Hand Me Down the Fiddle: Norwegian Fiddlers, Fiddles, and Fiddle Tunes in the Upper Midwest

Who were Ole Bull, Ole Hendricks, Johan Arndt Mostad, Thea Arndt Clark, Bill Sherburne, Hans Fykerud, Dagny Andrea Quisling, Ellen Blagen, and Elmo Wick? Find out about these Norwegian and Norwegian-American fiddlers, as well as fiddle makers and tune collectors from Norwegian-American communities in the Upper Midwest.

This exhibition includes music made on Hardanger fiddles and flat fiddles, as well as musical styles from Norway and America. We’ll share stories through artifacts, instruments, photographs, recordings, and video from Vesterheim’s collection, other organizations, and the community.

The project consultant and guest curator for the exhibition is fiddler and music historian Beth Hoven Rotto.

The exhibition is supported by a Scandinavian Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions in the Upper Midwest grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) and a generous gift to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from Carol Birkland and Tom Woxland, and Peter Dahlen and Mary S. Carlsen.