Retaining Norwegian culture and identity were highly important to Waldemar Ager in the half century that he lived in Eau Claire, according to local historian Brian Blakeley.
His talk was part of the Waldemar Ager Association’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Norwegian-born journalist and novelist.
Thursday evening program to focus on history of immigrants to Eau Claire and Waldemar Ager’s experiences
Immigration to Eau Claire will be featured Thursday evening as part of the programming celebrating the 150th anniversary of Waldemar Ager’s birth. Brian Blakeley, a historian who is in the process of researching and writing about Eau Claire’ history, will talk about immigrants in Eau Claire with particular emphasis on Ager’s experiences and contributions. The […]
Language viewed as key to preserving culture for Hmong now and Norwegians a century ago
The key role of language in preserving immigrant groups’ cultures and traditions was on display earlier this week in a discussion that combined a Norwegian perspective with insights into Hmong culture and its transition into an American context.
The program led off the “Conversations about Immigrant Identity” series marking the 150th anniversary this year of Waldemar Ager’s birth. It provided Hmong perspectives on assimilation into American society that echoed some of Ager’s thoughts about the Norwegian experience a century earlier, particularly the importance of preserving the immigrant group’s language.
Monday evening program to explore loss of cultural identities as immigrant groups become “Americanized”
A REPORT ON THIS EVENT WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
The loss of minority groups’ cultural identities during their assimilation into American society will be the focus of a program at 7 p.m. next Monday (Feb. 11) at Eau Claire’s L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.
The program, “On the Way to the Melting Pot—Then and Now: Waldemar Ager and Hmong History and Culture,” will offer perspectives originating a century apart and half a world from each other. .
Ager museum celebrates Norwegian culture, legacy of prominent local journalist and civic leader
By Andrew Fefer, for the Chippewa Valley Post A museum honoring the legacy of Waldemar Ager, a newspaper editor and civic leader who settled in Eau Claire about 120 years ago, is bringing Norwegian language and culture to the Chippewa Valley starting this month. Classes on speaking the Norwegian language and on rosemaling (a kind of […]