Pioneering Pages: Forming the New American Woman

May 9, 2025 - May 18, 2026

Sisters Ida and Mina Jensen were born in Ringsaker, Hedmark, Norway. In 1870 they immigrated with their family to Illinois. Later, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Ida and husband Niels Frederik Hansen started a magazine called Fra Alle Lande (From All Countries). Ida wrote a column for homemakers. After the magazine folded in 1888, Ida and her sister Mina, who had become a typesetter, decided to put the publishing equipment to use and produce a magazine for women, which they called Kvinden og Hjemmet or Woman and Home. The first issue, edited by Ida and typeset by Mina, came out in May 1888. The magazine would continue for 60 years and peaked with a circulation of 83,000 throughout the United States and abroad.

The magazine was written in Dano-Norwegian, the language of Denmark and Norway at that time. One of the aims of the magazine was to offer information to help immigrant women learn customs and skills to adapt to American ways of life. But the magazine was much more. Unusual at the time, this was a publication by and for women. Kvinden og Hjemmet was also remarkable for its content. From the first issue, Ida Jensen Hansen advocated for women’s education, equality, and suffrage. She offered articles to stimulate and develop readers’ intellect and make them aware of how they could use their knowledge, talents, and skills to benefit society.

Vesterheim is pleased to work with Norwegian scholars Dr. Nancy Coleman, Dr. Eva Marie Syversen, Anne Kari Vasaasen, and Solveig Glesaaen to shed light on an important part of the story of Norwegian immigration history and Norwegian American life. 

Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the first organized emigration of Norwegians to the United States with Vesterheim in 2025! The single-masted sloop, Restauration, left Stavanger on July 4, 1825, with 52 people on board and landed in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825.

Vesterheim joins Crossings, a group of Norwegian-American organizations, to commemorate this anniversary with programming inspired by the strong connections between the people of Norway and the United States. Whether you have Norwegian roots or an interest in Scandinavian traditions, we invite you to join Vesterheim’s special programs, exhibitions, and classes to share the history and traditions of Norwegian Americans.