Up in the Rocky Mountains

by Attebery, Jennifer Eastman

• ISBN13: 9780816647682
• ISBN10: 0816647682
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-06-22
• Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr

Summary

Before the turn of the twentieth century, many Swedish men emigrated to the American Rockies as itinerant laborers, drawn by the regionrs"s developing industries. Single Swedish women ventured west, too, and whole families migrated, settling into farm communities. By 1920, one-fifth of all Swedish immigrants were living in the West. InUp in the Rocky Mountains,Jennifer Eastman Attebery offers a new perspective on Swedish immigrantsrs" experiences in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico from 1880 to 1917 by interpreting their letters home. Considering more than three hundred letters, Attebery analyzes their storytelling, repetitive language, traditional phrasing, and metaphoric images. Recognizing the lettersrs" power as a folk form, Attebery sees in them the writersrs" relationships back in Sweden as well as their encounters with religious and labor movements, regionalism, and nationalism in their new country. By defining personal letters as a vernacular genre, Attebery provides a model for discerning immigrantsrs" shared culture in correspondence collections. By studying their words, she brings to life small Swedish communities throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Jennifer Eastman Attebery is professor of English and director of American studies at Idaho State University.

Author Biography

Jennifer Eastman Attebery is professor of English and director of American studies at Idaho State University.

Table of Contents

Vernacular writing : letter writing as a folk practice	p. 1
"Thanks for the letter" : the shape of the genre	p. 21
"Here are many Swedes" : nodes and networks of Swedish settlement in the Rockies	p. 45
"I work every day" : becoming American workers	p. 67
"I am sending money" : old country and new	p. 87
"Out west" : identifying with a new region	p. 111
"God's good gift" : religious language in the Rocky Mountain letters	p. 135
Identity, genre, meaning : what we learn from reading vernacular letters	p. 157
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