NAHA at 100: Rehousing the Institutional Records of the Norwegian-American Historical Association

The Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA) completed the rehousing of its institutional records, which span nearly 100 years and include publishing, secretary, archivist, and financial documents. The project involved refoldering and reboxing approximately 116 cubic feet of materials previously stored in acidic folders and overstuffed boxes. NAHA also created detailed finding aids and updated its catalog to improve access to the collections. These records preserve the organization’s history from its founding in 1925 after the Norse-American Centennial through today. The archives contain letters, manuscripts, photographs, and early documents collected by founders such as author Ole E. Rølvaag and historian Theodore Blegen.

This rehousing project was timely due to the upcoming bicentennial of Norwegian migration in 2025 and NAHA’s centennial. The association planned an academic conference to mark these anniversaries and prepared to move its collections to a new climate-controlled vault. The project supported NAHA’s mission to preserve Norwegian-American history and to make materials accessible to scholars, students, and the public. Archivists discovered historic photographs that enriched an exhibit on 200 years of Norwegian migration, which was presented during the conference attended by over 250 participants. NAHA’s efforts ensure these collections will remain available for future generations to study and appreciate the Norwegian-American experience.