Stereogram of church group outside Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. Back of stereogram has an official label which states, "The Norwegian Lutheran Synode Held at Minneapolis, Minn. 1875. The Representatives."
In the years following World War II, great numbers of men enrolled in Luther Theological Seminary seeking to become pastors in the Lutheran Church. This panoramic photograph includes both students and faculty with most of the seminary faculty seated in the center of the front row. The group was posed in front of the new library and classroom building that was in the midst of construction. This building was later named Gullixson Hall in honor of T.F. (Thaddaeus Franke) Gullixson, president of Luther Theological Seminary, 1930-1954.
This panoramic photograph shows a view of the buildings comprising the Hauge Synod's Red Wing Seminary campus as it appeared in 1907. In the 18th century, rationalism swept the churches of Europe and Norway to the detriment of a heart-felt spiritual life. In 1796, a Norwegian farmer named Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) experienced a conversion and began traveling throughout the Norwegian countryside preaching and holding revival meetings. At this time, such activity by a layman was prohibited and Hauge was persecuted and jailed by the government at the urging of the state church. But Hauge's pure and simple Gospel could not be quelled and many of his followers migrated to America. One such person was Elling Eielsen (1804-1883) who came to America in 1839 and preached among the Norwegian settlements of northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. Like-minded pastors and congregations joined with him to form a synod in 1846. Eielsen had a contentious personality and eschewed any formal organization. His followers repeatedly broke and regrouped, a majority finally forming the Hauge Synod in 1876 without Eielsen. In 1879, the Hauge Synod opened a seminary at Red Wing, Minnesota, on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Front of photograph reads: Red Wing Seminary, copyright 1907 by Edward H. Lidberg.
By the late 1930s, Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary had grown, despite the hardships of the Great Depression, and required larger facilities than the Northeast Minneapolis location offered. Fortunately, a group of historic mansions in South Minneapolis, near the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, became available. In 1940, Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary relocated to these homes. Passavant Hall, named for the great Lutheran churchman, W.A. (William Alfred) Passavant, had been the home of the Charles Pillsbury family whose fortune had been made in the milling industry. Back of photograph reads: NLTS, Former Pillsbury Mansion, Passavant Hall, #10, Photo 2 of 8.
A common practice among church bodies and seminaries is to have an annual conference or ""convocation"" for the clergy for the purpose of fellowship, edification, and continuing education. Shown here is one such convocation on the campus of the United Church Seminary in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul in 1910. A caption indicates that room rent was 50 cents and board cost $3. Attendees were required to bring their own bedclothes and towels. It is interesting to note a number of women and children front and center on the photograph. Since the clergy was all male at this time, they are presumably the family of attendees or faculty. Front of photograph reads: Convocation at the United Lutheran Seminary Aug. 31-Sept. 7, 1910. Back of photograph reads: Ministers Conference at Luther Seminary August 1910?, Convocation lecture topics: Pastor & the young people - Dr. C.M. Wesnig, Organized Young Peoples Work - Dr. C.M. Wesnig, Luther League Topic - Dr. C.M. Wesnig, Bible Hours - Pastor Peder Tangjerd, Intro to Pastoral Theology - Pastor Halvard Roalkram, New Testament Study - Dr. M.O. Bockman, Our Madagascar Mission - Prof. O.M. Stolee, Absolution & Lord's Supper - Pastor N.B. Thvedt, Psychotherapeutics - Pastor Thore Eggen, The Church Situation in Norway - Pastor Solendahl.
Professional portrait of "The Church and Settled Pastors of Pontoppidan Lutheran Congregation from 1868 to 1918". Includes photos of P.J. Ostergaard, 1884-1886, Nils Olson 1868-1880, N.S. Heggerness 1880-1882, R. Anderson 1887-1890, H.S. Quanbeck 1893-1896, E.O. Larson 1898-1905, H.C. Caspersen 1905-1912, Johan Mattson 1913
Congregation outside of Pontoppidan Lutheran Church. Handwritten on front of photograph, "Ved indvielsen av Kirkegaarden i Pontoppidan menighet, Ellendale, Minn.". Written on back "Pontoppidan Lutheran Church Ellendale, Minn. 5 1/2 mi. N., 4 1/2 mi. W."
Professional portrait of Pontoppidan congregation outside of church. "Ved femtiaarsfesten av Pontoppidan menighet, Ellendale, Minn. Juni 1918 [50 year Anniversary]" is handwritten on front of photograph.
Music was always an important part of life for Norwegian American Lutherans. Shown here is a band from the Red Wing Seminary. Front of photograph reads: Red Wing Seminary, Lidberg, Red Wing.
This was one of the buildings on the campus of Red Wing Seminary. The educational mission at Red Wing Seminary eventually encompassed a nine-year program: a two-year academy, a fou- year college department, and a three year seminary. With the 1917 merger of the Hauge Synod into the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the seminary department was merged into Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul. The college department was merged into St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and St. Olaf's academy was merged into Red Wing. The academy struggled into the 1920s and the buildings, like this one, were used for other educational purposes into the 1930s when hard economic times forced the closing of the campus. Back of photograph reads: Red Wing Seminary, Red Wing, Minnesota.
This photograph shows three of the buildings on the Red Wing Seminary campus that sat on top of a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Front of photograph reads: Campus, Red Wing Seminary, Red Wing, Minn.
Music was always an important part of life for Norwegian American Lutherans. This postcard shows the members of Red Wing Seminary's Choral Union. Back of photograph reads: Postcard, Choral Union, 1909-1910
Shown here are the six members of the Red Wing Seminary class of 1898 and their two professors. Top left: Professors Hans Hanson Bergsland (1858-1907) and Martin Gustav Hanson (1859-1915). Top right: Johan Johannesen Dahle (1867-1950) and Ole Jakobsen Malkewick (1865-1932). Bottom row: Mons Olson Wee (1871-1942), H. O. Myhre (d. 1927), John J. Skarpness (1867-1954), and Daniel Tjaeranson Borgen (1871- ). Note that some of these men were over 30 years old, indicating that ""second career pastors"" is not wholly a modern phenomenon. Front of photograph reads: Red Wing Seminary, 1898, Kom Jesus Kristus ihu.
Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary's Reed Hall was named for Harry Bertram Reed, first professor of Old Testament at Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary. Reed Hall served as an apartment building for married students. The seminary remained well supported by the Northwest Synod of the United Lutheran Church in America during the 1950s, the years of its greatest growth. This was also the period of greatest membership increase for the United Lutheran Church in America, the ""parent church"" of Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary. Back of photograph reads: NLTS, Reed Hall, Residence.