by ODD S. LOVOLL 5 Decorah'Posten: TheStoryofan Immigrant Newspaper The itself norwegian-american firmly as a major institution press as established early as the itself firmly as a major institution as early as the pioneer era of immigration from Norway - from the late 1840s to the end of the Civil War. Thereafter more newspapers sprang up in the shifting immigrant centers, totaling as many as four hundred from first to last. A few of these became leading organs, growing with the Norwegian-American community and providing leadership in changed conditions. In the Middle West, Skandinaven (1866-1941) in Chicago, Decorah-Posten (1874-1972) in Iowa, and Minneapolis Tidende (18871935 ) in Minnesota became the major papers - all three having wide circulation. None of the other publications probably ever fully attained the position of DecorahPosten . For nearly a hundred years, this notable journal served the Norwegians in America. It printed news from the old homeland, reported social and political developments in the New World, and promoted immigrant unity by bringing Norwegians into touch with their countrymen in other areas of settlement. It entertained its readers with literary writings, advised them on a variety of subjects, 77 Odd S. Lovoll and created pride in their ethnic background. Even after it had been carefully read, the paper was not discarded, but, as Barbara Levorsen of North Dakota relates, it served as lining for drawers and shelves and covered barren walls. An American-born generation of Norwegians grew up with Decorah-Posten. It became a family member; its name and history were intimately associated with immigrant life.1 Decorah-Posten, like most early journals, had modest beginnings. Its origin may be traced to the appearance at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1866, of the first NorwegianAmerican literary magazine, Ved Arnen: Et Tidsskrift for Skj0nliteratur (By the Fireside: A Periodical for Belles-Lettres). This monthly publication was founded by B. Anundsen, who in 1864, at the age of twenty, had come to Wisconsin from Skien, Norway. Having completed an apprenticeship in the printing trade before migrating, he found a job as a typesetter on the staff of Fœdrelandet (The Fatherland), a newspaper established early that same year in La Crosse. Anundsen has related that, during the summer of 1866, it occurred to him "to publish a periodical for the Norwegians in America." He managed to issue the first number of Ved Arnen, on September 1, 1866, with sixty subscribers. His intention was to present "short stories, poems, geographical and natural history accounts, new discoveries, famous men's life stories, anecdotes, and the like." Ved Arnen did not, however, provide a living for Anundsen and his wife, the former Mathilda Hoffstrpm, whom he had married in 1865. The next few years were a bleak period for Anundsen, spent trying to make ends meet. On December 13, 1867, he set out to transport all his worldly possessions - including a small printing press - from La Crosse to De1 The author has mainly investigated the files of Decorah-Posten housed in the Preus Library on the Luther College campus. See Barbara Levorsen, "Early Years in Dakota," in Norwegian- American Studies , 21:161 (1962). 78 DECORAH-POSTEN corah, Iowa. Traveling by way of Spring Grove, Minnesota - using two horse-drawn wagons - he arrived at his new base in two days. In spite of the change of location , Ved Amen did not thrive, and the publisher was forced to discontinue it in 1870.2 Originally, he had been invited by the Norwegian Synod (the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) to print its official organ, Kirkelig Maanedstidende (Church Monthly), which the Synod leaders desired to have published under the supervision of the Luther College faculty. They therefore moved it from Madison, Wisconsin, to Decorah. Anundsen printed this official church paper until 1877, when the Synod bought its own press.3 Anundsen sought additional business for his little printing shop. In 1869 he attempted to establish - first as a supplement to Ved Amen and later independently - a publication he called Fra Fjsernt og Nser (From Far and Near). It never had more than seventy-five subscribers, however, and he abandoned the venture after one year.4 Then, on September 18, 1874, as...