PRESERVING NORDIC AMERICAN CHURCHES PROJECT BIBLIOGRAHY
(Churches with roots in immigration from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden)
Bibliography compiled by Laurie Kay Sommers, Project Manager
(Special thanks to Brian Magnusson, Todd W. Nichol, and our project advisory group, especially Rod Oppegard)
Scroll down for resources in the following categories:
- General Architectural History
- Nordic American Church Architecture
- Nordic American Church History
- Nordic American Immigration History
- Nordic American Traditions, Folk Arts, and Decorative Arts
General Architectural History
Blumenson, John. Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to the Styles and Terms, 1600-1945. W.W. Norton & Co, New York, NY, 1977.
Chiat, Marilyn J. America’s Religious Architecture, Sacred Places for Every Community. The Preservation Press and John W. Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997.
Fleming, John Hugh Honour. The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture. New York, NY: Penguin Books Ltd., 1966.
Howe, Jeffery, Houses of Worship. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA, 2003.
Noble, Allen G., ed. To Build in a New Land, Ethnic Landscapes in North America. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
Upton, Dell, ed. America’s Architectural Roots, Ethnic Groups that Built America. The Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1986.
Nordic American Church Architecture
Eldal, Jens Christian. “American, Norwegian, or Lutheran? Main Features of Early Norwegian Church Architecture in the Upper Midwest, 1850-1870.” Norwegian-American Studies, 36 (2011):3-44.
Ford-Dunker, Russell, Rolene R. Schliesman, and Marcia Wolter Britton. Picture North Dakota Churches. State Historical Society of North Dakota Project Report. Bismarck: ND: State Historical Society of North Dakota, April, 2000. (includes Nordic heritage churches)
KSMQ Public Television. “History of the Heartland, Historic Country Churches,” with Doug Ohman, photographer and Patrick Nunnally, church historian. Production of KSMQ, Austin, MN, 1996. (includes Nordic heritage churches in MN)
KSMQ Public Television. “History of the Heartland, More Country Churches,” with Doug Ohman, Pioneer Photography. Production of KSMQ, Austin, MN, 1996. (includes Nordic heritage churches in MN)
Lathrop, Alan K. Churches of Minnesota, An Illustrated Guide. University of Minnesota Press, 2003. (includes Nordic heritage churches)
Magnusson, Brian. “Classical Elements in Early Scandinavian American Architecture, Some Initial Impressions.” In The Problem of Classical Ideal in the Art and Architecture of the Countries around the Baltic Sea. Conference at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Nov. 9.-10. 2001, pp. 223-263.
Nichol, Todd. “Temples Made with Hands: A Norwegian-American Lutheran Congregation and its Houses of Worship,” Lutheran Quarterly 11 (Winter 1997):423-461.
Nichol, Todd. Norwegian-American Lutherans and the Church Buildings: A Case Study” in Migrasjon og tilpasning: Ingrid Semmingsen et minneseminar in Tid og Tanke (Fall 1998).
Ohman, Doug and Jon Hassler. Churches of Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2005. (includes Nordic heritage churches)
Pioneer Public TV, “Country Spires Part 1, Resisting the Melting Pot,” narrated by Bill Holm. Production of Pioneer Public TV, Appleton, MN, 2000. 28 minutes. (Includes Nordic heritage churches, among those from other ethnicities, from IA, MN, ND, SD, and WI.)
Pioneer Public TV. “Country Spires Part 2, Hidden Gems,” narrated by Bill Holm. Production of Pioneer Public TV, Appleton, MN, 2000. 28 minutes. (Includes Nordic heritage churches, among those from other ethnicities, from IA, MN, ND, SD, and WI.)
Pioneer Public TV. Country Spires Part 3, Saving the Steeples,” narrated by Bill Holm. Production of Pioneer Public TV, Appleton, MN, 2000. 28 minutes. (Includes Nordic heritage churches, among those from other ethnicities, from IA, MN, ND, SD, and WI.)
Rural Churches Database. (Useful website of historic churches in ND and MN, many of them Nordic heritage.) http://steph9993.tripod.com/
Stowe, Gordon H. and E.M. Laitala. “Some Observations on Finnish-American Church Buildings and their Relationship to Finnish Church Architecture.” In Jalkanen, Ralph J. The Faith of the Finns: historical perspectives on the Finnish Lutheran church in America. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1972.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Index (online searchable database), https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2834
Nordic American Church History
Ahlstrom, L. John. Eighty years of Swedish Baptist Work in Iowa, 1853-1933. Des Moines: Swedish Baptist Conference of Iowa, 1933.
