Kristian Prestgard papers, 1884-1945

History/Biography: 

Kristian Prestgard was born on the Harelstad farm in Heidal, Oppland, Norway. His parents were Gudbrand Kristensen Harelstad (1829-1869) and Marit Prestgard (1841-1897). When his father, Kristian and Marit moved back to her family farm in Prestgard. 

Prestgard attended the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago as a correspondent for Oplandenes Avis, a  Norwegian newspaper. Instead of returning home to Norway, he started working in the Norwegian-American press. In 1897, he married Oline Musum (1873–1919) and took a position with a Norwegian language newspaper company in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

He was co-editor and editor of "Decorah-Posten" (1897-1946); co-editor and publisher of "Symra" (1905-1914); editor of Norske Kvad (1906); translator of "Fra Livet i Vestjylland" by Jakob Jakobsen (1894); author of "Nansenfaerden" (1896), Skrøneboka (1911), En Sommer i Norge (1928), "Streiftog, Stemninger og Skildringer" and "Fjords and Faces" (1937); and a founder of NAHA and a member of its board of editors (1925-1933). 

Scope and Content: 

Correspondence, manuscripts, and a scrapbook of a Norwegian-born journalist and author.

The letters by Prestgard and those by his correspondents deal largely with such subjects as the language controversy both in Norway and America, the tour of Norway by twelve American newspapermen in 1927, Knut Gjerset's unfinished dictionary of Norwegian-American biography, the writings of Ole E. Rølvaag, the Norwegian-American Historical Association, the merging of "Minneapolis Tidende" and "Decorah-Posten" in 1935, genealogy, immigration history, and gladioli. He gained a reputation as a horticulturist by developing 30 new varieties of gladioli. 

The Ola K. Stokkestad letters to Prestgard (1884-1897) are unique in that they treat not the economics of rural areas but cultural pursuits mainly in the city. 

The Arne Odd Johnson letters (1934-1938) deal with editorial and publication problems connected with using the Prestgard-Ivar Kleiven correspondence as basic material in a history of the migration of Norwegians to America. 

The John Heitmann letters (1928-1945) are primarily about the problems of translating, editing, and publishing "Fjords and Faces," the English version of "En Sommer i Norge." 

Among the other correspondents are R. B. Anderson, Henry Armstrong, Mrs. L. M. Boomer, Th. Caspari, Borghild M. Dahl, Juul Dieserud, P. J. Eikeland, Johan Falkberget, Arne Garborg, C. J. Hambro, J. C. M. Hanson, Hjalmar R. Holand, Halvdan Koht, Hanna Astrup Larsen, Fridtjof Nansen, John Norstog, Julius Olson, Franklin Petersen, Ragnhild Prestgard, A. N. Rygg, Ludwig Saxe, Th. H. Svanoe, A. A. Veblen, and Henry A. Wallace.

• Portrait of a young man, presumably Jørgen Bukdahl, sent from Bukdahl to Kristian Prestgard, circa 1920 
• Photograph, outdoors, perhaps of a congregation, with about 100 men, women, and children, circa 1891
• Kristian Prestgard, Herman Roe, circa  1935
• Portrait of a young Kristian Prestgard, circa  1900
• Rev. Kristian Prestgard & Anne Margaret Haugen i red. Lunds park utenfor deres hjem i Decorah 5te august 1937