Letter from Ole Rølvaag to Jennie Rølvaag, 1930 December 31
- Title
- Letter from Ole Rølvaag to Jennie Rølvaag, 1930 December 31
- Identifier
- p0584_11721
- p0584_11722
- Date
- 1930 December 31
- Description
- Translation:
Dear mother!
Today when I looked out the window in the sleeping car, I saw houses standing on stilts, and I think I recognized myself. We continued nearing Atlanta. Georgia looks like Mississippi, just that it is much more hilly.
I feel good. I still see snow. It is quite cold outside. From Atlanta I answered Gob with the following telegram:
“Bake two whales. Try seven sharks and stir up half dozen barrels of how I am hungry!”
It is almost strange to write on the train. We were sitting still when I began.
Will you send the following matters:
Photo reels (you’ll find them in a drawer to the right); also calling cards; they are in the drawer in the middle; along with my ?. Then my two talks: “Books and Folks” and “Vikings”. They are in the bookcase. I would like to get Bemus’ address, and Edel’s. The shaking is so bad that I must stop. Kiss!
Ole
- Jennie Marie Berdahl was born on June 1, 1879 in Minnehaha County, South Dakota to Andrew James and Karen Oline (Otterness) Berdahl. Jennie was born in a sod hut before South Dakota received statehood. She attended Augustana Academy in Canton, S.D. and was a county school teacher. Jennie Berdahl married Ole Rølvaag in 1908 and lived in Northfield, MN. Together they had four children: Olaf Arnljot (1909-1915) Ella Valborg Tweet (1910-2003) Karl Fritjof (1913-1990) Paul Gunnar (1915-1920).
- Funding to digitize the O.E. Rølvaag Papers was provided to the Norwegian American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008.
- Ole Rølvaag's letter to Jennie Rølvaag.
- Type
- Text
- Format
- Letters (correspondence)
- Contributor
- Rølvaag, Jennie Marie Berdahl
- Rights
- No Copyright - the United States
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
- The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.
- Bibliographic Citation
- [Indicate the cited item here]. O.E. Rølvaag Papers. Norwegian American Historical Association, Northfield, Minnesota.
Dublin Core
Files
Collection
Citation
Rølvaag, O. E. (Ole Edvart), 1876-1931, “Letter from Ole Rølvaag to Jennie Rølvaag, 1930 December 31,” Digital Collections, accessed October 19, 2026, https://www.norwegianamericanhistory.org/digital-collections/items/show/4883.