Tante Johanne: Letters of a Danish Immigrant Family, 1887-1910

Letters [such as these principally written by Johanne Nielsen] have bridged the Atlantic since the earliest days of Danish immigration, and they are documents of great historical interest because they express the thoughts and experiences of the immigrants in their own words. In these letters, as H. Arnold Barton put it, "for the first time in human history, (common people) began to speak directly to posterity."

These letters are unusually rich because Denmark had the first sound system of public education in Europe, so Danish immigrants were well prepared to express themselves. Let these Danish pioneers speak to you as you savor their letters from a century ago. Preface: J. R. Christianson, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa