Struggle and Survival in a Foreign Land : the Immigrant Experience of Anders Lian

Abstract

Throughout out the nineteenth century thousands of immigrants arrived in the United States. Many of these immigrants hoped to improve their lives by establishing themselves in America. Anders Lian, a youthful immigrant from Norway, arrived in the United States in early 1890. Anders Lian, like many other immigrants, envisioned America as a land of prosperity and hoped that living in America would also bring him a degree of success. However, as Anders Lian discovered, the United States in the 1890s brought struggle along with success. The letters of Anders Lian, preserved for over a century by his relatives in Norway, present a tale of struggle, survival, and hope for a new life in America. Through his letters a detailed account of life in a Midwestern city in the 1890s emerges, along with an understanding of the United States during the 1890s.