Norwegian Immigrants

Norwegians settled in many areas of the United States. However, for generations, Norwegian immigrants and their descendents have called Iowa home. Organized Norwegian immigration began in 1825 when the The Restauration left for the United States with 52 passengers. These passengers, mostly Quakers, were seeking religious freedom, however, the vast majority of Norwegians emigrated for economic reasons. Only three percent of the land in Norway is arable, and in the early nineteenth century 83 percent of the quickly growing population depended on farming, logging, and fishing.
Between 1825 and 1980, nearly one million Norwegians left for America. The peak years of Norwegian immigration were between 1866-1929. by the turn of the twentieth century, most Norwegian Americans lived in the Midwestern states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Immigrants were enticed to the Midwest by good farmland, established settlements of Norwegians, and persuasive “America letters,” written by recent immigrants to friends and relatives in Norway.

Norwegian Hardanger
For generations, Norwegian immigrants and their descendents have called Iowa home. These immigrants brought with them many traditions, including a specific embroidery technique called Hardanger, which holds cultural meaning and provides an artistic challenge to all embroiderers. Although the roots of this style of embroidery can be traced to Europe, in Iowa and other states settled by Norwegian immigrants, the embroidery transformed with color and the addition of other hand and needlework techniques. It followed international artistic tastes and became popular with Americans of many ethnic groups. Today, Hardanger appeals to many needle-workers because it is challenging, historically and culturally grounded, and can showcase an individual’s ethnic identity.

Today, many writers and needleworkers refer to the embroidery technique simply as “hardanger,” but it is more correct to call it Hardanger embroidery (in English) or hardangersøm (in Norwegian) to avoid confusion. Hardangersøm is a Norwegian counted thread embroidery with cut and drawn work. Historically this embroidery was best known in the county of Hordaland on the West coast of Norway, where it was simply called white work, hvitsøm, and was identified by its specific stitches and techniques, such as utskurdsøm (cut work) and primhol (eyelets). In later years, the technique was referred to by the name Hardanger, a name shared with the large fjord and cultural district in Hordaland County. Hardanger embroidery probably came to Norway from the east, first from ancient Persia and then from Italy. It closely resembles Italian reticella or reticello. The style continued its western migration during the mid-nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries as it came to the United States and Canada with immigration and the expansion of international business.