Agnes Wergeland Lodge #52 welcomes all interested parties to join them at one of their meetings.
LODGE HIGHLIGHTS
Our newest lodge, Agnes Mathilde Wergeland, offers the mid-Willamette Valley Area of Oregon (Junction City/Eugene/Springfield/ )a new Daughters of Norway lodge. You are invited to share, learn and experience your Nordic heritage. Junction City has a history of being a mecca of Scandinavian events in the western part of OR.
The lodge shares Scandinavian heritage through interesting programs and interest groups. They are active in the Junction City Scandinavian Festival held during the summer. You can still become a charter member thru Nov 2nd, 2011, if you contact the lodge now and sign-up.
A few of their programs will include Nordic:
- Lefse Lovers Unite
- Hardanger Embroidery
- Famous People
- Cultural Events & Celebrations
- Presentations on art, society, folklore, history, genealogy, etc.
October 2, 2011 Institution pictures....join them now! as a charter member thru 11/2/11.
MEETING DETAILS
- WHEN: Fourth Saturday 1 of month at 10:00am
- WHERE: Gayle Fletchall Hall, 5th & Greenwood, Junction City, OR
LODGE'S NAME
The lodge was named for a noted Norwegian-American historian, professor, feminist and poet. She was born on May 8, 1857, in Christiania (modern day Oslo), Norway. Although her parents were not as famous or wealthy as other Wergelands, she and her brother became accomplished in their respective fields. Her brother was a Norwegian painter, and they were distantly related to other famous Norwegians such as the poet Henrik Wergeland and feminist writer Camilla Collett.
After receiving all the education afforded females in Norway, Agnes continued her education abroad in Germany and later Switzerland. She became the first women from Norway to ever receive a Ph.D. degree (from the University of Zurich in legal history). In order to pursue additional education, she decided to continue her education in the United States.
Agnes took a history fellowship from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1890 where she lectured for two years before moving to Illinois. At the University of Illinois she continued her lecturing in 1893. In 1896, she worked at the University of Chicago (first as a docent in history and then as a nonresident instructor). By 1902, she became the history department chair at the University of Wyoming. Not only did she teach history there, but also French and Spanish.
By 1904, Ms. Wergeland became a US citizen and not long afterwards published her first Norwegian poetry book, Amerika og Andre Digte (America and Other Poems), She had worked on additional books that were published posthumously: Efterladte Digte (Posthumous Poems), History of the Working Classes in France, Leaders in Norway and other Essays, Slavery in Germanic Society During the Middle Ages, Early Christian Romanesque Gothic Architecture, and Modern Danish Literature and its Foremost Representative. She died on March 6, 1914 in Laramie, Wyoming where she was still the chair of the history department.
Agnes is remembered as one of the finest poets in America to write in Norwegian. Her poetry has been called "gems of Scandinavian-American literature." 2 In addition, her contributions to the women's suffrage movement in America should not be forgotten. Agnes had been a strong supporter and lecturer in these regards. An endowment fund was given as a memorial to the University of Oslo at Christiania for Norwegian female students to study history and economics in the United States. In addition, another professor honored her at the University of Wyoming with a history scholarship. Ms. Wergeland is honored at the Emigration Center at Radøy Norway as one of two women writers who helped bring the news of life in America to Norwegians hungry to find a better life at the turn of the 20th century.
- 1 Lodge may not hold regular meetings on holidays in winter. [Note: Dec. 10th is only meeting of Nov,/Dec. 2011.] For details at this time of year contact the lodge.
- 2 The Poetry of Agnes Mathilde Wergeland by Larry Emil Scott (Vol. 30: page 273) in NAHA online.
