In 2025, Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration with activities, classes and a special exhibit. The sloop ship Restauration set sail for America from Stavanger, Norway, on July 4, 1825, with 52 Norwegians aboard, according to the museum, and the ship was the first in a large wave of Norwegian emigration. Within a century, more than 800,000 Norwegians followed these “Sloopers” to the United States.
The museum’s exhibit, “200 Years of Norwegians in America,” features important objects, photographs, themes and stories from 200 years of Norwegians in America and is on view through Jan. 31, 2026. Luther College students in Anna Peterson’s Scandinavian immigration history course have chosen some of the objects for the exhibit and created a companion podcast, which is available through the Vesterheim website.
Vesterheim Folk Art School offers classes in handcraft and culture throughout the year. Organizers will offer special Cultural Connection webinars with fiber artists from around the world, comparing traditions from various cultures, and Norwegian instructor Marta Kløve Juuhl will be in Decorah to teach weaving. Also, soprano Laura Loge and pianist Steven Luskan from Norway will offer a concert in September at Luther College which will be live-streamed online.
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