Special Announcement of the Danish Sisterhood Online Archive Project!

Did you know there are four Danish Sisterhood members serving on the board of the Museum of Danish America? Mindy Brown, Marcia Jante, John Rasmussen, and Elizabeth Steffensen are actively working for both Danish Causes! We are very excited to share our news of a campaign to honor the rich history of the Danish Sisterhood of America AND honor the 40th Anniversary of the Museum of Danish America.

As you know in 2016 the National Danish Sisterhood Archives (historical materials) were relocated to the Museum of Danish America (MoDA). Between 2019-2021, the files were reviewed, catalogued and were moved from regular card board boxes to acid free archival grade boxes and folders. This will help preserve the originals for the future. In addition three pages of each ledger or folder were scanned and housed in the museums online data base.

What is the next phase of the archival project? Now it is time to again move forward and make these valuable historic materials available online to ALL Sisterhood members. The next phase of the Sisterhood Archival Project will involve scanning the 300 Danish Sisterhood Secretary and Treasurer Ledgers and all issues of the Danish Sisterhood News. It is hoped that convention materials and photograph albums will also be scanned, if time and funding is available.

The lodge historic materials we have will provide insight into the activities and times of Sisterhood Lodges, assist in locating family members for genealogical research and map the expenses and stability of the lodges through time. Once scanned all of these materials will then be housed on the Museums of Danish Americas website for direct viewing by you at anytime. At your fingertips you would be able to retrieve a living history of lodges, members and activities where ledgers are available, and these fragile documents will be preserved forever!

How will this archival project be accomplished?

We believe the most efficient and cost effective way to accomplish this big project involves:

• Hiring an archives intern to work at the museum for 6 months. Oversight will be provided by Cheyenne Jansdatter, the MoDA Archives Manager.

• Renting an overhead book scanner which will scan and format materials. (300 lodge ledgers, DSS News and convention materials) cont. on page 6 cont. from page 5

• Upload all the materials to the Museums online library. Since this library is already in existence, the Sisterhood will not have to incur additional costs to build our own system.

We are very excited about the next phase of our Danish Sisterhood Online Archive Project! Stay tuned as more information will follow on how lodges and members can get involved to support this preservation effort.

Watch the Danish Sisterhood News for a monthly column on the project. It will provide details about the project and keep you current on how you and your lodge can get involved and support this initiative to preserve our Sisterhood History.

The Danish Sisterhood and Museum of Danish America 40th Anniversary Partnership Committee thanks you for your interest. Feel free to contact us for additional information.

Tova Brandt, Museum of Danish America, Tova.Brandt@danishmuseum.org

Mindy Brown, Lodge 21, mindysbrown@hotmail.com.

Cheyenne Jansdatter, Museum of Danish America, cjansdatter@danishmuseum.org.

Marcia Jante, Lodge 15, mjante@wi.rr.com

Karen Vig-Keathley, National Board DSS, trustee3@danishdsisterhood.com.

John Rassmussen, Lodge 300, johnfrasmu@gmail.com

Elizabeth Steffensen, Lodge 4, esteffensen@yahoo.com