Moorings Old and New: Entries in an Immigrant's Log

by Paul Knaplund

The author came to America from Norway in 1906 at the age of 21 years old. As an immigrant to the upper Midwest, he worked first as a farmhand, then entered school, and for several years did a variety of odd jobs while getting an education. His ultimate choice was the academic life. For those interested in the history of American education and in the development of scholarship in the field of British imperial and Commonwealth history, the account of his apprenticeship at the University of Wisconsin will be welcome. His memoir illuminates the Norwegian economy, social structure, institutions, and common life through a focus on a family, a parish, a fjord and the seas beyond. This book will appeal to anyone interested in reasons for emigration from Norway to America, in the subtle process by which a young man of limited schooling, having no English, came to feel and be an American. It will appeal to the American historian and social scientist because it shows how transformation in culture and 'belongedness' took place without a conscious rejection of old loyalties.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Paul A. Knaplund was a Norwegian-American professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He specialized in the history of the British Empire.