Welcome to Vesterheim

Welcome to Vesterheim. The National Norwegian-American Musuem and Folk Art School. , Vesterheim explores the diversity of American immigration through the lens of the Norwegian-American experience and showcases the best in historic and contemporary folk arts in the Norwegian tradition.

. World-class museum collection , . Folk Art School , . Twelve historic structures

, Vesterheim means "western home" in Norwegian. The first organized group of Norwegian immigrants arrived on the Restauration, a small sailing ship, in 1825. Since then, there have been nearly a million migrants to the United States from Norway. They and generations of their descendants continue to look to Norway to understand themselves from the perspective of their "western home." , Vesterheim's history began in 1877 when Norwegian-born professors at Luther College began to collect and preserve objects for study. By 1895, the college museum focused on collecting materials related to Norwegian and immigrant traditions. These objects might have been thrown away by later generations if not given to the museum. This was an early contribution to the preservation of immigrant history in America and gives Vesterheim's collection special significance. The objects collected included five buildings now located in Vesterheim's Heritage Park. The first was the Egge-Koren home in 1913. , The open-air exhibits on this site were developed beginning in the early 1970s. Displays about "pioneer industries" were installed in the stone mill and more buildings added. Vesterheim's Heritage Park was steadily taking shape in 1976, the year of the United States' Bicentennial. , By 1992, the outdoor exhibits consisted of 12 buildings dedicated to telling the stories of Norwegian immigrants in the upper Midwest and the life they had known in Norway. , Interpretive panels throughout Heritage Park explore the Norwegian immigrant experience, including the push-pull factors that led to Norwegian immigration; the 19th-century removal of Native Americans that allowed for settlement in this region; and the waves of immigrants that pushed westward. The pioneer experience remains central, even as the story of Norwegian Americans continues into the present. Themes of community building, mutual assistance, and adaptation to new circumstances run through the stories of these buildings and the people who built and used them. , Support for Heritage Park was provided by: , Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies , Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship , Urban Water Quality Initiative , Paul D. Pratt and Marguerite Olson Pratt Fund of InFaith Community , Kate Nelson Rattenborg , Winneshiek County Community Foundation , Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities