View From a Prairie Home

by Hege Hernfindahl, Columnist

I am a person with roots in two worlds. Like most immigrants, I am a person with my roots in my country of birth and my branches, my husband, children, grandchildren and friends, here, in the United States.

Roots and branches are the stories of people, who they were and what they became. It has fascinated me from early childhood when my family would often visit Folkemuseet, a museum located on a peninsula in the Oslo fjord, Bygdøy,  a short drive or ferry-ride from downtown. It has many varied cultural exhibits, but it also includes 160 historic buildings dating back to the 1200s from around Norway, situated in beautiful surroundings. The exhibits are often changed so if you go there often, there is always something new to see. In the winters, we would go to the indoor exhibits and my sister and I would want to see old dolls and especially old dollhouses. And in the summers, we would wander around and suddenly find ourselves in Setesdal, for instance, where houses had been moved from this southern Norwegian valley to Bygdøy. We could go into the houses and there would be guides dressed in the beautiful Setesdal bunad. My parents would tell stories about the childhood of their grandparents in Setesdal and my sister and I would look around and imagine ourselves living there. History came alive here. And if you ever find yourselves in Oslo, go to Folkemusset. There you could spend days and even weeks exploring its wonderful exhibits. You could basically  travel through all of old Norway without leaving Oslo.

After moving with my young husband and baby to a farm close to Benson, I was immediately drawn to the museum here. But I was disappointed since its exhibits were limited and never changed. All this changed when the Rev. Gary Mills took over the leadership of the museum and totally changed the layout, the size and the exhibits. His philosophy of history, which I admired is: “We shouldn’t lose our local history, whether your family just got here last year from Ecuador or you’ve been here, like my family for six generations. It shouldn’t matter. This is where we live.” And I live here now, so this is where I go to learn about the history of my place in the world.

If you walk through the museum these days, there are orderly exhibits that tell the stories of Swift County from its original inhabitants to the immigrants. One of my favorite features of the new museum is walking through the old Swift County and seeing its different communities. Each stop on the way focuses on a specific part of the past, like a grocery store or a dentist office, for instance. It makes history of my new community come alive for me in a more concrete way. Each exhibit tells a story.

There are also special exhibits that changes, like wedding dresses or local painters. Now it has exhibits of steamer trunks or what we used to call Amerika kister (trunks). And there is a new space for events. Here, local authors will come and talk about their family’s roots. I have also been there to hear Rev. Mills talk about the history of Ukraine and World War I.

Recently, the museum celebrated the community’s German heritage with its first annual (I hope) Oktoberfest. Many dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndl.  We could drink cider or beer and eat sauerkraut with German Wurst . A special exhibit was set up with artifacts from Germany, and there was Sauerkraut making demonstration. My favorite was the entertainment. First, we had fiddlers from Sunburg. We also had the local group Friends entertain with songs from the 60s (which now are historic!) And Myrons’ Polka Datters, dressed in polka dots entertained us with lively polka tunes, which inspired people to dance. I even found myself on the dance floor. We laughed and I felt lighter after months and years of sadness. I felt so grateful to be living here, on the prairie where we can dance and laugh together and celebrate with unbridled joy.