Career

John Anderson was born in Voss

Voss

is a municipality in Hordaland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Voss. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen....

, in Søndre Bergenhus Amt

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He was brought by his parents to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1845. John Anderson became a printer and in the 1860s he began to print books as well as job printing. Anderson worked initially for the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

. Anderson decided in 1866 to leave the Chicago Tribune to start his own Norwegian language newspaper.

Together with Iver Lawson and Knud Langeland, Anderson founded Skandinaven

Skandinaven

Skandinaven was a Norwegian language newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois from 1866 until 1941.-Background:Skandinaven was established by three Norwegian immigrants; John Anderson, Knud Langeland and Iver Lawson. John Anderson administered the business side of the newspaper. Iver Lawson...

, a weekly or semi-weekly Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 newspaper. Anderson purchased the subscription lists of Norske-Amerikanerne, a failing Norwegian language newspaper. Langeland and Lawson left Skandinaven in 1872 and established Amerika, a rival paper. Skandinaven merged briefly with Amerika in 1873 to form Skandinaven og Amerika. Starting the 1870s Skandinaven published a magazine that contained articles of interest, stories, and poetry. It carried works by Norwegian-American writers including Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen was a Norwegian-American author and college professor.-Biography:He was born at the Norwegian naval base Fredriksvern, near the village of Stavern in Vestfold County, Norway. Boyesen grew up in Fredriksvern, then in Kongsberg, and, from 1854, at Systrand in Sogn...

 and Rasmus B. Anderson

Rasmus B. Anderson

Rasmus Bjørn Anderson was an American author, professor, and diplomat. He brought to popular attention the idea that Viking explorers discovered the New World and was the originator of Leif Erikson Day.-Biography:...

. In 1901, John Anderson was knighted by King Oscar II

Oscar II

Oscar II may refer to:*Oscar II of Sweden , who ruled Sweden and Norway.*Oscar class submarine, used by the Russian Navy.*Oscar II, Steamship used by Henry Ford for his peace expedition in 1915....

 in the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for his work in Skandinaven.

Skandinaven became one of the most influential and successful newspapers in the Scandinavian

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 immigrant community. Through the success of the paper, Anderson was able to build a publishing business that became one of the largest venture of its kind. The newspaper was in operation from May 1866 until October 1941. When Skandinaven suspended publication, Reidar Rye Haugan

Reidar Rye Haugan

Reidar Rye Haugan was an American newspaper editor and publisher.-Background:Reidar Rye Haugan was born the youngest of eight children born in Trondheim, Norway. Together with his mother and sister, Haugan immigrated to the United States at 21 years of age, arriving in New York City on April 3,...

 established the Norwegian language newspaper Viking on which he served as both editor and publisher.

Other sources

• Øverland, Orm (1986). Skandinaven and the beginnings of professional publishing (Northfield, Minn: Norwegian-American Historical Association)
• Strand, A. E. A History of the Norwegians of Illinois (Chicago. 1905)
• Wist, J. B.
  Johannes B. Wist
  Johannes B. Wist was an Norwegian American newspaper editor, journalist and author.-Biography:Born Johannes Racinus Benjaminsen, he was the son of Benjamin Johannessen Wist and Magdalene Arnoldusdatter Wist. He was born on the Sund farm in Inderøy parish in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. He...
  
  Norsk-amerikanernes festskrift 1914 (Decorah, Iowa. 1914)
• Hansen, J. S. Skandinaven and the John Anderson Publishing Company (in Norwegian-American Studies, bd. 28, Northfield, MN 1979)

External links

• Portrait of John Anderson