Rasmus Bjørn Anderson (January 12, 1846 – March 2, 1936) was an American author, professor, editor, businessman and diplomat. He brought to popular attention the fact that

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

explorers Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some expectation of discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organisms capable of directed locomotion and the abilit ...

were the first Europeans to arrive in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

and was the originator of

Leif Erikson Day Leif Erikson Day is an annual observance that occurs on October 9. It honors Leif Erikson (Old Norse: ''Leifr Eiríksson''), the Norse explorer who, in approximately 1000 CE, led the first Europeans believed to have set foot on the continent ...

."Rasmus Anderson"
''Norske leksikon''.

Life and career

Anderson was born in the Town of Albion in

Dane County Dane County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin after Milwaukee County, Wiscon ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and grew up in Koshkoning. His parents Bjørn Anderson Kvelve (1801–1850) and Abel Cathrine von Krogh (1809–1885) were immigrants from Sandeid / Vikedal in Ryfylke in the county of

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. His mother also had Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch, and Flemish ancestry. His parents were part of a small band of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

sympathizers who organized a Norwegian emigration to America in 1836. His father died of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

when Anderson was four years old. Anderson was a graduate of Luther College and the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1867 to 1883. While there, he was the founding head of the Department of

Scandinavian Studies Scandinavian studies or ''Scandinavistics'' is an interdisciplinary academic field of area studies, mainly in the United States and Germany, that primarily focuses on the Scandinavian languages (also known as North Germanic languages) and cultura ...

, the oldest such department in an American university. He also persuaded Norwegian violinist

Ole Bull Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Biography Background Bull was ...

to give a concert for the benefit of a projected Norwegian language library at the university. Ole Bull subsequently paid Anderson's expenses for a trip to Norway to purchase books for the library. Rasmus B. Anderson founded a publication company, the

Norrœna Society The Norrœna Society was an early 20th-century publishing house dedicated to Northern European culture. It published expensively produced reprints of classic 19th-century editions, mostly translations, of Old Norse literary and historical works, No ...

, which focused on republishing translations of texts devoted to "the History and Romance of Northern Europe". Anderson was the author of a number of books with Scandinavian themes. He also did a series of translations from Scandinavian languages, most notably the writings of Norwegian novelist

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

. From 1905 to 1907, Rasmus Anderson acted as editor-in-chief of the Norrœna Library. From 1885 to 1889, Anderson served as the

United States Ambassador to Denmark The first representative from the United States to Denmark was appointed in 1827 as a chargé d'affaires. There followed a series of chargés and ministers until 1890 when the first full ambassador ''(envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten ...

. After his return to the U.S. in 1889, he was editor (1898–1922) of the Norwegian language weekly, ''Amerika''. He also served as president of the Wisconsin Life Insurance Co. from 1895 to 1922. Anderson's book ''America Not Discovered by Columbus'' helped popularize the now familiar fact that Norse explorers were the first Europeans in the

. Anderson was the originator of the movement to honor

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental Americas, America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According ...

with a holiday in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Through efforts he started and led,

became an official observance in his native

and other

US states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

. Decades after Anderson's death, it first became a federal observance by

presidential proclamation In the United States, a presidential proclamation is a statement issued by the president of the United States on an issue of public policy. It is a type of presidential directive. Details A presidential proclamation is an instrument that: *s ...

in 1964.Rasmus B. Anderson's Dream Comes True
. ''The Wisconsin State Journal'', May 11, 1929.

Personal life

In 1868, he married Bertha Karina Olson (1848–1922). They were the parents of five children. His wife died in 1922. Anderson spent the last years of his life in their home in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

, where he died in 1936. He was buried at Lake Ripley Cemetery in

Cambridge, Wisconsin Cambridge is a village in Dane and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,638 at the 2020 census, of which 1,539 were in Dane County and 99 were in Jefferson County. The Dane County portion is part of the Madi ...

Selected works

* ''Julegave'' (1872) * "''The Scandinavian Languages''" (1873) * ''Den norske maalsag'' (1874) * ''America Not Discovered by Columbus'' (1874) * ''Norse Mythology'' (1875) * ''Viking Tales of the North'' (1877) * ''The Younger Edda'' (1880) * a translation of Dr. F. W. Horns "History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North" (1885) *''Amerikas første Opdagelse'' (1886) *
First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, 1821–1840
' (1895) * ''Bygdejævning'' (1903) *''The Norse Discovery of America'' (1907) * ''Life Story of Rasmus B. Anderson'' (1915, with Albert O. Barton) * ''Cleng Peerson og sluppen "Restaurationen"'' (1925) * ''The Heimskringla or The Saga of the Norse Kings'' (1889, rev. 2nd ed. of Samuel Laing, ''The Norse Kings'')

References

Sources

*Husvedt, Lloyd. ''Rasmus Bjørn Anderson: Pioneer Scholar''. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1966. *Knaplund, Paul.

. ''Norwegian-American Studies'', vol. 18, p. 23.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Rasmus B. 1846 births 1936 deaths People from Albion, Dane County, Wisconsin Luther College (Iowa) alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark American translators American Lutherans Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Translators from Old Norse Old Norse studies scholars 19th-century American diplomats American people of Norwegian descent People from Koshkonong, Wisconsin