The Danish American Heritage Society - Historical Overview
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The Danish American Heritage Society (DAHS) was founded in 1977 by a group headed by Arnold N. Bodtker. Arnold Bodtker was born and died in Junction City, near Eugene, Oregon, in a community that has a strong Danish-American presence.
For the first twenty-one years, from 1977 to 1998, DAHS leadership came from the northwestern United States. From 1979 to 1994 the DAHS assisted in the founding and development of the Danish Immigrant Museum, now the Museum of Danish America, in Elk Horn, Iowa. With the development of the Danish Immigrant Museum, the DAHS became more oriented towards the large populations of Danish-Americans who live in the midwest. In fact, the DAHS’s three sister organizations, The Museum of Danish America, The Danish American Archive and Library, and Grand View University, are located within a hard two-hour drive of each other, in Elk Horn, in Blair, Nebraska, and in Des Moines, Iowa respectively. In a planned transition in October 1998, the DAHS abruptly changed its geographic focus, when an entirely new board consisting primarily of midwesterners assumed governance. The new DAHS president in 1998, Jim Iversen, was a lifelong Iowa resident except for several years working professionally in Denmark. The DAHS has never had a brick-and-mortar presence. Jim Iversen jokes that he kept the DAHS archives under the ping-pong table in his basement. Thus it is only in a figurative sense to say that the DAHS moved from Oregon to the midwest in 1998. |
Anna Ancher (1859-1935) - Skagen Artist
(courtesy of the Royal Danish Library)
Harvesters by Anna Ancher (courtesy of Skagens Museum and nmwa.org)
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The Danish American Heritage Society - Read More History
The Danish American Heritage Society - Historical Conclusion
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DAHS archival material is located in several locations: at the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa; at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa; and with Egon Bodtker in Junction City, Oregon. |
Copenhagen Opera House (courtesy of Weebly's stock photo library)
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In the following passage, Arnold Bodtker wrote eloquently about the mission of the Danish American Heritage Society, and why it was not named the Danish American Historical Society.
The Danish American Heritage Society is deliberately a “Heritage” society rather than a “Historical” society. We felt that “Heritage” is a broader term, encompassing not only what Danish Americans were, but what they have become and what they hope to be. It allows for a wider variety of interests, e.g., contemporary arts and humanities and present day Denmark. We thought that “Heritage” would be less imposing, consequently less intimidating to the non-academic. -- Arnold Bodtker |
Bryggebroen in Copenhagen (courtesy of Weebly's stock photo library)
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In 2002 James D. "Jim" Iversen compiled and edited a 14-page typescript covering the DAHS history from 1977 to 2002, entitled History of the Danish American Heritage Society - The First 25 Years.
Subsequently Jim produced a second document, Danish American Heritage Society - The Last Ten Years (October 1998 to October 2008). Jim has kindly consented to linking to these documents. Thank you for visiting the DAHS History page, drafted in 2015 by Robert A. "Bob" Christiansen using materials provided by the late Arnold Bodtker and by Jim Iversen. " |
Larsens Plads in Copenhagen, 1890 (painting by Edvard Petersen, courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org)
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We would like to know more about the history of our organization.
We would like to expand our brief history of the DAHS. If you can help, please, fill out and submit the following contact form.
-- Thank you in advance. The DAHS Web Coordinator.
-- Thank you in advance. The DAHS Web Coordinator.
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Rosenborg Palace - Copenhagen (courtesy of Weebly's stock photo library)
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