2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. 200 Norwegians is a podcast series exploring the lives of 200 Norwegians who have shaped the United States—for better or worse.
This podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco.
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In the 18th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American thinker who spent his life trying to understand why wealthy societies so often lose their way.
Veblen died in 1929, alone in a small cabin in California. No obituary appeared. His name had largely vanished from public conversation. Then the stock market crashed—and suddenly America remembered him.
Born to Norwegian immigrant parents on the Midwestern frontier, Veblen grew up in a tight-knit Norwegian community, culturally distant from the America that was rapidly industrializing around him. That distance gave him a peculiar vantage point. He watched the rise of great fortunes, railroads, monopolies, and financiers—and noticed something unsettling. Wealth, he argued, was increasingly detached from productive work and devoted instead to display.
In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” not as a slogan, but as a diagnosis of a society that had begun to mistake waste for success.
This episode explores Veblen’s unlikely life—from Norwegian farm communities to elite universities—and why his ideas keep resurfacing during moments of economic crisis. It is a story about status, power, and a question that remains unresolved: what kind of prosperity actually serves society?
Knut Hovden (01:30:06)
In the 17th episode of 200 Norwegians, you learn about Knut Hovden.
He was born on a storm-beaten island outside Bergen in 1880, a frail boy who couldn’t join the fishermen at sea. Instead, he watched, listened, and learned. While others hauled nets, he studied the science behind them. That curiosity carried him from a small coastal village to Norway’s leading fish-preservation school — and eventually far beyond Norway itself.
After the great fire of Ålesund in 1904, Hovden crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Monterey, California. There, he reshaped an entire industry. He invented machines, redesigned fishing methods, and turned a sleepy waterfront into the sardine capital of the world. His work fed soldiers in two world wars and helped build the booming canning empire that defined Cannery Row.
But his success came with consequences: pollution, overfishing, political battles, and a personal life marked by turmoil.
Campbell Norsgaard (00:43:01)
The sixteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Campbell Norsgaard, the photographer who risked his life to document Norway under Nazi occupation—and later captured its rebirth. Imprisoned by the Gestapo for taking forbidden photos, Norsgaard escaped and went on to become the official photographer for the Royal Norwegian Air Force at Little Norway in Canada. His lens followed the war across continents—from pilots training in exile to the King’s return after liberation—and later turned toward the quiet wonders of nature in films for the National Geographic Society.
In this episode, I speak with Heather Turner, Norsgaard’s granddaughter, who shares unseen images from the family archive and helps piece together the undocumented story of the documentarian.
Per Lysne (00:26:01)
In this episode of 200 Norwegians, we explore how one man’s brushstrokes brought a fading folk art back to life. With insights from Patti Goke, a Vesterheim Gold Medalist, and Håkon Lysne, president of the Lærdal Historical Society, we trace the journey of the Father of American Rosemaling—from the fjords of Norway to the heart of the Midwest.
Leif Erikson (00:32:53)
In the 14th episode of 200 Norwegian, we tell the story of Leif Erikson—the first European to reach North America—and how his place in U.S. history was revived a thousand years later.
We trace Helge Ingstad’s 1960 search to L’Anse aux Meadows, where turf-house ruins and later carbon dating confirmed a Viking-age settlement, bringing the sagas of Vinland out of myth and into evidence. Along the way, we ask why Columbus became a household name while Leif lingered in the footnotes, and what the sagas (and their contradictions) really say about Helluland, Markland, and Vinland.
Our guest is Norwegian journalist and author Knut Lindh—who met Ingstad—and helps unpack how discovery, memory, and identity shape the Leif Erikson story.
Ole Evinrude (00:31:16)
The thirteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Ole Evinrude, the man who invented the first successful outboard motor.
Born in Norway and raised in Wisconsin, Evinrude struggled through failures and setbacks before his persistence led to an invention that changed boating forever. From a melting ice cream cone on a hot summer day to a machine that revolutionized life on America’s lakes and rivers, his journey is one of determination and ingenuity.
In this episode, I speak with Bob Jacobson, author of Ole Evinrude and His Outboard Motor.
Guri Endreson Rosseland (00:35:21)
In the 12th episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Guri Endreson Rosseland, a Norwegian settler caught in the Dakota War of 1862. When Dakota visitors came to her Minnesota farm, the encounter turned violent—her husband was killed, her daughters taken, and her son gravely wounded. Hiding with her youngest, Guri emerged to nurse her boy back to life and lead her children through a burning, war-torn frontier.
This episode explores her ordeal alongside the broader conflict—born of broken treaties, hunger, and land loss—that entangled both Dakota and Norwegian settlers. Guri’s story is one of survival and resilience, but also of complicity in a violent struggle that reshaped the American frontier.
Sonja Henie (00:36:16)
In the 11th episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll meet one of Norway’s greatest athletes of all time: figure skater Sonja Henie. Not only did she dominate the sport with an unbeaten streak of three Olympic gold medals and ten world championships, she also reinvented herself as a Hollywood star and global diva with her lavish ice shows and musical skating comedies.
How did she transform figure skating? How did she shape America’s idea of spectacle? And why did she remain such a controversial figure back home in Norway?
In this episode, we trace a career that was not just larger than life—but, as sports historian Philip Harsh puts it, “larger than many lives.”
Ole Edvart Rølvaag (00:46:32)
In the tenth episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Ole Edvart Rølvaag—from stormy Dønna to the American Midwest—where he carved the immigrant experience into the American psyche with a number of novels, including his masterpiece: Giants in the Earth.
