Norsk Museum to host Stavenger exhibit by Norwegian photojournalist

A small village just 7 miles southeast of Norway, Illinois, is the subject of a new exhibit by a Norwegian photojournalist.

The exhibit, by Lars Idar Waage and titled “A Dying Norway – In A Living America,” will be on display at the Norsk Museum in the village of Norway’s Community Building later this month.

The hours of the exhibit will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, then 1 to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 14 and 15.

On Sunday, the exhibit will join the Cleng Peerson Sons of Norway lodge meeting, at which Waage will give a presentation. The presentation is free to the public, as are coffee and Norwegian treats while they last.

The subject of the program will be the village of Stavanger, Illinois, a small town located just 7 miles southeast of Norway, consisting of 10 houses and a beautiful brick church, the Stavanger Lutheran Church.

In 2015, this village caught the interest of Waage, a photojournalist from Stavanger in the country of Norway. Waage was so curious about this American namesake that he flew over to the U.S. to see it for himself. He was surprised to find a community frozen in time, still keeping the traditions alive from their ancestors of the 1800s.

Waage, who was so impressed with the area that he’s returned over 10 times, has had his photo story – a full 16-page, full-color spread about Illinois’ Stavenger – published in the popular Norwegian magazine, Lorsdag. That story has been reprinted in several Norwegian-American newspapers.

His current project has come to include other local communities, including Ottawa, Newark, Seneca, Serena, Leland and Morris, among others.

The village of Norway is the original Fox River settlement, founded in 1833 by Cleng Peerson, the father of Norwegian immigration, and the Sloopers, and is the oldest permanent Norwegian settlement in America.

It is home to this country’s first Norwegian Lutheran church, a building that now serves as the home of the Norsk Museum. For 50 years, the museum, which is located at 3676 E. 2603rd Road, Sheridan, has been preserving the history of the community’s Norwegian ancestors and teaching the next generations about their heritage.

The museum hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from June through October, and tours are available by request. Contact the Norsk Museum board resident and historian Dave Johnson at norskmuseum.org for more information.