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Ole E. Rolvaag
Biographical Notes
Date of birth:
April 22, 1876, Donna Island, Norway
Date of death:
November 5, 1931, Northfield, Minnesota
Ole Edvart Rolvaag. Author and professor. Fisherman in Norway, 1892-96. Emigrated to the United States in 1896; worked as a farmhand in South Dakota 1896-98. Graduated from Augustana Academy in Canton, South Dakota (later Augustana College, Sioux Falls), 1901; B.A., St. Olaf College, 1905; M.A., St. Olaf College, 1910. Studied at the University of Christiania (later Oslo), Norway, 1905-06. Professor, Norwegian language and literature, St. Olaf College, 1906-31. Author of Norwegian language textbooks and novels, essays, and poems about the Norwegian-American immigrant experience. His novels, Giants in the Earth and Peder Victorious, originally written in Norwegian, were published in English translation in 1927 and 1929, respectively. They received international acclaim as accounts of immigrant pioneer life on the Dakota prairies in the 1870s. He worked to preserve and enrich the Norwegian cultural heritage in the Northwest, 1914-25; helped found the Society for Norwegian Language and Culture in 1910 and the Norwegian-American Historical Association in 1925; was secretary there from 1925 to 1931. Knighted (Order of St. Olav) by King Haakon VII, Norway, 1926. The Ole Rolvaag Memorial Library at St. Olaf was named for him in 1944.
Selected Works
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Additional Resources
Sources used to prepare this author entry
The following bibliography may include links to Web sites that are no longer operable or have changed location. The sources are shown as they existed in the fall of 1999 when the entries were compiled.
- American-Scandinavian Review. Jan. 1932, Vol. 20, no. 1, p. 7. New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1932.
- American Quarterly. Winter 1966, Vol. 18, no. 4, p. 579. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966.
- Barron, Ron. A Guide to Minnesota Writers: Expanded and Revised. Minnesota: Minnesota Council of Teachers of English, 1993.
- Benson, William. High On Manitou: A History of St. Olaf College, 1874-1949. Northfield, Minn.: St. Olaf College Press, 1949.
- Brudvig, Mildred. ``An Essay Towards a Bibliography of O. E. Rolvaag.'' 1941.
- Contemporary Authors. Vol. 117. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1986.
- Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 16. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.
- English Journal (Chicago). Sept. 1929, Vol. 18, no. 7, p. 535. Urbana: Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1929.
- Gopher Historian. Winter 1964-65, Vol. 19, no. 2, p. 1. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Socety, 1964.
- Gvale, Gudrun Hovde. O.E. Rolvaag: Nordmann og Amerikanar Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforlaget, 1962.
- Handlin, Oscar. Immigration as a Factor in American History. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959.
- Holmquist, June D., ed. They Chose Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981.
- Huseboe, Arthur, and William Geyer, eds. Where the West begins. Sioux Falls, S.D.: Center for Western Studies Press, 1978.
- Immigrant Contributions to American Life. Vol. 6. Los Angeles: Office of the County Superintendent of Schools, 1937-1940.
- Jorgenson, Theodore, and Nora Solum. Ole Edvart Rolvaag. New York, London: Harper and Brothers, 1939.
- Kennedy, Roger. Men on the moving frontier. Palo Alto, Calif.: American West Publishing Co., 1969.
- Millett, Fred B. Contemporary American Authors. New York: AMS Press, 1940.
- Minneapolis Journal, 30 Nov., 1924, General News Section, p. 6.
- Minneapolis Journal, 21 Dec., 1924, Women's Organizations, p. 4.
- Minneapolis Journal, 31 Jan., 1926, Editorial Section, p. 6.
- Minneapolis Journal, 28 Mar., 1926, Magazine Section, p. 5.
- Minneapolis Journal, 4 Feb., 1928, p. 7.
- Minneapolis Journal, 9 Nov., 1931, p. 13.
- Minnesota Authors. St. Paul: Library Division, State Department of Education, 1934.
- Northfield Independent 13 Nov., 1931, p. 1.
- Norwegian-American Studies and Records. Vol. 7, p. 53. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1933.
- Norwegian-American Studies and Records. Vol. 11, p. 114. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1940.
- Norwegian-American Studies and Records. Vol.12, p. 144. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1941.
- Norwegian-American Studies. Vol. 24, p.112. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1970.
- "O. E. Rolvaag Papers, 1896-1934." St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1955.
- O'Connor, William Van, ed. A History of the Arts in Minnesota. p. 32. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1958.
- Pederson, Kern O. Makers of Minnesota. p. 89. Saint Paul: Marric Publishing Co., 1971.
- Reigstad, Paul. Rolvaag: His Life and Art. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.
- Rolvaag Collection, Norwegian-American Historical Association Archives, St. Olaf College.
- St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5 Dec. 1965, Sunday Magazine, p. 26.
- St. Paul Pioneer Press, 20 Oct. 1974, p. 1.
- Semmingsen, Ingrid. Gudrun Hovde Gvale: O.E. Rolvaag. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1966.
- Shaw, Joseph. History of St. Olaf College, 1874-1974. Northfield, Minn.: St. Olaf College Press, 1974.
- Stevens, Robert L. "Ole Edvart Rolvaag: A Critical Study of his Norwegian-American Novels." Doctoral Thesis, University of Illinois, 1955.
- Thorson, Gerald. Ole Rolvaag, Artist and Cultural Leader. Northfield, Minn.: St. Olaf College Press, 1975.
- Western Folklore. Jan. 1975, Vol. 34, no. 1, p. 1. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1975.
- Who Was Who Among North American Authors, 1921-1939. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1976.
This pilot database compiled and maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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