The Winter Room

The Winter Room explores farming life in northern Minnesota’s rural environment. The protagonist lives with his family, a group of Norwegian immigrants. Between 1850 and 1925, hundreds of thousands of Norwegians immigrated to the United States due to a lack of farmland and overpopulation in Norway, among other factors, settling in rural regions in the Midwest, particularly Minnesota. Minnesota was a place of economic opportunity for new immigrants who sought large farmland and jobs, becoming a national cultural center for Norwegians. The first Norwegian immigrants, though, faced hardships living in sod cabins and huts while endeavoring to cultivate land. Nevertheless, waves of immigrants continued to arrive. The Homestead Act of 1862, which granted large swaths of land to those willing to work it, benefited the Norwegians by increasing their land lots and led their settlements to grow. This rural wave of immigrants formed farming communities around Lutheran churches that functioned as religious and social centers and preserved links to the Norwegian tradition and customs. 

Farming remained a primary occupation for most immigrants in Minnesota until the turn of the century. Social and economic changes like railroad expansion and increasing industrialization led many first and second-generation Norwegian Americans to other forms of work. For instance, some communities along Lake Superior engaged in commercial fishing, and many combined seasonal fishing with subsistence farming while others worked in logging camps and iron mines. Simultaneously, many left rural areas to move to Minnesota’s developing cities. The early settling of many Norwegian immigrants in Minneapolis reinforced the social mobility of the next generation through education and business opportunities following the state’s economic growth.

While early rural communities tried to maintain the Norwegian language and tradition, younger generations living in cities were exposed to different cultures and habits. As America entered World War I, social pressure to embrace American identity reinforced tensions between assimilation and heritage for many immigrants. Through the years, Norwegian Americans successfully assimilated into American society, adopting English as their primary language and anglicizing their names. Norwegian Americans remain a substantial ethnic group in Minnesota with a strong social and political impact.