Sons of Norway talk

I’m giving a talk tomorrow night about a Norwegian-American immigrant who held public office for 18 years in Bismarck, North Dakota.  S.A. Olsness was the Commissioner of Insurance from 1917-1934 and he wrote in at least 45 diaries every day of every year.  Much to comb through but my most salient points about his assimilating to American life is what he reported about the variable weather and temperatures, sagging wheat prices during the Great Depression and finally about his soured relationship with the Governor of North Dakota and about the negligent renter farmer on his land.  He had troubles on both ends of the spectrum.  I will present a paper at a history conference in Duluth Minnesota on SAO and the title is:  “Memoirs of a Bi-Lingual Agent: Norwegian American Chronicles Farming in 1930-35.”  That is six years worth of information I am “limiting” myself to.  Tomorrow night at Sons of Norway will be an appreciative audience.  I wish I could say the same for those historians who will be in attendance on Oct. 6th.  But first, I have to write a 12 page paper that is due the end of August.  Where is the summer going?