FamilieTid: Folk Stories from North of the Arctic Circle

[vc_custom_heading text="February 8, 2025 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m." use_theme_fonts="yes" el_class="medium-heading bold"]Join celebrated Norwegian Arctic cultural presenter and preserver Stina Fagurton to hear folktales from north of the Arctic Circle. Join us for an hour of stories that will delight the children and whoever else in the family loves a good story. Gather the family together to...

February Bokprat: The Cabin in the Mountains by Robert Ferguson

Dr. Maren Johnson, Luther College's Associate Professor of Nordic Studies and Torgerson Center for Nordic Studies Director, facilitates a monthly bokprat, discussing Scandinavian authors and Scandinavian life. Join us in Febuary as we discuss the novel Cabin in the Mountains by Robert Ferguson. The hytte – or wooden cabin home – is a crucial part...

Careers of Service: The Norwegian Lutheran Deaconesses

Join Decorah Travel Club as they host Vesterheim Chief Curator Laurann Gilbertson for this engaging presentation about Norwegian deaconesses in America. Deaconesses, women called to serve the church and humankind, come from a tradition dating from Biblical times to the Middles Ages. Their work was revived in Germany in 1836 and the “modern” diaconate spread...

A Dying Norway – in a Living America? Exhibit Closes

A Dying Norway – in a Living America? Exhibit Closes on February 16, 2025. This exhibit of documentary photographs by Lars Idar Waage is a portrait of Stavanger, Illinois, by someone from 6,000 miles away in Stavanger, Norway. The tiny town of Stavanger, Illinois, in LaSalle County, is the location of the first permanent settlement...

Barnetimen Children’s Hour – February

Vesterheim welcomes preschoolers and their caregivers to Barnetimen Children’s Hour. Meet in the lobby of the museum’s Main Building to explore objects and stories in the museum’s collection and make fun art. Meet in the lobby of the Museum Building to hunt for heart shapes in the museum’s collection and create heart-inspired art before enjoying...

Concert by The OK Factor

Join Vesterheim for a free concert by local favorites The OK Factor! Playful and unexpected, new-classical crossover duo The OK Factor writes and performs folk-inspired music influenced by multiple genres and styles, with an artistry that reveals their classical training. Cellist Olivia Diercks and violinist Karla Colahan find great joy in defying expectations and delivering...

Cultural Connections: Stranded Colorwork in UK Gloves Webinar

[vc_custom_heading text="February 23, 2025 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m." use_theme_fonts="yes" el_class="medium-heading bold"]Join us for Vesterheim's series of cross-cultural webinars exploring stranded colorwork in knitting from multiple cultural perspectives. Cultural Connections: Stranded Colorwork in Knitted UK Gloves is the second in the series and is led by Dr. Angharad Thomas, an author, researcher, and knitter from the UK....

The Valley Grove Tapestries Exhibit Opens

Four tapestries, woven in traditional Norwegian billedvev or “picture weaving,” for the historic Valley Grove Stone Church in rural Nerstrand, Minnesota, will be on exhibit in the Vesterheim Commons while the church is closed for the winter. The Valley Grove Preservation Society commissioned Vesterheim Gold Medalist Robbie LaFleur of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to design and weave the tapestries...

Travel to Norway with the Hoinesses in 1908

Be transported back in time through words and photos from a 10-week-long trip Andrew and Elise Hoiness took to Norway in 1908. Using visuals from postcards as well as the messages in those and in letters home to family members in Iowa, you will get a sense of the realities of travel at the time...

Fiddlesisters Webinar with Benedicte Maurseth

Join Vesterheim on Zoom for a free webinar, “Fiddlesisters – The History of Female Fiddlers in Norwegian Fiddle Tradition from 1700s until Today" with Benedicte Maurseth. Benedicte Maurseth is a well-established and esteemed performer and composer on Norway's music scene. She has studied with Hardanger fiddle master Knut Hamre for close to 30 years and...