Jenny Hansen

In the 26th episode of 200 Norwegian you meet Jenny Hansen, who grew up in southern Norway and sailed to New York after World War II. Jenny’s story is one of several told by Norwegian ethnologist Siv Ringdal in her book On High Heels to America. In the years after the war, young women like Jenny crossed the Atlantic, spent a few years in New York, and came home. Some then packed their bags and went back again. I talk with Ringdal about what drew these women to America, what brought them home, and what it was like to have a life on both sides of the Atlantic.

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 for deaconesses in Brooklyn and Minneapolis, creating new opportunities for women in nursing and social care at a time when women had few professional paths. The episode is a conversation with Gracia Grindal, Professor Emerita at Luther Seminary and author of Sister Elisabeth Fedde: To Do the Lord’s Will. Together, they explore Fedde’s extraordinary life, the Norwegian-American immigrant experience, and the role of faith, women’s leadership, and service in the late 19th century.

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 deadliest years in motor-racing history and became the first driver to win a board-track race at an average speed of more than one hundred miles per hour. Yet after reaching the height of fame, his life took a darker turn. This is the story of a forgotten Norwegian pioneer who helped transform the American automobile industry.

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. Through her remarkable diary, she documented the Atlantic crossing, pioneer life in Iowa, and the everyday experiences of Norwegian immigrants. Recorded in Decorah, Iowa, this episode also features conversations with two of Koren’s descendants, offering fresh perspectives on why her story continues to resonate today.

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 modest means, strong values, and a deep belief in education. Over time, he rose through the ranks of American politics, becoming a U.S. senator, a key figure in civil rights legislation, and later vice president under Jimmy Carter. This episode follows Mondale’s journey from his Norwegian roots to the highest levels of power—and how he transformed the vice presidency into a central part of government. It also explores the honesty and integrity that defined his career, and may ultimately have cost him the presidency

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 inheriting the farm, he left for America in 1832—long before mass Norwegian emigration had begun. Starting with modest work in New York, he eventually built a career in finance and later moved west during the California Gold Rush, where he helped establish a banking house in San Francisco. This episode follows Sather’s journey from rural Norway to Gold Rush–era California—and how a man who never received a proper education ended up helping build one of the world’s great universities.

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. After coming to the United States, he emerged as a powerful amateur boxer, winning both the New York State and national amateur championships in 1921. Turning professional, Larsen faced some of the leading fighters of his time, including Gene Tunney. But longer bouts, heavy drinking, and poor decisions undermined his career. Within a few years, he was banned from boxing in New York and drifted through smaller venues and countries, eventually ending up on the margins of the Norwegian immigrant community. This episode examines Larsen’s brief rise and long decline, and what his life reveals about opportunity, risk, and failure in early twentieth-century immigrant America.

  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 Oslo, raised by ski-obsessed parents and shaped by war, discipline, and relentless training, went on to redefine what alpine skiing could be. We follow his path from dark wartime slopes in Norway to the bright mountains of Aspen, from Olympic glory to celebrity friendships, commercials, and ski resorts built around his name. Along the way, we explore how style, timing, and personality mattered as much as medals. With the help of folklorist Thor Gotaas, this episode moves fast—packed with facts, anecdotes, and sharp turns—and shows how Stein Eriksen became skiing’s first true superstar.

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 vanished from public conversation. Then the stock market crashed—and suddenly America remembered him. Born to Norwegian immigrant parents on the Midwestern frontier, Veblen grew up in a tight-knit Norwegian community, culturally distant from the America that was rapidly industrializing around him. That distance gave him a peculiar vantage point. He watched the rise of great fortunes, railroads, monopolies, and financiers—and noticed something unsettling. Wealth, he argued, was increasingly detached from productive work and devoted instead to display. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” not as a slogan, but as a diagnosis of a society that had begun to mistake waste for success. This episode explores Veblen’s unlikely life—from Norwegian farm communities to elite universities—and why his ideas keep resurfacing during moments of economic crisis. It is a story about status, power, and a question that remains unresolved: what kind of prosperity actually serves society?  

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 curiosity carried him from a small coastal village to Norway’s leading fish-preservation school — and eventually far beyond Norway itself. After the great fire of Ålesund in 1904, Hovden crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Monterey, California. There, he reshaped an entire industry. He invented machines, redesigned fishing methods, and turned a sleepy waterfront into the sardine capital of the world. His work fed soldiers in two world wars and helped build the booming canning empire that defined Cannery Row. But his success came with consequences: pollution, overfishing, political battles, and a personal life marked by turmoil.