Welcome to the Valhall Library
Valhall Library has many books, some written in Norwegian and some written in English. The links to each section is on the left of this page. The library also has many videos and lodge memorabilia - pictures and awards, etc. You can visit the Library at the Lodge before or after the next business meeting or social event and check out books and videos.
Latest Library News (from Lorraine Tucker, our Librarian)
Song of Norway available
I have placed my personal copy of Song of Norway , a video cassette, in the library for checkout by our members as they wish. Most people are aware that this is based on the life of Edvard Grieg (although some license as been taken with events), and stars the Norwegian actor/singer Toralv Maurstad with the American actress/singer Florence Henderson, who is of Scandinavian descent, and possibly better known as the mother of the Brady Bunch on television. The music is authentic, although not nearly enough of it, and the scenery of Norway is gorgeous, so it well worth seeing and hearing again. If you wish to check it out, please return it within a month so that others may also view it. Thank you.
Valhall’s Authors
Last year was a big year for Valhall members and friends, in which part of the celebrations included the anniversary of Ibsen’s death, and I wrote a column about the many plays we had in the library, written both in English and in Norwegian. However, DID YOU KNOW…..that we have three living authors of note in our own Valhall Lodge: Professor Oddvar K. Hoidal, Mrs Anne Kløvnes Hoidal, and former Norwegian Consul, Oswald I. Gilbertson?
Oddvar’s Quisling, a Study in Treason, and Anne’s Bunads in America - A Norwegian Cultural Tradition in Southern California, are available in our library now, and Ossie’s Visions, A Norwegian Immigration Story, is available for purchase by contacting him at 619-265-7027. Sometime later in the year, we hope to purchase a copy for the library for checkout by those members who do not have their own personal copy. I have read my copy several times, and find it a very interesting account of not only immigration to America, but also life under the occupation of Norway by the Nazis during WWII.
I would like also to mention a now long-deceased member, Robert Moen, who was a nationally recognized poet, and from whom we have a copy of his book entitled Leif the Lucky, an epic poem of Leif Ericsen’s voyage to the new world.
Genealogy Resources
For genealogists, we have copies of old immigration records from Ellis Island, which may be of interest to those researching their family roots. These cannot be checked out, but please feel free to come into the library before and after business meetings and during socials and look up your ancestors, as well as to check out books on many Norwegian subjects.
Lorraine Tucker, Librarian/Historian, 2007