Anderson, Philip J. One Body, Many Members. A brief sketch of the Evangelical Covenant Church placing it in historical and theological perspective. Covenant Publications, 1983.
Hale, Frederick., “Norwegians, Danes and the Origins of the Evangelical Free Tradition.” Norwegian–American Studies (Vol. 28, 1979).
Hansen, Thorvald. “Grundtvigianism in America.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vol. 29 no. 2 (2006):184-192.
Huglen, Raynard, Solveig Hjermstad, and Aini Myking. Growth and New Challenges: The AFLC at 30, 1962-1992. Minneapolis, MN, 1992. (includes Nordic heritage churches)
Ibsen, Joy. “Grundtvig in America.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vol. 41 no. 2 (Fall 2018):119-125.
Jalkanen, Ralph. The Faith of the Finns: Historical Perspectives on the Finnish Lutheran Church in America. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1972.
Locating Lutheranism, 19th Century Norwegian American Lutheran Congregations in Minnesota, St. Olaf College, https://pages.stolaf.edu/locluth/
Olsen, Robert. “Non-Lutheran Denominations Among the Danish Immigrant Churches.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vols. 1 & 2 (2013):22-60.
Olsen, Bob. “Language Usage in Non-Lutheran Danish Immigrant Religions in the US.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vol. 41 no. 2 (Fall 2018):144-175.
Sneen, Donald J. ed. Prairie Faith, Pioneering People, A History of the Lutheran Church in South Dakota. South Dakota District, American Lutheran Church, 1981.
Twin Cities House of Worship, 1849-1924, University of Minnesota. (includes Nordic heritage churches) https://housesofworship.umn.edu/
Wargelin, Raymond J. Sketches of Suomi Synod Congregations, 1890-1962, 4 volumes. Self-Published, Nov. 25, 1994. Raymond Waldemar Wargelin Papers, University of Minnesota Libraries.
Nordic American Immigration History
Alanen, Arnold R. Finns in Minnesota. The People of Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012.
Anderson, Philip J. and Dag Blanck. Swedes in the Twin Cities, Immigrant Life and Minnesota’s Urban Frontier. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.
Blegen, Theodore. The Norwegian Migration to America. Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1940.
Bjornson, Valdimar. “Icelanders in the United States.” Scandinavian Review 64 (1976):39-41.
Christensen, Thomas Peter Christensen. A history of Danes in Iowa. New York: Arno Press, 1979.
Church and Life online (Articles and Stories in the Danish Folk Tradition of N.F.S. Grundtvig). Danish Immigrant Archives, Grand View University, Des Moines. IA Follow digital collections link at https://www.grandview.edu/about/about-gv/our-history/archives
Fapso, Richard J. Norwegians in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2001.
Hale, Frederick. Danes in Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2002.
Hale, Frederick. Swedes in Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2005
Hoglund, A. William. Finnish Immigrants in America, 1880-1920. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1960.
Karni, Michael G., Matti E. Kaups, and Douglas J. Ollila, Jr. Vammala, eds. The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region, Finland: Institute for Migration, Turku, 1972.
Lovoll, Odd S. The Promise of America, A History of the Norwegian-American People. University of Minnesota Press, 1999.
Nelson, Helge. The Swedes and the Swedish Settlements in North America. 2 vols. Lund, 1943.
Nielsen, George. The Danish Americans. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1981.
Norman, Hans and Harald Runblom. Transatlantic Connections. Nordic Migration to the New World after 1800. Oslo, 1988.
North Dakota Church History Collection, Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks (see online finding aid—includes many Nordic heritage churches)
Ostergren, Robert. “The Transplanted Swedish Rural Immigrant Community in the Upper Middle West.” In Runblom, Harald, and Dag Blanck, eds. Scandinavia Overseas: Patterns of Cultural Transformation in North America and Australia. Uppsala Centre for Multiethnic Research, Uppsala University, 1990: 18-34.
Petersen, Peter L. The Danes in America. Minneapolis: Lerner Publication Company, 1987.
Walters, Thorstina Jackson. Modern Sagas: The Story of Icelanders in North America. Fargo, ND: Institute for Regional Studies, 1953.
Nordic American Traditions, Folk Arts, and Decorative Arts
Anderson, Kristin. Norwegian-American Church Art: Altar Paintings by Herbjørn Gausta, Sarah Kirkeberg Raugland, and Arne Berger. Decorah, IA: Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, 2001.
