Herman Olaus Fjelde papers, 1870-2000

Herman Olaus Fjelde papers, 1870-2000

P1269

1870-2000

Miscellaneous records of a physician who was born at Ålesund, Norway, and who received his early education there and at the University of Oslo. He emigrated to the United States in 1889 and attended the medical school at the University of Minnesota, 1890-1895. He began to practice medicine in 1895, first at Martell, Minnesota, and later moved successively to Abercrombie, Fargo, and Rolla, North Dakota. A man of many interests, he worked tirelessly for the preservation of the Norwegian heritage of his countrymen in the New World. He helped establish Det norske selskap and Søndmørelaget and belonged to other Norwegian-American societies. He was instrumental in the erecting of monuments honoring famous Norwegians: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson at North Dakota Agriculture College, Henrik Wergeland at Island Park and Rollo of Normandy (Gange-Rolf), all at Fargo, North Dakota; Ivar Aasen and Hans Nielsen Hauge at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota; and Henrik Ibsen at Wahpeton, North Dakota.

Dr. Fjelde came from a gifted family. His father, Paul Michelet Fjelde, a woodcarver, came to Chicago with his son Oswald in 1870. His brother, Jacob Fjelde (1859-1895) became a well-known sculptor whose works include a statue of Ole Bull in Loring Park and one of Hiawatha and Minnehaha in Minnehaha Park, both in Minneapolis. A sister, Pauline (1861-1923), was a painter and needlework artist, who had studied in France mastering the art of Gobelin tapestry weaving. Her most famous work is a Hiawatha tapestry. More information about the family is scattered throughout the collection, mainly in the scrapbooks.

1.6 cubic feet (4 archives boxes)

Correspondence

History