Danes in Wisconsin

We're in the process of updating our website! Learn more about what that means and how you can help create history..

Frederick Hale

A concise introduction to the history and legacy of Danish immigrants in the state—why they left Denmark, how they got to Wisconsin, and what they did when they got here.

72 pages, 6 x 9, 34 b&w photos, 1 map
Paperback: $9.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-366-4
Ebook: $4.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-525-5
Publication Date: 4/13/2005

BUY

-

Description

Wisconsin Territory’s first Dane arrived in 1829, and by 1860 the state’s Danish-born population had exceeded a 1,100. Yet these newcomers remained a small segment of Wisconsin’s increasingly complex cultural mosaic, and the challenges of adapting to life in this new land shaped the Danish experience in the state. In this historical overview, author Frederick Hale offers a concise introduction to Wisconsin’s Danish immigrants and communities, exploring their reasons for leaving their homeland, describing their difficult journeys, and examining their adjustments to life on Wisconsin soil.

The book also includes the selected letters of Danish immigrant Andrew Frederickson. These compelling documents, written over a forty-year span, capture the personal observations of one Dane as he made a new life in Wisconsin.

Part of the People of Wisconsin series, this book helps to illuminate the many ways that immigrants have shaped our state. Learn about the values and ideas the Danish people brought with them from Europe and explore their myriad contributions to the culture, economy, and politics of their new home.

Author Bio

Frederick Hale

Frederick Hale graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned master’s degrees at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, and Johns Hopkins University, where he also received his PhD. In addition to Danes in Wisconsin, Hale has written five books in the field of Scandinavian immigration and has contributed articles to historical, literary, and theological journals in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Africa, and the United States.