Creators, Collectors & Communities

Making Ethnic Identity through Objects

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Mount Horeb Area Historical Society

Mount Horeb, Wisconsin

Creators, Collectors & Communities Copyright © 2017 by Mount Horeb Area Historical Society.

This book was produced using Pressbooks.com.

Contents

- Acknowledgments

- Overview

- Part I. The Old World in the New

- Trunk

- Object Study: Trunk

- Spinning Wheel

- Snuff Box

- Trunk

- Mangle Board (Mangletre)

- Box

- Traveling Box

- Walking Stick

- Part II. Made in America with Foreign Parts

- Norwegian Wafer (Krumkake) Iron

- Chairs (Kubbestols)

- Fiddle and Dulcimer

- Cupboard

- Object Study: Cupboard

- Cradle

- Tramp Art Stand

- Outhouse Wall

- Music Cabinet

- Object Study: Goli Music Cabinet

- Decorated Spoon

- Magazines — Making Art by Making Do

- Cutlery Box

- Decorated Butter Paddle and Painted Wood Panel, Framed

- Quilt

- Plant Stand, Basket, and Frames

- Object Study: Stugard Family Plant Stand

- Part III. Heritage Memorialized

- The Creation of Little Norway

- Mural, Painting on Masonite

- Artist Story: Olaf Colberson

- Door (Armoire)

- Log Rocker (Kubbestol)

- Object Study: Log Rocker (Kubbestol)

- Table

- Sending Basket

- Decorative Plate

- Shoes

- Trunk and Wall Cabinet

- Mangle Board (Mangletre)

- Painting on Masonite, Model Swiss Chalet, and Lawn Windmill

- Chair

- Costume (Bunad)

- Ale Bowl

- Painting on Board

- Bowl

- Object Story: Bowl

- Bucket (or Firkin)

- Painting on Plywood

- Chair

- Dress

- Object Story: Dress

- Painting on Masonite

- Part IV. Trolltown, USA

- Business Sign (Painting on Masonite)

- Business Sign (Painting on Wood)

- Troll Doll

- Troll Diorama

- Troll Diorama

- Carved Troll

- Optometry Business Sign (Painting on Wood)

- A&W Business Sign (Painting on Plywood)

- Promotional Sign (Painting on Plywood)

- Object Study: Troll Business Signs

- Trollway Banner

- Part V. Guardian Spirits

1

Acknowledgments

Creators, Collectors & Communities is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison Art History Professor Ann Smart Martin and four consecutive semesters of engaged and creative Material Culture students. This synergistic partnership has brought new perspectives, depth and meanings to the interpretation of Southwestern Dane County’s cultural history.

We thank the diverse and talented team that tirelessly invested time and expertise to this exhibit, without which it would not have been possible:

Johnna Buysse, MHAHS Curator of Collections & Education, Project Director
Dr. Ann Smart Martin, Academic Advisor
Cortney Anderson, Contributor
Larissa Cangussu, Contributor
Alyssa Kowis, Contributor
Jenna Madsen, Contributor
Megan Roessler, Contributor
Bree Ann Romero, Contributor
Jared Schmidt, Contributor
Laura Schmidt, Contributor
Peter Thurlow, Contributor
Steel Wagstaff, Technical Consultant
Amanda Larson, Technical Consultant
Brian Bigler, Exhibit Designer
Nadia Niggli, Exhibit Designer
Dr. Janet C. Gilmore, Exhibit Consultant
Dr. James Leary, Exhibit Consultant
Jennifer Bastian, Exhibit Photographer
Donna Read, Research Assistant
Nancy Thousand, Research Assistant
Nancy Nye Hunt, Editor
Destinee Udelhoven, MHAHS Director

Additional special thanks are due to our patient and dedicated, all-volunteer Exhibit Fabrication Team:

Wayne Hefty
Doug Nesheim
David Schmidt

Please note that the object study essays contained within this catalog are the intellectual property of the listed author. While the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society provided resource materials from our library, archival and three-dimensional collections to assist the research process, the students were given free rein (under the academic supervision of Dr. Ann Smart Martin) to pursue any research course so desired.  As such, any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed within these essays do not necessarily represent those of the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society.

This project was funded in part by a generous grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Wisconsin Humanities Council supports and creates programs that use history, culture, and discussion to strengthen community life for everyone in Wisconsin. Find out more at wisconsinhumanities.org.

2

Overview

Artistic objects rooted in places and cultures reveal something special about communities.

Since 1975, the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society has consciously collected examples of locally produced and locally owned works of art. Considered chronologically, these artful artifacts illustrate continuity and change in the identities of Southwestern Dane County’s ethnic communities—Norwegian-Americans especially.

From rosemaled trunks and handcrafted mangle boards cherished by first-wave immigrants, to artifacts hailing from the Little Norway site and the Song of Norway pageant, to the whimsical gnome-like carved citizenry of the (now trademarked) “Troll Capital of the World,” the artistic transformation of area ethnicity is evident.

I

The Old World in the New

Southwestern Dane County was settled by diverse immigrants in the latter half of the 19th century. Irish, Swiss, Scots, Norwegians, Germans, English and Eastern Yankees all took up residence in the rolling hills and glens of the Driftless region.

These transplants brought centuries-old material forms of ethnic expression that adapted their European, Old World heritage to their New World homeland.

The pieces in this section are some of the oldest in the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society collection. All were carefully transported from locales across the globe—for reasons both sentimental and practical, decorative and utilitarian—by immigrants preparing for a new American life.

II

Made in America with Foreign Parts

Some newly-minted Americans, like Norwegian immigrant Aslak Lie, found personal satisfaction and financial profit in gracefully and capably adapting Old World traditions.

A second generation of ethnic-influenced but homegrown artistry soon emerged.

Others, two or three generations removed from initial settlement, built upon a cultural framework ingrained in their family lives and communities to produce artwork which blended ethnic traditions, their own burgeoning American identities and trends in popular culture.

III

Heritage Memorialized

With varying degrees of distance from the experience of immigration, many mid-to-late 20th century artists and collectors revived traditional forms of artistry and imaginatively memorialized their ethnic roots.

Nearby summer-home-turned-cultural-destination Little Norway and the costumed pageantry of the long-running Song of Norway performances evoked pristine peasant Norway, nudging the Mount Horeb area towards a romanticized folk cultural façade.

Motivated variously by nostalgia, familial allegiances, and economic savvy, Southwestern Dane County residents invested both artistic talent and money in the revitalization and re-invention of ethnicity.

IV

Trolltown, USA

Recent artists far removed from immigrant roots have served both commerce and community by playfully constructing and then marketing locally-endorsed ethnic symbols.

Inspired by the popularity of Little Norway and the Song of Norway and the success of such nearby culture-centered communities as New Glarus and Stoughton, a core group of local artists have successfully used Norwegian imagery and icons to crystallize Mount Horeb’s already-simmering identity as a Scandinavian stronghold.

V

Guardian Spirits

Today’s vibrant and unique citizenry—and an equally vivacious artistic atmosphere and legacy—have emerged from an astounding conglomeration of cultures and ethnicities. To those who know the area’s diverse immigrant origins, the iconic trolls of Mount Horeb seem to tell just one of many cultural tales.

Yet this artistic examination through time illustrates that these grumpy figures are actually the end result of a complicated and rich multi-ethnic conversation.

In an era when fast-paced urban development dooms many small towns to mainstream, cookie cutter suburban status, Mount Horeb’s trolls stand as protective sentinels and tangible reminders of the persistent importance of ethnic identities to the people of Southwestern Dane County.

Promotional postcard from the 1990s. MHAHS Postcard Collection.