Olaf Morgan Norlie: Advocate For Norwegian-American Culture

Abstract

5 Olaf Morgan Norlie: Advocate For NorwegianAmerican Culture by James S. Hamre The Norwegians came upon the historical arena relatively late. But when they did come they played a leading part, contributing on a large scale to the highest idealism and the soundest material welfare of the world. It is truly remarkable that general histories, as a rule, have so litde to say about Norway and its part in the world's work.. . . It is remarkable, too, that the two lands that have been most signally benefitted by Norwegian idealism and labor, namely, Great Britain and America, should be content with histories that never say one word about the Norwegians and their contribution to the material progress and the pursuit of happiness in these English speaking lands.1 [Columbus] did not give the Norsemen any credit for having shown him the way to the new world. In that respect he is in a class with the average writer of United States history .... The Norsemen contributed their share to making Columbus realize that there was an American continent and they should be given credit for this contribution in the school histories of our land.2 These statements by Olaf Morgan Norlie (1876-1962) in a book published in 1925 reflect his conviction that Norwegian contributions to human developments deserve to be recog125 126 James S. Hamre Olaf Morgan Norlie (1876-1962). Courtesy of St. Olaf College Archives. Olaf M. Norlie: Advocate For Norwegian- American Culture 127 nized and acknowledged.Titled History of the Norwegian People in America, the book is but one. example of his efforts to further such a process. Although interested in the activities of all Norwegians in America and the role they have played in American culture, Norlie 's main focus tended to be on those Norwegian Americans who retained the Lutheran affiliation transmitted from the mother country. Olaf Morgan Norlie was born in Swea City, Iowa, in 1876. He studied at a number of colleges and seminaries, including schools established by Norwegian Americans, as well as several with other origins. He held eighteen academic degrees, both earned and honorary. He earned the Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota.3 Norlie 's activities and areas of service indicate that he was a person of varied interests with abilities in a number of fields. In the course of his lifetime he served as a pastor, book editor, college professor, archivist, and statistician, as well as president, secretary, or treasurer of many religious, historical, educational, and statistical societies. One reference describes him as a "tireless collector and compiler of statistical and historical matters in various areas."4 He wrote numerous books, articles, and pamphlets, some of which remained in typed, mimeographed form. His professional career included service as a teacher in public and church schools in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin (1895-1907); pastor in Atwater, Minnesota (1907-15); editor at Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis (1915-19); professor of psychology and sociology at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (1919-28; 1932-41); dean of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York (1928-32); and librarian at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota (1941 until retirement). He did his writing and statistical work in the context of these various roles.5 Norlie did not confine himself to the study of Norwegian -American life. A polymath, he studied and published in a variety of fields, including psychology and biblical studies. 128 James S. Hamre Psychology was among the subjects Norlie taught at Luther College. In 1924, while he was a professor at the college, he published An Elementary Christian Psychology. The book's foreword states that the Board of Elementary Christian Education of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America had felt the need for an elementary work on psychology that would present the subject from a biblical point of view. Norlie was selected to write it and the committee representing the board recommended it to ministers, Sunday school superintendents , and teachers involved in elementary Christian education. Norlie stated that the book was called a "Christian psychology" because it attempted "to supplement the science of psychology with the fundamental concepts of the Bible, without prejudice to either the scientific or...