Kart over de Forenede Stater og "Norge I Amerik" [Map of the United States and "Norway In America"]
- Title:
- Kart over de Forenede Stater og "Norge I Amerik" [Map of the United States and "Norway In America"]
- Alternate Title:
- [Map of the United States and "Norway In America"]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Ulvestad, Martin
- Date:
- 1901
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2531.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2531_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1900 - 1919
- Subject:
- Deception/Distortion
Ethnocentrism - Measurement:
- 46 x 69 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- As a "nation of immigrants," Americans have produced persuasive maps addressing the issues of immigration and nationality over most of the country's lifetime. The collection includes a number of these maps published since the 1840s. Some are welcoming, encouraging, and provide advice to immigrants. Some assert that the diversity of our nationalities is a source of strength for the country. And yet others attack immigrants in general, or specific ethnic or religious immigrant groups, particularly Asians, Catholics, and Jews. For the range of these maps, Search > "immigration.”
Martin Ulvestad's "Norway in America" (ID #2531.01) is a good example of how the apparently accurate use of symbol design, size, and color on a map can be employed to convey a dramatically misleading impression.
Ulvestad was a Norwegian immigrant who spent decades documenting detailed demographics of his countrymen in the U.S. The results were published in his 1907 Nordmændene i Amerika, deres historie og rekord [The Norwegians in America, their history and record]. This massive work includes state and county histories of Norwegian communities, lists and short biographical information on thousands of individual settlers, names of Norwegian holders of public offices, Civil War soldiers, churches, ministers, etc.
The map, included in the book, uses two symbols to represent Norwegian communities. All the locations where there are "Norwegian churches and congregations" are represented by a solid red circle. ("It goes without saying that" in these places "the Norwegian population is more numerous than it is in other places.") Other locations, "where there are Norwegians, but in smaller numbers," are shown by a red circle with a white center.
As a result, and because of the size of the red symbols, areas of general Norwegian settlement are a sea of red. This is seen in parts of Washington, Oregon, and Utah, but particularly in the upper midwest, where a block of solid red covers large portions of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. This literally means only that there were Norwegian communities all across this region. But for those who have not carefully read the map legend, the impression (heightened by the bright red color) is that the Norwegian population dominated the area.
The reality was quite different. For example, in the state most affected, Minnesota, Norwegian immigrants accounted for only 5.99% of the state's population in 1900, the year before the map was created. At that time, the German immigrant population of Minnesota was larger (6.68%), as was the Swedish (6.59%). https://stacker.com/minnesota/what-minnesotas-immigrant-population-looked-1900, accessed June 28, 2022.
The map on the verso (ID #2531.02) employs somewhat similar design choices, albeit to less dramatic effect. "In all cities and at all post offices, which are listed on this side of the map, there is a Norwegian. And at or near the places marked in red there are Norwegian churches and congregations." As a result, the map is dense with place names throughout the midwest. And while the red circles marking churches are smaller than those on the recto, red is here used to show state borders (black on the recto) and to print the names of every county, thus increasing the overall amount of the color on the map.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Ulvestad, Martin. 1907. Nordmændene i Amerika, deres historie og rekord [The Norwegians in America, their history and record]. Minneapolis: History Book Co.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.