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Newspaper Folkets Röst (St. Paul, Minn.) 1857-1858

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About Folkets Röst (St. Paul, Minn.) 1857-1858

Folkets Röst (Voice of the People) was the first Norwegian-language newspaper published in the state of Minnesota. The short-lived Democratic title printed nine issues in St. Paul, Minnesota in late 1857 and 1858. Minnesota was at that time in the first stages of an explosion of Norwegian immigration to the state. Between 1850 and 1857, the Norwegian population in Minnesota grew from 9 people to 6,769, and to 11,893 by 1860.

The first, unnumbered issue of Folkets Röst was published by O. Nelson on October 1, 1857. Appearing two weeks before the 1857 election, this issue served as a campaign sheet for the Democratic Party, which ended up sweeping the election in the state. The majority of Scandinavian immigrants to the United States leaned towards Republican politics at this time, as did most of the Scandinavian-language press. This included Madison, Wisconsin's Emigranten, the major Norwegian-language newspaper in the region in the 1850s. Folkets Röst was intended by publisher-editor Nelson to serve as a Democratic counterbalance to the influence of Emigranten on Norwegian immigrants in the upper Midwest.

A second issue of Folkets Röst, numbered volume 1, issue 1, was published by Nelson on July 1, 1858, with four pages of six columns each. A column in English appearing on the second page of the first issue addressed "To Our American Friends" states the aims of Folkets Röst: "We have a large Scandinavian population in the State, and politically, in this country of universal suffrage, they wield a great influence. That they may be taught to exercise the sacred right of suffrage understandingly and properly, is the subject of 'Folkets Rost.'"

Subsequent issues were published on July 24, August 21, September 4 and 18, October 2, and November 6 and 20, 1858, after which publication ceased. Following the closure of Folkets Röst, another Norwegian-language newspaper did not appear in Minnesota until Nordisk Folkeblad began to publish in Rochester in 1868.

Provided By: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Folkets Röst (St. Paul, Minn.) 1857-1858

Dates of Publication

  • 1857-1858

Created / Published

  • St. Paul, Minn. : Nelson & Co.

Headings

  • -  Norwegians--Minnesota--Newspapers
  • -  Saint Paul (Minn.)--Newspapers
  • -  Norwegians
  • -  Minnesota
  • -  Minnesota--Saint Paul
  • -  United States--Minnesota--Ramsey--Saint Paul

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Semimonthly
  • -  1ste aarg., no. 1 (10de juli, 1858)-
  • -  Ceased in 1858?
  • -  Preceeded by unnumbered issue dated 1ste oct. 1857.
  • -  Available on microfilm from the Minnesota Historical Society.
  • -  In Norwegian.

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn90059286

OCLC Number

  • 1764858

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

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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:

Folkets Röst St. Paul, Minn. -1858. (Saint Paul, MN), Jan. 1 1857. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn90059286/.

APA citation style:

(1857, January 1) Folkets Röst St. Paul, Minn. -1858. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn90059286/.

MLA citation style:

Folkets Röst St. Paul, Minn. -1858. (Saint Paul, MN) 1 Jan. 1857. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn90059286/.