Stavig letters, 1882

Title

Identifier

P1660

Date

1882

Description

Translations of over 150 letter between the Lars A. Stavig family and that of his half-brother, Knudt Stavik. Lars emigrated from the Stavik farm in Romsdal in June 1876 with his wife and three sons. In 1882 they homesteaded near Nutley in Day county, South Dakota. Knudt remained on the home farm. The letters were preserved by Lars' grandson Harold Torness, and translated by Marta Boyce.

Folder 1

Includes family photographs, maps. Two brochures: "Through the eyes of an immigrant: a conference on Scandinavian immigration told through history, drama, and architecture, October 12-13, 1996," at the Stavig House Museum, Sisseton, S.D.; and, "The Stavig letters: the story of a Norwegian immigrant, Monday, July 16, 2001, Minnesota History Center, St. Paul." (Dr. Wayne Knutson (University of South Dakota) "developed this dramatization based on the letters."
DVD "The Stavig Letters: The Story of a Norwegian Immigrant" is a dramatic performance of the letters selected, edited and Dramatized by Dr. Wayne S. Knutson, Professor Emeritus at the University of South Dakota. The cast of three includes a narrator and the two half-brothers, Lars Stavig, who comes to the prairie, and Knut Stavik, who remains in Norway. Using direct excerpts from the letters and basic theater props, the play lasts approximately 70 minutes and can be performed anywhere. "The Stavig Letters" is a program of the South Dakota Humanities Speakers Bureau: http://www.sdpb.org/stavigletters/

Folder 2

Jane Torness & John S. Rasmussen (compiled & annotated), Dear Unforgettable Brother: The Stavig Letters from Norway and America, 1881-1937 (2013). Includes essays from Edvard Hoem, “One Family, Two Lands. Why Did We Leave?” and Betty A. Bergland, “Norwegian Immigration to the United States and the Northern Great Plains.” Over 130 years have passed since Lars Stavig first wrote home to Knut Stavig. Like the lives their authors lived, their letters reflect the challenges faced by families in both Norway and America. Covering the span of five decades, these letters gained popularity through an award-winning South Dakota PBS film. The communication among the Stavig relatives gives readers personal insight into the lives of those who emigrated and those who stayed behind.