Over 150 years ago, our ancestors left their old homes in Norway to settle new communities in a foreign land. HeenBook is committed to honoring that history and bringing that history forward into the future. For decades we have preserved buildings, artifacts, documents, photos and oral and written histories. In 2010, we began a major campaign to digitize photographs and documents. In addition to preserving the information, digitization also allowed us new ways to share the history with the community.
As discussed by Lewis Hyde in The Gift “the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship between the parties involved.” The generosity of community members who lent us their family photographs and memorabilia for digitization has created new relationships. We have sought out relatives and neighbors we hadn’t seen since childhood. We have met new people and renewed long distance relationships, We are richer for the experience. And together, the future generations will be richer for knowing and viewing the histories of their families and extended community.
The gifts that we have received, expressed in our heritage of art, photographs, and community, have been bestowed upon us. As Marcel Mauss states: “gift economies tend to be marked by three related obligations: the obligation to give, the obligation to accept, and the obligation to reciprocate.” This website is one of our efforts to reciprocate.
Designed by Mickey Reed