Manuscripts, 1918-1933, undated

Rølvaag’s artistic vision was shaped by the harshness of his life—the years of hard work and the tragic deaths of two of his children. Giants in the Earth, a novel that depicts the strong reminders of life’s severity, follows a Norwegian pioneer family’s struggles with the land and the elements of the Dakota Territory as they try to make a new life in America. The book is based partly on Rølvaag’s personal experiences as an immigrant, and on the experiences of his wife’s family who had been immigrant homesteaders. The novel depicts snow storms, locusts, poverty, hunger, loneliness, homesickness, the difficulty of fitting into a new culture, and the estrangement of immigrant children who grow up in a new land.

O.E. Rølvaag’s manuscripts digitized include:

• Deklamations-boken, 1918
• Norsk Læsebok, 1920
• Længselens Baat, 1921
• Omkring Fædrearven, 1922
• I de dage; Riket grundlægges, 1925
• Giants in the Earth, 1927
• Peder Seier, 1928
• Peder Victorious, 1929
• Pure Gold, 1930
• Den Signede dag (Deres Fædres guder), 1931
• Their Fathers' God, 1931
• The Romance of a Life, undated
• The Boat of Longing, 1933
• Forestillinger og ord, undated
• Another Daughter of Eve, undated
• Smørkrigen i Greenfield, undated
• Hevnen hører mig til, siger, undated
• Vengeance is mine, Saith, undated

• Ole E. Rølvaag's 1896 Immigration Diary from Dønna, Norway to United States
• "The Vikings on the Prairie," Ole E. Rølvaag radio address, Chicago, Illinois, 1929 April
• Some Glimpses from Camp Rølvaag manuscript, circa 1959 by Jennie Rølvaag
• Berdahl family autobiography, undated by Andrew and Eric Berdahl