Museum Resources

Extensive museum resources representing more than a century of collection are available to Luther students. Luther offers a museum studies minor which provides students with an introduction to the field emphasizing the history and functions of museums as well as their roles in society.

Whether or not students are involved in museum studies, they have access to Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American Museum, a separate nonprofit corporation recognized as one of the outstanding ethnic museums in North America. This museum in downtown Decorah administers and exhibits an extensive Norwegian and immigrant collection. Luther students are admitted free of charge by showing their student ID.

The museum's roots date to 1877 when Luther President Laur. Larsen acknowledged the receipt of a number of items to form the nucleus of a museum. In 1925, under the direction of Knut Gjerset, the college museum became known as the Norwegian-American Historical Museum but remained part of the college. Shortly thereafter, the museum outgrew its space on the campus and, in 1932, moved to its present location in the old Lutheran Publishing House building, a structure that was restored and remodeled in 1975. The Norwegian-American Museum became a non-profit corporation in 1964, separate from the college, but continued to house the Luther College collection—the artifacts that had accumulated to that point. Under an agreement signed in 1990, the collection became the property of the museum, which has the responsibility for cataloging, maintaining, and displaying it.