Podcast
200 Norwegians
Hosted by 200 Norwegians · EN
2025 marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. 200 Norwegians is a podcast series exploring the lives of 200 Norwegians who have shaped the United States—for better or worse.
This podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco.
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Walter Mondale
Apr 1500:35:56Tap to summarizeIn the 22nd episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Walter Mondale, a Norwegian-American who lost one of the biggest elections in U.S. history, but still helped reshape American politics. Mondale was born in 1928 in Minnesota, the son of a minister, and grew up in a household shaped by modest means, strong values, and a deep belief in education. Over time, he rose through the ranks of American politics, becoming a U.S. senator, a key figure in civil rights legislation, and later vice president under Jimmy Carter. This episode follows Mondale’s journey from his Norwegian roots to the highest levels of power—and how he transformed the vice presidency into a central part of government. It also explores the honesty and integrity that defined his career, and may ultimately have cost him the presidency
Transcribe →Peder Sather
Mar 800:28:44Tap to summarizeIn the 21st episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Peder Sather, a Norwegian immigrant whose name today is written into the landscape of the University of California, Berkeley. Sather was born on a small farm in Odalen, Norway, in 1810. Orphaned young and without the prospect of inheriting the farm, he left for America in 1832—long before mass Norwegian emigration had begun. Starting with modest work in New York, he eventually built a career in finance and later moved west during the California Gold Rush, where he helped establish a banking house in San Francisco. This episode follows Sather’s journey from rural Norway to Gold Rush–era California—and how a man who never received a proper education ended up helping build one of the world’s great universities.
Transcribe →Magnus "Wolf" Larsen
Feb 500:35:48Tap to summarizeIn the 20th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Magnus “Wolf” Larsen, a Norwegian-American boxer whose career rose quickly—and unraveled just as fast. Born in southern Norway in 1901, Larsen grew up in a family of Travelers and experienced violence and instability from an early age. After coming to the United States, he emerged as a powerful amateur boxer, winning both the New York State and national amateur championships in 1921. Turning professional, Larsen faced some of the leading fighters of his time, including Gene Tunney. But longer bouts, heavy drinking, and poor decisions undermined his career. Within a few years, he was banned from boxing in New York and drifted through smaller venues and countries, eventually ending up on the margins of the Norwegian immigrant community. This episode examines Larsen’s brief rise and long decline, and what his life reveals about opportunity, risk, and failure in early twentieth-century immigrant America.
Transcribe →Stein Eriksen
Jan 200:30:54Tap to summarizeIn the 19th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of a man who became the face of an entire sport. Long before skiing was mainstream in the United States, Stein Eriksen helped transform it from a niche activity into a lifestyle. This episode traces how a boy who grew up near the forests of Oslo, raised by ski-obsessed parents and shaped by war, discipline, and relentless training, went on to redefine what alpine skiing could be. We follow his path from dark wartime slopes in Norway to the bright mountains of Aspen, from Olympic glory to celebrity friendships, commercials, and ski resorts built around his name. Along the way, we explore how style, timing, and personality mattered as much as medals. With the help of folklorist Thor Gotaas, this episode moves fast—packed with facts, anecdotes, and sharp turns—and shows how Stein Eriksen became skiing’s first true superstar.
Transcribe →Thorstein Veblen
Dec 2100:32:13Tap to summarizeIn the 18th episode of 200 Norwegians, we tell the story of Thorstein Veblen, a Norwegian-American thinker who spent his life trying to understand why wealthy societies so often lose their way. Veblen died in 1929, alone in a small cabin in California. No obituary appeared. His name had largely vanished from public conversation. Then the stock market crashed—and suddenly America remembered him. Born to Norwegian immigrant parents on the Midwestern frontier, Veblen grew up in a tight-knit Norwegian community, culturally distant from the America that was rapidly industrializing around him. That distance gave him a peculiar vantage point. He watched the rise of great fortunes, railroads, monopolies, and financiers—and noticed something unsettling. Wealth, he argued, was increasingly detached from productive work and devoted instead to display. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption,” not as a slogan, but as a diagnosis of a society that had begun to mistake waste for success. This episode explores Veblen’s unlikely life—from Norwegian farm communities to elite universities—and why his ideas keep resurfacing during moments of economic crisis. It is a story about status, power, and a question that remains unresolved: what kind of prosperity actually serves society?
Transcribe →Knut Hovden
Dec 501:30:06Tap to summarizeIn the 17th episode of 200 Norwegians, you learn about Knut Hovden. He was born on a storm-beaten island outside Bergen in 1880, a frail boy who couldn’t join the fishermen at sea. Instead, he watched, listened, and learned. While others hauled nets, he studied the science behind them. That curiosity carried him from a small coastal village to Norway’s leading fish-preservation school — and eventually far beyond Norway itself. After the great fire of Ålesund in 1904, Hovden crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Monterey, California. There, he reshaped an entire industry. He invented machines, redesigned fishing methods, and turned a sleepy waterfront into the sardine capital of the world. His work fed soldiers in two world wars and helped build the booming canning empire that defined Cannery Row. But his success came with consequences: pollution, overfishing, political battles, and a personal life marked by turmoil.
Transcribe →Campbell Norsgaard
Nov 700:43:01Tap to summarizeThe sixteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Campbell Norsgaard, the photographer who risked his life to document Norway under Nazi occupation—and later captured its rebirth. Imprisoned by the Gestapo for taking forbidden photos, Norsgaard escaped and went on to become the official photographer for the Royal Norwegian Air Force at Little Norway in Canada. His lens followed the war across continents—from pilots training in exile to the King’s return after liberation—and later turned toward the quiet wonders of nature in films for the National Geographic Society. In this episode, I speak with Heather Turner, Norsgaard’s granddaughter, who shares unseen images from the family archive and helps piece together the undocumented story of the documentarian.
Transcribe →Per Lysne
Oct 2500:26:01Tap to summarizeIn this episode of 200 Norwegians, we explore how one man’s brushstrokes brought a fading folk art back to life. With insights from Patti Goke, a Vesterheim Gold Medalist, and Håkon Lysne, president of the Lærdal Historical Society, we trace the journey of the Father of American Rosemaling—from the fjords of Norway to the heart of the Midwest.
Transcribe →Leif Erikson
Oct 900:32:53Tap to summarizeIn the 14th episode of 200 Norwegian, we tell the story of Leif Erikson—the first European to reach North America—and how his place in U.S. history was revived a thousand years later. We trace Helge Ingstad’s 1960 search to L’Anse aux Meadows, where turf-house ruins and later carbon dating confirmed a Viking-age settlement, bringing the sagas of Vinland out of myth and into evidence. Along the way, we ask why Columbus became a household name while Leif lingered in the footnotes, and what the sagas (and their contradictions) really say about Helluland, Markland, and Vinland. Our guest is Norwegian journalist and author Knut Lindh—who met Ingstad—and helps unpack how discovery, memory, and identity shape the Leif Erikson story.
Transcribe →Ole Evinrude
Oct 300:31:16Tap to summarizeThe thirteenth episode of 200 Norwegians tells the story of Ole Evinrude, the man who invented the first successful outboard motor. Born in Norway and raised in Wisconsin, Evinrude struggled through failures and setbacks before his persistence led to an invention that changed boating forever. From a melting ice cream cone on a hot summer day to a machine that revolutionized life on America’s lakes and rivers, his journey is one of determination and ingenuity. In this episode, I speak with Bob Jacobson, author of Ole Evinrude and His Outboard Motor.
Transcribe →