Carl G. O. Hansen papers, 1862-1958

History/Biography: 

Carl Gustav Otto Hansen was born on March 16, 1871 in Trondheim, Norway to Sivert Christian Hansen (1839-1872) and Marit Megrund (1842-1927). In 1881, Carl, alongside his mother and siblings, emigrated to the United States. They settled in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where Marit’s parents and siblings settled. In 1882, they moved to Minneapolis. Marit supported the family, as she did in Norway, by producing knitwear. In 1887, she married Halver Olson from Verdalen. 

Hansen studied Latin, Green, history and composition at Augsburg Seminary from 1887 to 1889, however he was mostly self-educated. He worked for a time in a print shop and later opened his own place. He married Amalie Marie Edsten (1871-1945), daughter of furniture merchant Aaron Henry Edsten and Johanne Larsdatter Rognerud. Together they had four children: Conrad, Arild, Erling, and Mildred. 

From 1897 to 1935, he wrote and edited for Minneapolis Daglig Tidende. From 1935 to 1937, he was in Chicago and employed at Skandinaven. He then edited the Sons of Norway magazine in Minneapolis and served as the educational director (1937-1954). Hansen was a lifelong musician and sang with and directed male chorus groups, including the Norwegian Glee Club of Minnesota (1912-1945). He was also president of the Norwegian-Danish Press Association, and a founder of Det Norske Selskap and of NAHA.Hansen was a music critic, a book reviewer, a biographer of Norwegian Americans, and the author of "My Minneapolis (1956)." 

Scope and Content: : 

Correspondence, articles, lectures, reports, clippings, scrapbooks, and diaries of a Norwegian-born Minneapolis journalist, musician, lecturer, and author. The papers deal with the activities of Norwegian-American singing societies in Minneapolis and other cities, the tribulations of translators, the cultural creativity of Norwegian Americans, the study of the Norwegian language in the Minneapolis public schools and at St. Olaf College, biographies of Norwegian Americans, and other related subjects. "Sagas of Today" (a "Minneapolis Journal'' column) and "For 50 aar siden," "Det Norske Amerika gjennem Hundred Aar," and "Glimt fra Livet i det Norske Amerika," columns that ran in "Minneapolis Tidende," are among the clippings. The collection contains correspondence from significant authors, journalists, and scholars of the day.