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Leif Erikson Memorial, St. Paul

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Leif Erikson memorial

The Leif Erikson memorial on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Mulad, June 22, 2005. Public domain.

In October of 1949, the Leif Erikson Memorial was unveiled on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol. The memorial was part of the Scandinavian American community’s efforts to credit their ancestors—not Christopher Columbus—with the “discovery” of the Americas.

Leif Erikson has long served as a symbol for Minnesota’s Scandinavian American community. According to Icelandic sagas, Erikson led a Norse expedition to North America in 1000 CE and established a settlement likely in present-day Newfoundland, Canada. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Scandinavian Americans across the United States and in Minnesota claimed Erikson as the original “discoverer” of the Americas. As part of their long effort to claim the mantle of discovery from Christopher Columbus and Italian Americans, they often proposed building monuments to Erikson.

In 1891, a Leif Erikson Monument Association formed in Minneapolis with the dual purpose of erecting a monument to Erikson and establishing a holiday in his honor. The group was connected with a different Leif Erikson Monument Association in Chicago. Together, the two organizations influenced the decision to create an exhibition on the “Norse Discovery of America” at the 1893 World’s Fair—also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition—that celebrated Columbus’s discovery of the Americas. This association failed to erect a monument in Minnesota.

In March of 1931, only seven months before a Christopher Columbus memorial was dedicated on the Minnesota State Capitol grounds, a subsequent Leif Erikson Monument Association formed with the purpose of erecting a memorial to Leif Erikson on a nearby site. The organization was affiliated with the larger Leif Erikson Memorial Association of America and was formed partially in response to the Columbus memorial. The founding of the association coincided with the Minnesota State Legislature’s declaration of Leif Erikson Day on October 9 and Columbus Day on October 12 as official state holidays.

Beyond working to erect a statue, the Leif Erikson Monument Association was an active Scandinavian American cultural institution in Minnesota. Its members co-sponsored the Twin Cities’s celebrations of Leif Erikson Day, arranged Scandinavian American cultural events, and hosted Norwegian dignitaries traveling to Minnesota. They selected the Norwegian American sculptor John Karl Daniels to design the memorial.

After Daniels had created a model of the proposed statue, the Leif Erikson Monument Association began a fundraising campaign in April 1937 that accompanied a four-day institute at the University of Minnesota on Scandinavian cultures. The featured lecture series discussed Norse voyages to the Americas that predated Columbus. The association announced its primary fundraising effort in October 1939, with the goal of raising $25,000. Workers broke ground on the memorial site on May 27, 1947.

The dedication ceremony for the Leif Erikson Memorial was part of the Leif Erikson Day celebration held in St. Paul on October 9, 1949. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people attended the thirteen-foot-tall bronze statue’s unveiling on the State Capitol grounds. The event was a broad celebration of U.S.-Norwegian relations. Six months prior, both Norway and the United States had become two of the twelve original members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—an international military alliance designed to protect member states from potential threats from the Soviet Union. As the only NATO member sharing a border with the Soviet Union, Norway was viewed as particularly vulnerable. A delegation of Norwegian diplomats—including the Norwegian Ambassador to the United States, Wilhelm Morgenstierne, and Norway’s Minister of Defense, Jens C. Hauge—traveled to Minnesota for the unveiling. Their comments at the unveiling and to the press stressed the importance of NATO and Norway’s dependence on American military strength.

The dedication proceedings identified Erikson’s purported discovery of North America and the role of Norwegian immigrants in Minnesota as precursors to the United States’s and Norway’s new alliance. To symbolize these connections, Ambassador Morgenstierne presented a Viking broadsword dated between 800 and 1000 C.E. to the president of the Minnesota Historical Society, Bergmann Richards. The sword remains on long-term loan to the Minnesota Historical Society from the people of Norway.

The memorial features Erikson facing westward atop a twelve-foot-tall pedestal. Inside the pedestal lies a copy of Voyage to Vineland, an account of Erikson’s journey to North America. The inscription gives Erikson the title “Discoverer of America,” which historians and lawmakers have since criticized as promoting an inaccurate myth that erases Indigenous people. In 2015, legislation was introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives to change the engraving to read “Leif Erikson Landed in America, 1000 A.D..” The bill did not pass.

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“Dedication Ceremonies Set for Statue of Leif Erikson.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, October 2, 1949.

“En staty ӧver Leif Erikson.” Svenska Amerikanska Posten, September 2, 1931.

“Erikson Fete Program Set.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, May 18, 1947.

“Erikson Fete Set Today.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, October 9, 1949.

“Erikson Group to Give Musical.” Minneapolis Star, October 3, 1936.

“Erikson Monument Drive is Discussed.” Minneapolis Star, February 11, 1938.

“Erikson Shaft Site is Approved.” Minneapolis Star, March 10, 1936.

“Erikson vs. Columbus.” Minneapolis Star, February 22, 1935.

“Ett monument ӧfver gamle.” Svenska Folkets Tidning, June 3, 1891.

“Funds are Sought for Leif Erikson State Monument.” Minneapolis Star, April 8, 1937.

Gibbon, Guy. Archaeology of Minnesota: The Prehistory of the Upper Midwest. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

“Group Reports Progress in Erikson Monument Drive.” Minneapolis Star-Journal, October 10, 1939.

