This museum tells the story of northern Europeans who settled part of this country. DP
By GORDY HOLT, P-I REPORTER
seattlepi.com: Should a Norwegian farmhand leave his little barnyard cell for the chance to test America's Homestead Act or to become a bricklayer, maybe, or a cabinetmaker?
Could a single Swedish woman improve her lot as a New World seamstress, or give parlor maid a try?
Between 1840 and 1914, some 52 million Europeans fled homelands to take their chances elsewhere. Among the 35 million who picked America were 1.2 million Swedes; 800,000 Norwegians; 301,000 Danes; 285,000 Finns; and 12,500 Icelanders, all harboring hopes that America would be that land of promised opportunity. Weren't artisans of all kinds needed? Wasn't there land to claim?
They would discover it was all of that, yes, but sometimes something less.
To see how it went, both in the thick and the thin of it, pay a visit to Seattle's Nordic Heritage Museum, a place arranged to put you in the muddy shoes of those who took the gamble and sailed west to this new country. Indeed, so candid and artistic is the telling of this story that you can't help but be reminded of today's immigration politics. The only thing missing from this story is a neck-snapping encounter with a pot of boiling lutefisk.
For the olfactorily timid, therefore, uff da! Your visit will be as safe for the nose as it will be economical for the family pocketbook.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment