PODCAST · history
200 Norwegians
by 200 Norwegians
2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. 200 Norwegians is a podcast series exploring the lives of 200 Norwegians who have shaped the United States—for better or worse.This podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco.
Episodes
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Elizabeth Fedde
In episode 25 of 200 Norwegians, you’ll meet Elizabeth Fedde, known as the “Norwegian Florence Nightingale.” Born in Feda, Kvinesdal, in 1850, Fedde became a deaconess and in 1883 travelled to New York to serve Norwegian immigrants in need. She went on to establish hospitals and training homes…
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Gil Andersen
In the 24th episode of 200 Norwegians, you will learn about Gil Andersen, the man who left Horten for America alone at the age of fifteen and became one of the country’s fastest and most celebrated racing drivers. He helped design and build the early Stutz automobiles, survived some of the...
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Elisabeth Koren
In the 23rd episode of 200 Norwegians, we will dive into the story of Elisabeth Koren, one of the most important chroniclers of the Norwegian-American experience. Born into a prominent family, she left Norway in 1853 to join her husband, pastor Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, on the American frontier.…
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Walter Mondale
In the 22nd episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Walter Mondale, a Norwegian-American who lost one of the biggest elections in U.S. history, but still helped reshape American politics. Mondale was born in 1928 in Minnesota, the son of a minister, and grew up in a household shaped by...
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Peder Sather
In the 21st episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Peder Sather, a Norwegian immigrant whose name today is written into the landscape of the University of California, Berkeley. Sather was born on a small farm in Odalen, Norway, in 1810. Orphaned young and without the prospect of…
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Magnus "Wolf" Larsen
In the 20th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Magnus “Wolf” Larsen, a Norwegian-American boxer whose career rose quickly—and unraveled just as fast. Born in southern Norway in 1901, Larsen grew up in a family of Travelers and experienced violence and instability from an early age....
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Stein Eriksen
In the 19th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of a man who became the face of an entire sport. Long before skiing was mainstream in the United States, Stein Eriksen helped transform it from a niche activity into a lifestyle. This episode traces how a boy who grew up near the forests of...
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Thorstein Veblen
In the 18th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American thinker who spent his life trying to understand why wealthy societies so often lose their way. Veblen died in 1929, alone in a small cabin in California. No obituary appeared. His name had largely...
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Knut Hovden
In the 17th episode of 200 Norwegians, you learn about Knut Hovden. He was born on a storm-beaten island outside Bergen in 1880, a frail boy who couldn’t join the fishermen at sea. Instead, he watched, listened, and learned. While others hauled nets, he studied the science behind them. That...
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Campbell Norsgaard
The sixteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Campbell Norsgaard, the photographer who risked his life to document Norway under Nazi occupation—and later captured its rebirth. Imprisoned by the Gestapo for taking forbidden photos, Norsgaard escaped and went on to become the official...
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Per Lysne
In this episode of 200 Norwegians, we explore how one man’s brushstrokes brought a fading folk art back to life. With insights from Patti Goke, a Vesterheim Gold Medalist, and Håkon Lysne, president of the Lærdal Historical Society, we trace the journey of the Father of American Rosemaling—from…
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Leif Erikson
In the 14th episode of 200 Norwegian, we tell the story of Leif Erikson—the first European to reach North America—and how his place in U.S. history was revived a thousand years later. We trace Helge Ingstad’s 1960 search to L’Anse aux Meadows, where turf-house ruins and later carbon dating...
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Ole Evinrude
The thirteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Ole Evinrude, the man who invented the first successful outboard motor. Born in Norway and raised in Wisconsin, Evinrude struggled through failures and setbacks before his persistence led to an invention that changed boating forever.…
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Guri Endreson Rosseland
In the 12th episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Guri Endreson Rosseland, a Norwegian settler caught in the Dakota War of 1862. When Dakota visitors came to her Minnesota farm, the encounter turned violent—her husband was killed, her daughters taken, and her son gravely wounded. Hiding with her...
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Sonja Henie
In the 11th episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll meet one of Norway’s greatest athletes of all time: figure skater Sonja Henie. Not only did she dominate the sport with an unbeaten streak of three Olympic gold medals and ten world championships, she also reinvented herself as a Hollywood star and...
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Ole Edvart Rølvaag
In the tenth episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Ole Edvart Rølvaag—from stormy Dønna to the American Midwest—where he carved the immigrant experience into the American psyche with a number of novels, including his masterpiece: Giants in the Earth. This wasn’t just a prairie saga; it was a deep...
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Hans Christian Heg
In the ninth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll discover the legacy of a Norwegian abolitionist, Hans Christian Heg. Heg was only eleven when he boarded the ship that carried his family across the Atlantic. The Heg family were Haugeans, part of a Norwegian lay movement that defied the religious...
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Odd Lovoll
Episode 8 of 200 Norwegians is a special live recording from Norway House in Minneapolis, featuring renowned Norwegian-American historian and Professor Emeritus at St. Olaf College, Odd Lovoll. Lovoll has authored numerous books on Norwegian-American history and is widely regarded as one of the...
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Knute Rockne
The seventh episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of legendary football coach Knute Rockne. What made him so great? How did he achieve the highest winning percentage in college football history? What was the Rockne system? And why was he called the "Coach for a Nation"? We trace Rockne’s...
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Belle Gunnes
In the sixth episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear the story of Belle Gunness—the most dangerous Norwegian church lady in American history. Follow her journey from Selbu, Norway, to the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana, where she built a deadly empire of matrimonial ads, life insurance scams, and...
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Andrew Furuseth
He never wanted his picture taken. He never accepted a higher salary than the average seaman. Andrew Furuseth was a humble, yet remarkably effective leader. That’s why he was—ironically—given the not-so-humble title: The Abraham Lincoln of the Sea. In this episode, we trace his roots—back to...
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Margarethe Cammermeyer
In the fourth episode of 200 Norwegians, we share the remarkable story of Margarethe Cammermeyer — the colonel who took on the U.S. military after being discharged for being a lesbian. Cammermeyer's life reads like a Forrest Gump-style journey through modern history. Born in Nazi-occupied Norway…
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Cleng Peerson Part 3
In the third and final chapter of the Cleng Peerson saga, you will hear what happened when the father of Norwegian emigration joined a cult and married a woman 26 years his junior. You will also learn about his final walk toward the Texas sun—and why Clifton, in Bosque County, is called the...
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Cleng Peerson Part 2
In this second episode of 200 Norwegians, you’ll hear how Cleng Peerson’s grand plan failed—and how, in the end, President John Quincy Adams stepped in to rescue the Sloopers after their arrival in America. We’ll explore the brutal early years in Kendall, New York, a place that came to be known…
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Cleng Peerson Part 1
In this first episode, you'll hear the story of Cleng Peerson, the father of Norwegian emigration. Discover his humble beginnings, and how an unlikely chain of events—spurred by the Napoleonic Wars and an unhappy marriage—set him on the path to becoming a Moses figure for a group of persecuted...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. 200 Norwegians is a podcast series exploring the lives of 200 Norwegians who have shaped the United States—for better or worse.This podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco.
HOSTED BY
200 Norwegians
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does 200 Norwegians have?
200 Norwegians currently has 25 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is 200 Norwegians about?
2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. 200 Norwegians is a podcast series exploring the lives of 200 Norwegians who have shaped the United States—for better or worse.This podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House...
How often does 200 Norwegians release new episodes?
200 Norwegians has 25 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to 200 Norwegians?
You can listen to 200 Norwegians on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts 200 Norwegians?
200 Norwegians is created and hosted by 200 Norwegians.
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