HF 523: An act to establish October ninth as Leif Erikson Day. Minnesota State Legislature. April 8, 1931.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1931/0/Session+Law/Chapter/121/pdf

HF 1889: A bill for an act relating to state government; changing the engraving on a statue of an historic figure. Minnesota State Legislature, March 16, 2015. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF1889&type=bill&version=0&session=ls89&session_year=2015&session_number=0

“A Leif Erikson Day.” The North, July 1, 1891.

“Leif Erikson Day Backing is Urged.” Minneapolis Star, February 21, 1935.

“Leif Erikson Group Maps $25,000 Drive.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 18, 1939.

“Leif Erikson Group Names State Agent.” Minneapolis Tribune, November 10, 1937.

“Leif Erikson Group Will Give Banquet.” Minneapolis Star Journal, October 4, 1944.

“Leif Erikson Monument Drive Begins As ‘U’ Proposes Scandinavian Institute.” Minneapolis Tribune, April 11, 1937.

“Leif Erikson Statue Unveiled.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 10, 1949.

“Leif Erikson’s Work Extolled.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 10, 1944.

Mann, Charles. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. 2nd edition. New York: Vintage Books, 2011.

“Models Erikson Statue.” Minneapolis Star-Journal, October 9, 1939.

“Norse Envoy to Be Dinner Honor Guest.” Minneapolis Tribune, September 29, 1935.

“Norwegian Officials Speak: Closer U.S.–Norse Ties Seen.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 10, 1949.

“Progress on Leif Erikson Memorial Plan Outlined.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 10, 1939.

“Seek Erikson Statue Model.” Minneapolis Tribune, October 23, 1935.

SF 1074: An act to establish October twelfth as Columbus Day. Minnesota State Legislature. April 14, 1931.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1931/0/Session+Law/Chapter/174/pdf

“Skandinavisk fest i Nakomis Park.” Svenska Amerikanska Posten, July 27, 1938.

Sprunger, David A. "J. A. Holvik and the Kensington Runestone." Minnesota History 57, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 140–154.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/57/v57i03p140-154.pdf

“To Honor Leif Erikson.” Minneapolis Tribune, September 20, 1935.

“To Plan for Monument.” Minneapolis Star, February 24, 1936.

“Two Governors Praise Erikson at Celebration.” Minneapolis Star, October 10, 1931.

“Viking Hero: Plan Monument to Honor Leif Erikson.” Minneapolis Star-Journal, October 18, 1939.

Related Images

Leif Erikson memorial
Leif Erikson memorial
Viking sword
Viking sword
Sculptor John Karl Daniels with a model of his Leif Erikson statue
Sculptor John Karl Daniels with a model of his Leif Erikson statue
Sculptor John K. Daniels working on his statue of Leif Ericson
Sculptor John K. Daniels working on his statue of Leif Ericson
Installation of the Leif Ericson statue, State Capitol grounds
Installation of the Leif Ericson statue, State Capitol grounds
Dedication of the Leif Ericson memorial
Dedication of the Leif Ericson memorial
Leif Ericson memorial unveiling
Leif Ericson memorial unveiling
Leif Erikson memorial
Leif Erikson memorial
Leif Erikson memorial dedication ceremony
Leif Erikson memorial dedication ceremony
Leif Erikson memorial dedication ceremony
Leif Erikson memorial dedication ceremony
Dedication ceremony of Leif Erikson memorial
Dedication ceremony of Leif Erikson memorial
Leif Erikson memorial
Leif Erikson memorial

Turning Point

In 1931, Leif Erikson Day and Columbus Day are declared state holidays and the Leif Erikson Memorial Association forms.

Chronology

ca. 1000 CE

Leif Erikson allegedly lands in present-day Canada. Native people have already been living there for at least 15,000 years.

1891

A Leif Erikson Monument Association is established but fails to erect a monument.

1893

“Norse Discovery of America” is featured at the World’s Columbian Exposition due to the efforts of the 1891 Leif Erikson Monument Association.

1931

A new Leif Erikson Monument Association is founded in March. The Minnesota State Legislature names October 9 Leif Erikson Day in an act approved on April 8.

1935

The Leif Erikson Monument Association campaigns to make Leif Erikson Day a national holiday. In October, it hosts Norwegian Ambassador to the United States Wilhelm Morgenstierne as he visits for Leif Erikson Day.

1936

In March the Leif Erikson Monument Association announces the location on the Minnesota State Capitol grounds for the Leif Erikson memorial.

1937

The Leif Erikson Monument Association launches a modest fundraiser in conjunction with a four-day institute for the study of Scandinavian American culture at the University of Minnesota.

1939

The Leif Erikson Monument Association launches its primary fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $25,000 for the construction of the Leif Erikson Memorial.

1947

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Leif Erikson Memorial occurs on the State Capitol grounds in May.

1948

Secretary of the Leif Erikson Monument Association R. J. Meland expresses concern that claims of the Kensington Runestone being fraudulent would hurt the Leif Erikson Monument Association’s fundraising efforts.

1949

On October 9, the Leif Erikson memorial is unveiled in a Leif Erikson Day ceremony attended by 3,000–5,000 people. Norwegian and Icelandic dignitaries and Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl are speakers.

2015

On March 16, House File 1889 is introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives. It directs the engraving on the Leif Erikson Memorial to be changed to read “Leif Erikson Landed in America, 1000 A.D.” It does not pass.