THE SOURCES OF THE R�LVAAG BIOGRAPHY

Abstract

THE SOURCES OF THE R0LVAAG BIOGRAPHY NORA O. SOLUM Speaking specifically to Mr. Lincoln Colcord in a letter of January, 1932, the sculptor and painter Mr. Carl Mose said of Rplvaag, " His vision was heroic. It gives those of us who follow him in the Northwest the first great vision of the foundations as well as the possibilities of this land." There can be little doubt that this vision in Rjfivaag, which Mr. Mose so aptly eulogizes and with whose nature we are all familiar, had its origin in certain instinctive conceptions of fundamental human values which in turn enabled him to evaluate almost immediately upon his arrival in America the immigrant chapter in the pioneer history of the Northwest. With a directness and a perspicacity characteristic of only the finer intellects, he saw straight into that saga. It appears to have been a clear instance of the man and the occasion finding each other. Out of what he saw came his searching but tempered appraisal and a battle for values, and when time had sufficiently matured his creative faculties, he set forth the vision in a glow of imagination so sure and bright as to illuminate it for all who care to read him. Though it may be questioned whether any biographer can know for a certainty that the sources of information about his subject are desirably full, it can sincerely be claimed, we think, in the case of Rplvaag, that the record of his life, though of unequal completeness for its various periods, is nonetheless so copious, consistent, and clear as to make its most significant facts and implications unmistakable. Rplvaag's life was lived principally in three places: from 1876 to 1896 in Nordland, Norway; during a brief interlude of five years, 1896 to 1901, in southeastern South Dakota; 150 THE R0LVAAG BIOGRAPHY 151 and from 1901 to 1931 in Northfield, Minnesota. If anything approaching a biographical haze hangs over any portion of his life it is over the first and a part of the second period. So few facts emerge from the first period that the best that it seems possible to achieve for it at present is a generalized picture, suggestive mainly of what are apparently the important factors in his background. Wherever it has been possible R0lvaag has been allowed to speak for himself concerning it. Since the material coming directly out of the period was scant, consisting only of facts derived from parish records, from a genealogy of the Mathiassen-R0lvaag family of D0nnes, Nesna Prestegjeld (actually compiled by Faste Swendsen at the instigation of the uncle Gunnar Berg of Nesna in 1912), and from nostalgic outpourings in the emigrant diary, it had to be supplemented by material from such sources as the following: an autobiographical composition exercise called " A Fishing Expedition in the Winter of 1896 " written at Augustana Academy, Canton, South Dakota ; letters from the family in Nordland which, though written at a later date, give an insight into family traits, occupations , and the general conditions of life in Nordland; letters written to Mrs. R0lvaag; a letter written by Captain Christian Andersen after R0lvaag's death; and sketches of the home written by R0lvaag himself after he came to America, including the autobiographical fragment, " The Romance of a Life." In order to augment the information, Mr. Jorgenson visited the family home in D0nna, studying the landscape and the locality and interviewing relatives and acquaintances who knew R0lvaag as a boy and as a young fisherman on the Lofoten fishing expeditions. The biography having been almost completely documented , there could be no purpose in any extensive rehearsal of facts already given there. Nor does it seem advisable to give a detailed account of sources by periods, inasmuch as that would involve a good deal of repetitiousness and because 152 STUDIES AND RECORDS in certain instances sufficient evidence for exact dating is lacking. Of greater worth and interest would be some conception of the general nature and extent of the entire body of documents out of which Rplvaag's life and thinking were reconstructed. Practically all the material is in the family archives. Exceptions would be such items as information drawn from college...