This exhibit is a broadly told story of the Norwegian emigration to the United States between 1825 and 1930, the period usually taken to be the classic emigration era. It tells of the common emigrants, who statistically speaking were small farmers or cotters from the rural areas of Norway. Through brief glimpses into the past, it provides a picture of their experience as they go from being a Norwegian living in a rural, relatively homogenous society to being Norwegian-Americans living in a huge, extremely heterogeneous society.
Besides telling the story in historical and chronological terms, the exhibit also relates an inner story of the feelings of the emigrants. It demonstrates the pain, even the guilt that they felt as they left their homes and families, the shock of meeting the massive strangeness in the new country, and the homesickness many experienced, even as they found themselves leading a good life in their new circumstances.
The exhibit also tells of the good aspects of the emigration: being able to get a job and earn much more than one could dream of in Norway, for example; or the broad plains available to hard-working emigrants to the Midwest; or the fact that strangeness can be frightening, but also attractive for those who meet it with the right attitude.
This exhibit concerns itself with emigration to the United States. This may seem odd to those of Norwegian descent who live in other parts of the world. It is however a historical fact that approximately 80% of all Norwegian emigrants went to America. For that reason we see this particular exhibit as an entry to the broader history of the emigration, a history that soon will be shown in the museum’s other exhibits..