This wasn’t just a prairie saga; it was a deep dive into the immigrant soul. With his granddaughter and professor in Norwegian literature, Solveig Zempel, as our guide, we explore how a fisherman’s son became the unlikely voice of a generation torn between old worlds and new dreams.
Hans Christian Heg (00:30:53)
In the ninth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll discover the legacy of a Norwegian abolitionist, Hans Christian Heg.
Heg was only eleven when he boarded the ship that carried his family across the Atlantic. The Heg family were Haugeans, part of a Norwegian lay movement that defied the religious monopoly of the state church. In Muskego, Wisconsin, they carved out a new life as farmers, publishers, and political pioneers.
Heg didn’t live to grow old, but his contributions to Norwegian America—and the country at large—were many. In this episode, you’ll follow his journey from gold miner in California to groundbreaking prison reformer and committed abolitionist. You’ll hear why he became a leading figure among Norwegian Americans when the Civil War erupted, and why his sacrifice on the battlefield mattered. And we’ll talk about the irony that, in the summer of 2020, his statue was toppled by protesters who likely never knew what he stood for.
Odd Lovoll (01:00:24)
Episode 8 of 200 Norwegians is a special live recording from Norway House in Minneapolis, featuring renowned Norwegian-American historian and Professor Emeritus at St. Olaf College, Odd Lovoll.
Lovoll has authored numerous books on Norwegian-American history and is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in the field. In this conversation, we talk about his childhood in Norway during World War II, his immigration to the U.S. in the 1940s, the tragic loss of his older brother, and the journey that led him to become the foremost historian of the Norwegian-American experience.
Knute Rockne (00:48:10)
The seventh episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of legendary football coach Knute Rockne. What made him so great? How did he achieve the highest winning percentage in college football history? What was the Rockne system? And why was he called the "Coach for a Nation"?
We trace Rockne’s journey from the snow-covered village of Voss to the bustling streets of Chicago. Learn how the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair lured his inventor father—and eventually the entire Rockne family—across the Atlantic. Discover how Knute fell in love with football, excelled as an athlete, and later transformed the game itself.
We explore how his creativity and forward-thinking helped turn football from a fringe blood sport into a national pastime.
Featuring sports historian Jim Lefebvre, author of Coach for a Nation and executive director of Knute Rockne Memorial Society.
Belle Gunnes (00:33:19)
In the sixth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear the story of Belle Gunness—the most dangerous Norwegian church lady in American history. Follow her journey from Selbu, Norway, to the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana, where she built a deadly empire of matrimonial ads, life insurance scams, and disappearing suitors.
Discover how an immigrant woman became one of America’s most prolific serial killers—and how one suspicious brother helped bring her story to light.
Was it greed that drove Belle to kill? Or something even darker?
This episode follows the strange, violent arc of a woman who didn’t just change the lives of those around her—she may have changed how Americans saw Norwegian immigrants altogether.
Andrew Furuseth (00:53:12)
He never wanted his picture taken.
He never accepted a higher salary than the average seaman.
Andrew Furuseth was a humble, yet remarkably effective leader. That’s why he was—ironically—given the not-so-humble title: The Abraham Lincoln of the Sea.
In this episode, we trace his roots—back to Norway’s golden age of sail.
We’ll journey across the oceans, round the Cape, and land in the lawless boomtown of San Francisco.You’ll hear about the shanghaiers, the crimps, and the ruthless shipowners. And you’ll meet the relentless figure who stood up to them all—
Andrew Furuseth.
The man who famously said: "You can put me in jail. But you cannot give me narrower quarters than as a seaman I have always had. You cannot give me coarser food than I have always eaten. You cannot make me lonelier than I have always been."
Margarethe Cammermeyer (01:15:07)
In the fourth episode of 200 Norwegians, we share the remarkable story of Margarethe Cammermeyer — the colonel who took on the U.S. military after being discharged for being a lesbian.
Cammermeyer's life reads like a Forrest Gump-style journey through modern history. Born in Nazi-occupied Norway to parents active in the resistance, she went on to serve in the Vietnam War, became a top-ranking officer in the National Guard, and found herself at the center of a national controversy in the 1990s.
Her legal battle led to a landmark court victory — and even inspired a made-for-TV movie starring Glenn Close. Along the way, she’s crossed paths with figures like Barbra Streisand and several U.S. presidents.
In this episode, we dig into it all.
Cleng Peerson Part 3 (00:58:59)
In the third and final chapter of the Cleng Peerson saga, you will hear what happened when the father of Norwegian emigration joined a cult and married a woman 26 years his junior. You will also learn about his final walk toward the Texas sun—and why Clifton, in Bosque County, is called the Norwegian Capital of Texas.
This episode features Kirk Mies, Marty Ray, Thomas Mannes, and Chris Ardis.
Cleng Peerson Part 2 (00:38:28)
In this second episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear how Cleng Peerson’s grand plan failed—and how, in the end, President John Quincy Adams stepped in to rescue the Sloopers after their arrival in America. We’ll explore the brutal early years in Kendall, New York, a place that came to be known as the "Black North." Then, we’ll follow in Peerson’s footsteps as he pushes west in search of a new settlement, culminating in a fateful night under a tree in the Fox River Valley, where he experienced a biblical vision that would seal the destiny of his countrymen.
Cleng Peerson Part 1 (00:45:17)
In this first episode, you'll hear the story of Cleng Peerson, the father of Norwegian emigration. Discover his humble beginnings, and how an unlikely chain of events—spurred by the Napoleonic Wars and an unhappy marriage—set him on the path to becoming a Moses figure for a group of persecuted Norwegians. The episode also follows the journey of the Norwegian Mayflower across the Atlantic, where a casket of sweet wine nearly sent them to the bottom of the sea.
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