It's currently one week into May. I've completed two years of my doctoral studies and successfully completed comprehensive exams. One would think that it'd be time to breathe. Alas, I'm in Bismarck doing some archival research this week for another little writing project that I've taken on. With all of these small projects, I'm hoping that my CV will become more marketable.
My book should come out shortly, as a proof copy has been approved. The Old Church on Walnut Street: A Story of Immigrants and Evangelicals is just scheduled to be the first of a series of books on the story of Grand Forks. The next installment is scheduled for release within the next year. While my book focused upon one church that had relations to the Norwegian immigrant and evangelical Church of God communities in Grand Forks history, this second book will look into the broader neighborhood in which my church building sat.
Long-time residents speak of a part of Grand Forks known as "Churchville." That area of the Near Southside neighborhood will be the topic of the next volume in the Community Land Trust Neighborhood History Series. Some more information on the project, along with a map of the general landscape under consideration is available here. I will not be the author of this second volume, as the editors want to provide others the opportunity of producing a short book. With a new class to create (on the topic of American religious history) as wells as the writing project (not related to American Church History), I can't say I'm terribly disappointed. I will provide more info on the new book as soon as I get it.
Showing posts with label Immigrants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigrants. Show all posts
28 January 2012
Pictures of the Church I'm Writing My Book On
As I've mentioned briefly before, I'm in the process of writing a short book on a church that is about to be demolished as soon as spring comes to North Dakota. This church has been abandoned for about 14 years, and the structure on the inside and outside show the wear. The church, as you can hopefully see, blended into the city streetscape of the town. The lack of a parking lot no doubt contributed to its decline, as it did several other small churches in town. This is the last of the old-style wood-framed churches in town, and it is a link to the immigrant past of Grand Forks. This is one of the important threads that I'm trying to bring out in the book, which should be out around the time of the demolition.
Note the proximity to the house, as well as the lean of the wall. Now, the interior with a sagging ceiling and gutted fixtures:
Note the charred attic, left from a fire in 1944. More to come about American church history at a later date--including information on how to get the book.
Note the proximity to the house, as well as the lean of the wall. Now, the interior with a sagging ceiling and gutted fixtures:
Note the charred attic, left from a fire in 1944. More to come about American church history at a later date--including information on how to get the book.
02 October 2011
Immigrant Churches
I'm enjoying what is very likely the last hurrah of summer. Here in Grand Forks, the temperature today reached the low 80s. There is hardly a cloud in the sky. However, I'm sure this weather will change in very short order.
My current research on a church in town is still on-going. I've found that immigrants originally had the building built for their services. This Hague Synod Lutheran congregation merged with two other Lutheran congregations, and sold the building to a Church of God (Anderson) that had been in operation in Grand Forks for several years at the time.
The Church of God left the building, as the city bought the building shortly after the Grand Forks flood of 1997. For several years, there were nine churches within three blocks in any direction--quite literally averaging a church per block. Immigrants tended to build or purchase small wood-framed structures, and the build larger churches in a few years.
I'm reading a bit on late 19th- and early 20th-century immigration to get a feel for this field. I just finished reading a book titled Magnificent Churches on the Prairie (co-authored by James Coomber and Sheldon Green) that looked at several Catholic congregations that built very large buildings. Most of them started in the same way. The congregations mentioned in this book tended to have small wood-framed structures and then moved into larger buildings as the funds became available. These buildings, as it appears some of those in early Grand Forks did, served to tie the community together in this new land thousands of miles from home. The Lutheran congregations in Grand Forks spoke Norwegian for a generation, while these Catholic churches in rural areas used German (except, of course for the mass, which was in Latin).
This work is serving to fill out some of my understanding of the religious make-up of the early days of Red River Valley towns, especially that of Grand Forks. I will share more as I get further into the process.
My current research on a church in town is still on-going. I've found that immigrants originally had the building built for their services. This Hague Synod Lutheran congregation merged with two other Lutheran congregations, and sold the building to a Church of God (Anderson) that had been in operation in Grand Forks for several years at the time.
The Church of God left the building, as the city bought the building shortly after the Grand Forks flood of 1997. For several years, there were nine churches within three blocks in any direction--quite literally averaging a church per block. Immigrants tended to build or purchase small wood-framed structures, and the build larger churches in a few years.
I'm reading a bit on late 19th- and early 20th-century immigration to get a feel for this field. I just finished reading a book titled Magnificent Churches on the Prairie (co-authored by James Coomber and Sheldon Green) that looked at several Catholic congregations that built very large buildings. Most of them started in the same way. The congregations mentioned in this book tended to have small wood-framed structures and then moved into larger buildings as the funds became available. These buildings, as it appears some of those in early Grand Forks did, served to tie the community together in this new land thousands of miles from home. The Lutheran congregations in Grand Forks spoke Norwegian for a generation, while these Catholic churches in rural areas used German (except, of course for the mass, which was in Latin).
This work is serving to fill out some of my understanding of the religious make-up of the early days of Red River Valley towns, especially that of Grand Forks. I will share more as I get further into the process.
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