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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Stjernen (St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska) 1885-1896 Issues for 27de juli 1887-<1893> have English title: Star

About Stjernen (St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska) 1885-1896

Stjernan or “The Star” was a weekly Danish-American paper published from 1885-1896—briefly in St. Paul, Nebraska, and soon thereafter in nearby Dannebrog, Nebraska. The annual subscription was $1.50. At its height, there were 2,600 subscribers, 600 from Dannebrog and 2,000 from other locales. From 1886-1896, the publisher and editor was Peter Ebbesen, who had emigrated from Denmark to the U.S. as a child. In a pioneer history of his life, he wrote that when he began as an editor, he could barely read or write Danish at all. In time, he noted that he gradually gained enough Danish to “pass” among the Danish community of Dannebrog. Despite this self-deprecating assessment, the paper itself is described in a 2003 article by author Karsten Kjer Christensen as remarkably well-organized, with interesting articles. The newspaper’s letterpress lead type appears to have been taken from a mix of Scandinavian languages, although predominantly Danish fraktur.

Christensen wrote that the first issue stated, “Readers and friends. Today we add a paper to the journalistic accumulation among Scandinavians in America. A beacon that with the cooperation of our compatriots we hope will be worthy of its name.” After a few issues with church-related columns that were fraught with narrow doctrinal arguments, the paper carefully refrained from focusing on theological issues. Instead, it reported heavily on farming issues and commodities prices. At one point, Ebbesen encouraged farmers to submit their own stories about farming; however, this did not prove popular and the column was dropped. The paper also featured political news from both the U.S. and Denmark. Social news included reports of weddings, births and travel, primarily travel to Denmark. As Christensen noted, Stjernan readers saw themselves as “Danes in America” rather than Danish-Americans.

During a serious drought in 1896, a fire destroyed the newspaper office and the paper never recovered. Ebbesen moved back to St. Paul, Nebraska, and ran unsuccessfully for political office. Thereafter, he published and edited English-language newspapers in St. Paul.

Provided By: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Stjernen (St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska) 1885-1896

Other Title

  • Issues for 27de juli 1887-<1893> have English title: Star

Dates of Publication

  • 1885-1896

Created / Published

  • St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska : Ebbeson & Johnson, 1885-

Headings

  • -  Scandinavians--Nebraska--Newspapers
  • -  Scandinavian Americans--Nebraska--Newspapers
  • -  Scandinavian American newspapers
  • -  Saint Paul (Neb.)--Newspapers
  • -  Scandinavian Americans
  • -  Scandinavians
  • -  Nebraska
  • -  Nebraska--Saint Paul
  • -  United States--Nebraska--Howard--Dannebrog
  • -  United States--Nebraska--Howard--Saint Paul

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with 1ste aarg., nr. 1, 23de dec. 1885; ceased in aug. 1896.
  • -  Published in Dannebrog, Neb., 14de marts 1888-1896.
  • -  Issues for 6te Jan. 1886- called 1ste aarg., nr. 1-
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  In Danish; some advertisements in English.
  • -  Description based on: 1ste aarg., nr. 1, 23de dec. 1885; title from masthead.

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019270503

OCLC Number

  • 1088505496

ISSN Number

  • 2768-6477

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Stjernen St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska -1896. (Dannebrog, NE), Jan. 1 1885. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019270503/.

APA citation style:

(1885, January 1) Stjernen St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska -1896. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019270503/.

MLA citation style:

Stjernen St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska -1896. (Dannebrog, NE) 1 Jan. 1885. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2019270503/.