‘A Paper for the Scandinavians in Edmonton’: The Norwegian Immigrant Experience in Alberta as Recorded in the Norwegian-Language Paper Vikingen

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Of the more than 2,000 Scandinavian newspapers published in North America prior to World War I, few have been preserved for posterity. One long-forgotten paper recently resurfaced: the Norwegian language newspaper Vikingen of Edmonton, Alberta, published by the Scandinavian Literary and Youth Societies on the eve of World War I. A survey of Vikingen’s editorials provides an insight into an active and vibrant community, struggling to retain its Scandinavian identity while trying to establish itself in Canadian society. Nostalgia for the old country and a certain alienation from the mainstream Anglo-Saxon society found an outlet in an intense Norwegian patriotism and a backward-looking cultural nostalgia. Vikingen gives us a glimpse of the lively social and political life of the Scandinavian pioneers in Western Canada and lets us revisit the keen debates surrounding suffrage rights, immigration, and alcohol prohibition.