Books & Publications

Boka om Land IV Utvandringen til Amerika fra Nordre og Søndre Land 1839-1915 by Arvid Sandaker was published by Lands Museum in Dokka, Norway in 1973 as the fourth in a series of historical publications documenting the history of Nordre and Søndre Land. It discusses in a scholarly fashion the conditions in Land that contributed to the exodus of nearly 7000 people from the communities of Nordre and Søndre Land. It goes on to describe the immigrant’s journey and relate some of the immigrant experiences in America. A large portion of the book contains biographical information of Landing immigrants to America.

Until recently Boka om Land IV was available only in Norwegian, but in conjunction with the centennial observance of Landingslag of America in 2010, I translated the book into English. Mr. Sandaker was in attendance at the Seven Lag Stevne in 2008 when I approached him about the possibility of having his book translated as a centennial project. He was in favor of the idea, but didn’t feel that he was in a position to take on the job of translating. Although Arvid’s English was far better than my Norwegian, we agreed that it is easier to translate into your first language. I volunteered for the job and after receiving permission from the original publisher, Lands Museum, I got to work.

The actual translating took about 6 months. I worked closely with Mr. Sandaker, sending him each chapter for proof reading as they were completed. I found Mr. Sandaker’s prose fairly easy to translate, but there were cases where he quoted 19^th century newspaper articles and letters that were especially difficult for me to translate. In these instances, I could always go to Mr. Sandaker for help.

Sandaker’s research included compiling the names of thousands of emigrants from Land who registered their departures. This information came mainly from church records and passenger ship protocols. When the original Boka om Land IV was published in 1973 the decision was made to include only those emigrants whose whereabouts in America were known. The additional lists of emigrants were subsequently printed in several installments of the annual publication of Lands Museum, Landingen. Since these lists are also of interest to American and Canadian Landings, they have been translated and are included in the English edition of Boka om Land IV. They are indexed by farm name and appear in chronological order by year of emigration.

The social or class structure of 19^th century Norway is unfamiliar to many Americans and Canadians and therefore it was decided that an addendum containing a brief description of the Norwegian farm system from that time period should be included in the English edition of Boka om Land IV. Alastair Brown, Curator of Lands Museum in Dokka, Norway provided an article for the book that outlines the historical background that created a culture in the farming communities of Norway which made the population very receptive to the idea of immigration to America.

I attempted to format the pages of the book to closely resemble the original, including recreating charts and graphs to include translated texts. Many pictures were scanned from one of the original texts. In some cases I was able to find the original photos that Sandaker had used, the scans of which produced a clearer finished product, and I added some photos that hadn’t appeared in the original Norwegian version. These added photos came from another centennial project, a photo collection that was gifted to Lands Museum as part of Landingslag’s centennial observance. The entire book was created as a word document that I made into a PDF before sending it in to the publisher. I created a cover design that is in the style of the more recent Boka om Land publications. The picture on the front cover is from a 1914 painting by Kristian Skolman, depicting an emigrant departing for America. On the back cover is a photo of a relief carving by Per Einbu, showing a family of emigrants leaving Land. The relief carving, a gift to Lands Museum from Landingslag member Ann Edwards, was unveiled at Lands Museum on the occasion of the Landingslag tour of Land in 2000.

Proof reading, formatting, design and layout took another 8 months approximately, followed by the final editing, which was done by Verlyn and Evonne Anderson, who did a professional job for volunteer wages. I decided to publish the book online, and for this I needed assistance from someone with more technical expertise than I possess, so I called on my husband, Tom, a professor of engineering. He was able to embed the files and provide the additional technical support required for online publication, and basically hold my hand as I ventured into unknown cyber territory. From start to finish the translation project took about a year and a half.

Although the translation was completed in about 18 months from start to finish, the story of Landingslag’s involvement in the book began in 1971 when Sandaker visited the annual Landingslag stevne, presented a talk on his project and made an appeal for financial support. As it happened, the gift of financial assistance that the lag had designated to help the poor of Land in 1914 was now sitting in a bank in Land, unused, because the economic conditions there were dramatically improved, rendering it unnecessary. The lag decided at that time to turn this money over for use “as the government officials see fit”. This money was used to finance the publication of Boka om Land IV in 1973.

Sandaker’s goal was to shed light on a piece of Landing history that had received little attention. Although originally writing for a Norwegian audience, he hoped that there would be an American interest in this project as well. In this regard he was not disappointed, since from the time he made his announcement to the Landingslag and others in America, he received inquiries from them regarding a possible English translation of his work. In a letter written in 1971 he suggested to the president of Landingslag that perhaps the lag would initiate the translation project. Nearly 40 years would pass before a volunteer from the lag undertook the task.

The first book we received from the publisher last April was set aside for Mr. Sandaker and was presented to him at a gala Landingslag centennial banquet which was hosted by the mayors of Nordre and Søndre Land and held in Søndre Land last June, with former Ambassador to the United States, Knut Vollebæck, serving as toastmaster. It was an honor for me to present the book to Mr. Sandaker, and I believe he felt very honored to receive it. It was a project 40 years in the making and we were both excited to see the realization of our goal.

Members of Landingslaget who knew Mr. Sandaker were saddened to hear of his death on January 6^th, 2011. We are fortunate that an historian of his stature contributed so much time and effort to documenting the history of Landings in America.

Sandra Hendrickson was the president of Landingslaget from 2000 to 2013. She is proud of her 100% Norwegian ancestry, with ties to Numedal, Sigdal, Valdres and Trøndelag as well as Land. Her parents were 2nd and 3rd generation Norwegian-Americans whose first language was Norwegian, but Sandra learned Norwegian at the University of Minnesota, where she received a degree in Scandinavian Studies.