Anderson, Kristin. “Altars in the Norwegian-American Church: An Opportunity for Folk Expression.” In Marion John Nelson, ed. Material Culture and People’s Art of the Norwegians in America. Northfield, MN: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1994, 199-226.
Cederström, B. Marcus. “Swedish Space in Upper Midwestern Churches.” American Studies in Scandinavia, 44/1 (2012):30-47.
“Dakota Life, Lutefisk Lutherans” St. Paul Lutheran, Elk Point, SD. South Dakota Public Broadcasting, 2011, https://youtu.be/W1r0q3ZxNds
DuBois, Thomas A. Sacred to the Touch, Nordic and Baltic Religious Wood Carving. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018.
Gilbertson, Laurann, “Religion and Norwegian-American Quilts” (2009). Proceedings of the 4th Biennial Symposium of the International Quilt Museum. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/iqsc4symp/
Henning, Darrell D., Marion J. Nelson, and Roger L. Welsch. Norwegian-American Wood Carving of the Upper Midwest. An exhibition assembled by Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American Museum, Decorah, Iowa, 1978.
Higbee, Paul. “’Artists with Axe and Saw:’ The Juso Brothers shaped Black Hills Architecture and Tourism.” South Dakota Magazine (December 2016): 90-98.
Holzhueter, John O. “Aslak Lie and the Challenge of the Artifact.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 70/1 (Autumn, 1986):2-20.
Kim, Mary Em and Sherry Case Maurer. Harute – Out Here: Swedish Immigrant Artists in Midwest America: An Exhibition of Works from Augustana College and the Quad Cities Community. Rock Island, Illinois: Augustana College Art Department, 1984.
Langholm Larsen, Tina. ”Sing Your Ethnicity Aloud! Grundtvigian Danes at the Intersection of Denmark and America.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vol. 41 no. 2 (Fall 2018):126-143.
Lindquist, Emory. Birger Sandzén: An Illustrated Biography. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas for the Birger Sandzén Memorial Foundation, 1993.
Magnusson, Brian. “Olof Grafström: An Immigrant Artist Portrays the Early Pacific Northwest, 1886-1890.“ Swedish-American Historical Society. 37/2 (April 1986): 42-59.
Magnusson, Brian B. “From Kvikkjokk to the Mississippi: Glimpses into the Career of Olof Grafstrom—Artist, Immigrant, and College Professor.” In Kim, Mary Em and Sherry Case Maurer, Harute – Out Here: Swedish Immigrant Artists in Midwest America: An Exhibition of Works from Augustana College and the Quad Cities Community. Rock Island, Illinois: Augustana College Art Department, 1984, pp. 21-38.
Nelson, Marion John. “Folk Art and Faith Among Norwegian Americans.” In Nichol, Todd W., ed. Crossings: Norwegian-American Lutheranism as a Transatlantic Tradition. Northfield, MN: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 2003, pp. 73-92.
Nelson, Marion John, ed. Norwegian Folk Art, The Migration of a Tradition. Abbeville Press in association with Museum of American Folk Art and the Norwegian Folk Museum, 1995.
Nelson, Marion John. ed. Material Culture and People’s Art Among the Norwegians in America. Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1994.
Nelson, Marion J. Herbjørn Gausta: Norwegian-American Painter. Oslo: Universitesforlaget, 1971.
Pedersen, Edwin Smidt. Jes Smidt, Immigrant Woodcarver. Self-published, 2011.
Schoolcraft County Historical Society. “August Klagstad, Altar Artist,” 2016. https://schs.cityofmanistique.org/tag/august-klagstad/
Sommers, Laurie Kay. “Engaging Artists and Communities to Preserve Danish Churches in the Midwest.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, Vol. 41 no. 2 (Fall 2018):168-175.
Selkurt, Claire. “The Domestic Architecture and Cabinetry of Luther Valley.” Norwegian American Historical Association Online, vol. 30, p. 247. https://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume30/vol30_08.htm
Strandskov, Krister, and Russell Lackey. “Finding Sanctuary: How Danish American Churches Helped Immigrants Navigate Life in Uncharted Waters.” The Bridge, Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society Vol. 40 no. 2 (2017):39-71.
Torma, Carolyn M. “Ethnicity and Architecture.” South Dakota History 21/2 (1991):136-154.
Torma, Carolyn. “The Architecture of Finnish Settlement in South Dakota.” In Finns in North America, Proceedings from Finn Forum III. Michael G. Karni, Olavi Koivukangas, and Edward W. Laine, eds. Turku, Finland: Institute for Migration, 1988, pp. 99-119.
