Editor’s note: In the UND LEADS Strategic Plan, the “Service” core value calls on the University to “promote the arts and humanities, which contribute to the cultural vibrancy of the state and help attract and retain talent in our communities.”
The story below describes a philanthropic effort by the Chester Fritz Library to share one of its rich arts-and-humanities collections with a Minneapolis nonprofit, an effort in line with the best traditions of the UND LEADS Strategic Plan.
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On Aug. 23, the Chester Fritz Library made a unique donation to Norway House, a Minneapolis-based Norwegian cultural center. Curt Hanson, head of Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the library, drove to Minneapolis with 150 bygdebøker in tow.
Bygdebøker, roughly translated as “farm books” or “village books,” are invaluable resources for genealogists. They contain detailed family lineages and local histories from Norway. Each book covers the history of a specific Norwegian county (referred to in Norway as a fylker), complete with family and school pictures and legal and death records, among other things.
Hanson said that UND’s Arnie G. Brekke Bygdebok Collection is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and, with more than 1,600 volumes, rivals some of Norway’s collections.
“We’ve been collecting bygdebøker since the 1980s, because North Dakota has such a large population with Norwegian ancestry,” Hanson said. “Arne Brekke, who taught in the Languages Department, helped the library start its collection, and he’s largely responsible for how big it is today.”
Bygdebøker are not widely circulated, and many are written exclusively in Norwegian, so finding specific volumes outside of Norway is a rarity. This specificity has made them a frequently requested resource at the library, Hanson said, which motivated the library to expand its collection. But over the decades, the library ended up with more duplicate volumes than it knew what to do with.
Mike Swanson, a former Chester Fritz Library archivist, proposed that UND donate its duplicates after he learned that Norway House was expanding its building. This expansion, which opened in 2022 with a ribbon cutting attended by Queen Sonja of Norway, includes a space for genealogical research materials and other historical texts provided by the library.
“They’ve just kind of been sitting in a room collecting dust here at the library,” Hanson said. “When Mike found out that Norway House was building up its own library, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to give these books to people who would really appreciate them.”
Race Fisher, development associate at Norway House, said the donation will be an important addition to the library’s growing collection. While many of the books are untranslated, aspiring genealogists need only a few words to navigate the texts and connect to their history, Fisher said.
“It’s incredible what you can find in these books,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll trace your family back as far as the 1600s; a few pages of a bygdebøk can uncover centuries of family history. But it also allows people to make tangible connections to people in contemporary Norway.
“It’s this kind of circular exchange that happens when people do genealogical research.”
As a cultural center, Norway House is in the business of connecting its American patrons to their ancestry and heritage. Until now, they’ve regularly tapped UND and other institutions for help with bygdeboker, but Fisher hopes that having a collection in-house will encourage visitors to reflect on Norway’s history and their own as their recent renovations continue to bring foot traffic.
“UND’s reputation for having this great collection of bygdebøker, and the University’s willingness to help people as they begin this journey has been really meaningful,” Fisher said. “We’re really grateful for UND’s willingness to make this contribution. It’s so exciting to offer these resources to our patrons and the larger Norwegian American community.”