Special Exhibit 
of Historical Data of the NSAA
at the Center for Western Studies

The Center for Western Studies on the campus of Augustana University archives the historical records of the Norwegian Singers Association of America and several of its member choruses. They have created a special exhibit of historical data and visuals relating to the history of the NSAA and Sangerfest events. The display includes photographs, documents and an impressive collection of Sangerfest medals and buttons. Also on display will be some items from member choruses.

The Center for Western Studies is located in 
the Fantle Building on the campus of 
Augustana University. 
The address is 2121 S. Summit Avenue.

They are open Monday- Friday
 from 8 am to 5 pm . 
For our convenience 
they will also be open on Saturday, 
June 11 from 10 am to 2 pm.
 
This exhibit will remain on display through September 30 for the locals or anyone 
returning to our city later in the summer.

Heritage Center

Heritage Park is a collection of historic Great Plains buildings dating from the 
late 19th to early 20th century and is located south of 33rd Street between Grange 
and Prairie Avenue.  (This is not Sioux Falls Heritage City Park.)
These buildings will also be open on Sunday from 2-4:00 PM.

• The Beaver Creek Lutheran Church is one of the oldest churches established in Lincoln County. It was completed in 1892 in LaValley Township east of Sioux Falls. The architectural style is Vernacular Gothic Revival, which attempts to combine European attributes with the prairie experience. The church is made almost entirely of wood, the main building material available on the prairie at the time. As the rural population declined, the church's congregation voted to close its doors in 1978. It was then offered to Augustana and was moved to its present location in Heritage Park in 1985.
   

• The Berdahl-Rolvaag House was named for the Berdahl family who built it in 1883 and for author Ole Rolvaag (1876–1931), a Norwegian immigrant, whose novels "Giants in the Earth," "Peder Victorious," and "Their Fathers' God" tell the stories of Norwegian immigrants who came to the area in the 1870s. Rolvaag, a 1901 graduate of the Augustana Academy in Canton, married Jennie Berdahl while she was living in this house with her parents. The house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

• The Eggers School House is an example of early South Dakota educational facilities. The school was built in 1909 on an acre of land near Renner Corner. After serving as the daily social gathering place for an average of 15 students for nearly 50 years, only four children were enrolled in 1957. The school eventually closed and was purchased and preserved by James Wehde, a former student at the school.

• The Rolvaag Writing Cabin, in which the best-selling "Giants in the Earth," called a "moving narrative of pioneer hardship and heroism," by Atlantic Monthly, was written between September and October 1923, was a gift from the Rolvaag family. The family believed it was appropriate to have the cabin close to the Berdahl-Rolvaag House in which Ole Rolvaag heard many of the stories that were incorporated in his novels. The cabin stood on U.S. Forest Service land on Big Island Lake in northern Minnesota and faced destruction if it were not moved. Two Finnish carpenters dismantled the cabin and reassembled it in Heritage Park.