Knut Gjerset (September 15, 1865 – October 29, 1936) was a Norwegian-American author, historian and college professor.

Biography

Knut Gjerset was born at Fræna in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

, Norway. He was the son of Ole Sørensen Gjerset and Karen Marie Olsdatter Eidem. He immigrated with his family to Chippewa County, Minnesota during 1871. His brother, Oluf Gjerset, was an elected official in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Gjerset attended Willmar Seminary in Willmar, Minnesota, and received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1893. He held the position of principal at St. Ansgar Seminary in St. Ansgar, Iowa (1893-1895). He was married in 1894 to Helen Baumgarten (1866-1966) at New Richland, Minnesota. Gjerset studied at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

(1895-1896), and at the

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

(1896 to 1898) where he was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. Gjerset next worked as a principal at Glenwood Academy in Glenwood, Minnesota. In 1902, he became a professor at Luther College. Gjerset was head of the history department for more than thirty years and co-editor of the literary yearbook ''Symra'' (1905-1914). He was curator of the Norwegian-American Historical Museum. He published a number of historical works, including ''History of the Norwegian People'' (1915) and ''History of Iceland'' (1924). Gjerset was appointed Knight of the 1st class in the Order of St. Olav in 1917. He was the chairman of the committee on exhibits for the Norse-American Centennial in 1925.

"Knut Gjerset"
in ''Norsk biografisk leksikon''

Selected works

*''English Grammar'' (1908) *''Brændevinssamla gene og avholdsarbeidet i Norge'' (1911) *''History of the Norwegian People'', two volumes (1915) *''Luther College Museum'' (1923) *''John Martin Kalberlahn'' (1924) *''History of Iceland'' (1924) *''Health Conditions and the Practice of Medicine Among the Early Norwegian Settlers, 1825-1865'' with Dr. Ludvig Hektoen (1926) *''Norwegian-American Studies and Records'' with Theodore C. Blegen, Kristian Prestgard and Laurence M. Larson (1927) *''Norwegian-American Historical Museum'' (1929) *''Norwegian Sailors on the Great Lakes'' (1933)

References

External links

Gjerset House
at Luther College
Knut Gjerset Collection
at Luther College
Norwegian-American Historical Association - Knut Gjerset papers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gjerset, Knut People from Møre og Romsdal Norwegian emigrants to the United States 1865 births 1936 deaths Recipients of the Order of the Falcon Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Heidelberg University alumni American Lutherans University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni People from Chippewa County, Minnesota

Biography

Selected works

References

Related reading

External links