MINNESOTA LEGACY GRANT AWARDED TO DANEBOD FOLK SCHOOL

By Ricke Bly

In recent years visitors to Danebod Folk School have discussed with Danebod members the deteriorating condition of the framed drawing (see cover of this issue of Church and Life) which is exhibited on the North wall of the lecture hall. The drawing (circa 1918) by Jes Smidt, is a copy of the work, "Thyra Danebod anlægger Dannevirk," by Danish artisit, Lorens Frølich. In response to these discussions of the sagging, cockling and discoloration of the drawing an application for a Minnesota State Historical Legacy Grant was written. The purpose of the grant was to determine a restoration process.

The grant application I wrote with the support of Sue Jacobsen, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Paul Sorensen, Folk Meeting participant, De Kalb, IL was submitted on February 27, 2010. On March 26, 2010, the Folk School was notified of the award of a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage grant in the amount $3,551 for the Danebod Smidt Drawing project.

The original Frølich work is housed in Sønderborg castle-museum, Sønderborg, Denmark. This castle-museum houses local and regional history with collections from the Middle Ages to the present with special emphasis on the Schleswig wars of 1848-50 and 1864 and WWII. The drawing is said to depict Queen Thyra (circa 840-935), wife of King Gorm, directing men to build or reinforce the Dannevirke rampart. The name Danmark’s Bod or Danebod – one who mends or remedies (the Danes) - was Queen Thyra’s second name given to her by her husband at her death. This name Danebod was chosen for the colony and folk school at Tyler, MN "because the founders wanted to provide Danish immigrants with a place where Danish cultural and religious traditions might be safeguarded and perpetuated." (Enok Mortensen Pastor/Director Danebod Folk School 1943-64)

There are conflicting stories of the earthen bulwark. Archeologists have determined the first construction of the bulwark, Dannevirke, to be around 605 and that its purpose may have been a shipping canal between the cities of Schleswig and Hollingsted connecting the Baltic on the east to the North Sea on the West. The bulwark became a Danish military structure and was reinvented many times between 605 and the fourteenth century. Queen Thyra-Danebod is remembered as a courageous, energetic, woman who rallied patriotic Danes to reinforce the Dannekirke.

Jes Smidt (1855-1942) artist and wood carver who reproduced Frolich’s work immigrated to Clinton, IA in 1882. Jes’s grandson, Ed Pedersen, of Luck WI, indicated that Jes worked in as many as 35 different churches across the Midwest to California. Ed recalled a story his mother, Augusta, told of her assistance to squeeze the bulb of an atomizer as shellac was applied to the charcoal drawing. Ed assumes that the drawing work was commissioned to Jes in 1918 and completed on-site at Jes’s workshop in Luck, WI.

Regarding the grant, Danebod Church and Folk School has contracted with Midwest Art Conservation Center staff members to travel to Danebod, examine, remove and transport the drawing to the Conservatory for evaluation. The date of this visit will probably be early June. The drawing will be transported to Minneapolis leaving behind this displayed message, "This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society."

Another grant application will be written after the evaluation so the process of treatment can be completed and the drawing safely returned to the lecture hall.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are made possible by the Minnesota Legislature from Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund created with passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in November 2008. The grants are awarded to support projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state.