Our Wish List

The following are some titles that we would like to add to the Genealogy & Education Center collection. If they are sitting unwanted on your bookshelves or you would like to ‘adopt’ them by purchasing them or making a donation toward their purchase, please email us or call 712.764.7008. Please let us know that you intend to make a gift purchase or donation so that we can avoid duplication.

English-language materials:

  • A History of Ida County [Iowa], edited by Bruce L. Godbersen (1977). This was a limited edition, so if anyone has a copy they no longer want, it would find a good home with us.
  • Forest Homes: the Story of the Scandinavian Settlements in the Forty Mile Bush, New Zealand, by Conrad Petersen (1956; available from abebooks.com)
  • From Buckboard to Backboard, by Lin L. Laursen (2012)
  • Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, by Frank Esshom (1966; available from abebooks.com)
  • Dana College yearbooks: anything before 1927, 1928-1930, 1933-1936, 1939-1940, 1944, 1954, 1957, 1968-1972, 1974-1985, 1987-2010
  • Grand View College yearbooks: anything before 1920, 1928-1929, 1933, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1972, 1977 to the present
  • Kirke og Folk/Church and Life: issues prior to 1973; contact librarian for desired later issues.
  • The Anatomy of Denmark: Archaeology and History from the Ice Age to the Present, by Klavs Randsborg (2009)

Danish-language materials:

  • Jorden rundt efter guld: mine rejser og oplevelser som guldgraver (Around the World After Gold: My Travels and Adventures as a Gold-Miner), ved Robert Andersen (1938).
  • Ordbog for slægtsforskere, by Heini Madsen. 2nd ed.
  • Danske børnehjem i billeder og tekst (Danish Orphanages in Picture and Text; 1900), various authors.
  • Den slesvig-holstenske hærs uniformering 1848-51: Die Uniformierung der Schleswig--Holsteinischen Armé von 1848-51, ved Gerd Stolz. Out of print.
  • Min tid i Canada: erindringer, ved Samuel Olsen (1994)
  • New Denmark: New Brunswick, Canada: udviklingen i en dansk udvandrerkoloni 1872-1914 (1992), ved Palle Bo Bojesen.
  • "Over There" : dansk i Amerika (1991), ved Anne-Grethe L. Routley.
  • Dansk adelsleksikon (Encyclopedia of Danish Nobility). There are numerous editions of this title and accompanying volumes available from online antiquarian book dealers for a wide range of prices. We would like to obtain at least one set.
  • Himmerlands Rakkere, vol. 1, ved Anton Gaardboe & Carl Klitgaard (1923; reproduction) (Amazon.com: $20).
  • Danske uniformer, [1864; out of print]

Donations to the Genealogy and Education Center

The Genealogy & Education Center (formerly the Family History & Genealogy Center) is the Museum of Danish America's research library. We collect a wide variety of books and print material pertaining to Danish immigrants, their families and descendants, Danish-American communities, churches and institutions, as well as background information on immigration and Danish local and national history and culture. We are particularly interested in family, church, and institutional histories, and Danish local histories and genealogical compilations. We generally do not accept novels or other materials not related to family histories, genealogy, or the Danish-American immigrant experience.

Although we cannot accept everything offered, we do appreciate offers of books and other print materials, as well as copies of photographs and family documents. Contacting us ahead of time with a list of potential donations rather than just sending us the material saves time and money on both ends.

When unsolicited material is received that duplicates or falls outside the Center’s collection policy, an effort is made to find an appropriate home for it elsewhere. Other institutions with substantial holdings of Danish materials include The Danish American Archive & Library in Blair, Nebraska, and The Danish Immigrant Archive at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa.

If you have questions about books, genealogical, or other print materials you would like to donate, please contact the Genealogy and Education Center. For pre-arranged donations, the Genealogy and Education Center Donation Form may be printed for inclusion with the materials.

If you would like us to create a file on a Danish immigrant, fill out the Immigrant Information Form and return it along with photographs or documentation.

For donations of artifacts and original photographs and documents or if you have general questions about donations, contact the Curator of Collections.