Valdres
Samband
The Oldest Bygdelag in America - 1899
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Valdres
Samband| Home | Message Center | Members | Budstikken | Budstikken Bits | Stevne | Archive | Book Orders | Genealogy Terms | Churches | Norwegian Cuisine | Links | Search | Site Index |
The Valdres Samband is an organization of emigrant descendants from the Valdres Valley of Norway and those interested in its history and culture. Valdres is approximately 100 miles northwest of Oslo. The Valdres Samband is the oldest 'bygdelag' in America having been organized in 1899. This web site offers resources for those who are interested in their Valdres heritage.
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In 1904 Andrew Veblen (founding father), wrote:
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Articles eight and nine of the Grunnlov (constitution) specified that the Samband should gather and publish material about Valdres, the people and their work. Today's Internet serves as a vehicle to further the collection, preservation, and dissemination of information as dictated by the Articles. The Internet has also proved to be a valuable resource for people searching for their roots. The 'bygdelag' is alive and well - and growing!
The future of the Valdres Samband depends on your contribution to the lag. In the 1929 Yearbook of Bydelagenes Fellesraad, Veblen wrote:
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"...we must nurse knowledge and relationships among Valdrises of the younger generation... I will not go into detail on how this will be done. This must be worked out by those who assume the work; but there must be publishing, and most in English. It will require much work, but it will bring those who do it many pleasant contacts.." |
Note: Veblen used the spelling "Valdris" in his writings.
Whenever we add or change content on our website, we'll record it here. Updates in the last three months will be listed, with the most recent update first. Follow the link to the updated pages:
Last update: May 10, 2008
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Last updated:
May 11, 2008
"One of the chief aims is to gather, preserve and impart knowledge of Valdris
and people of Valdris origin; to serve as a bond between them and to keep alive their
common traditions, to foster knowledge of their ancestry and cherish a filial interest in
the beautiful ancestral home of the race. By the operation of natural causes the language
of our fathers will be forgotten among our descendants a very few generations hence. But
the sentiment and interest that called the Samband into being need not die with the
language. They should endure as long as there is Valdris blood to transmit; and to keep
them alive and perpetuate them is a special function of the Valdris Samband."