open to the public.
Publications
250th Anniversary of the First Swedish Settlement in America: September 14th, 1888, Minneapolis, Minn. [Minneapolis: s.n.], c1889.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjork. The First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration (1821-1840): Its Causes and Results, with an Introduction on the Services Rendered by the Scandinavians to the World and to America. Madison: Published by the author, 1895.
Babcock, Kendric Charles. The Scandinavian Element in the United States. Urbana: University of Illinois, c1914.
Barton, Albert. The Beginnings of the Norwegian Press in America. Madison: State Historical Society, [1916].
Boyeson, Hjalmar Hjorth. Falconberg. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1879.
Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth. Tales from Two Hemispheres. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1881.
Burgess, Thomas. "Baltics and Orientals," in Foreigners or Friends, a Handbook: The Churchman’s Approach to the Foreign-Born and Their Children. New York: Department of Missions and Church Extension, 1921. Pages 163-182.
Central Minnesota, the Dairy Country. St. Paul: Published by the Minnesota State Board of Immigration, 1915.
Flom, George. A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning Down to the Year 1848. Iowa City: Priv. Print, 1909.
Gates, Paul Wallace. The Illinois Central Railroad and Its Colonization Work. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934.
Johnson, Amandus. Swedish Contributions to American National Life, 1638-1921. New York: Committee of the Swedish Section of America’s Making, 1921.
Mattson, Hans. Reminiscences: The Story of an Emigrant. Saint Paul: D. D. Merrill Co., 1891.
Packer, B. G. Farm Making in Upper Wisconsin: Hints for the Settler. Madison: Wisconsin State Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin, 1918.
Peterson, James. Hjalmar, or, The Immigrant’s Son. Minneapolis: K. C. Holter, 1922.
Steiner, Edward Alfred. "The Scandinavian Immigrant," in On the Trail of the Immigrant.New York: F. H. Revell, c1906. Pages 112-125.
Sundby-Hansen, Harry, editor. Norwegian Immigrant Contributions to America’s Making.New York: General Committee of the Norwegian Group of America’s Making, 1921.
Foreign-Language Publications
Rĝlvaag, Ole Edvart. I de dage-- : fortaelling om norske nykommere i Amerika. Kristiania: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1924.
Rĝlvaag, Ole Edvart. I de dage-- : riket grundlaegges.Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1925.
Woldhagen, M.H. Folkesnak. [S.I.: s.n., 1926.]
^ TOPOther Resources
Listed below are web sites about, or related to, Scandinavian immigration. These resources are listed to point users to further information outside the context of the Immigration to the US collection. The Open Collections Program and Harvard University bear no responsibility for the contents of these web sites. This list is not intended to be comprehensive.
American-Scandinavian Foundation
Finnish American Heritage Association
Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota
Norwegian-American Historical Association, St. Olaf College
Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Augustana College
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