Haakon Bjornaas Photograph Collection (S4852)
1907-1925

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Haakon Bjornaas was born in Otter Tail County, Minnesota in 1884.  His parents, Ole and Ingeborg Bjornaas, had established their farm near the future site of Underwood in 1872.  Haakon was one of twelve children born to Ole and Ingeborg.

It is uncertain where Haakon received his training in photography.  Photographs in the collection indicate that he may have taken a correspondence class.  He began taking photographs around Underwood and the Phelps Mill, Minnesota area about 1906.  He briefly had a studio in Clitherall, Minnesota but this venture was apparently unsuccessful.  From 1908 to1920 he traveled and photographed sites in several Minnesota counties, as well as in parts of eastern North Dakota.  Most of his travel was devoted, in his words, to “lots of post card work.”  During part of 1910 he worked for the Fergus Falls, Minnesota photographer, W.T. Oxley, doing both studio portraits and travel work.

Much of Bjornaas’s later work was in the Rapid River area, near Baudette, Minnesota.  He filed a homestead claim there in 1910, and for the next several years photographed many of the settlements and events in the northern counties.  In 1911 and 1912, Bjornaas joined with some other photographers to form Riverside Studio.  Bjornaas operated “a branch studio” in a tent in Rainy River, Ontario.  After 1911, Bjornaas continued to make post cards and other photographs in the Lake of the Woods, Minnesota area.  Since he seldom dated his work, however, it is uncertain how much longer he tried to make a living with his camera.

Very few photographs in Bjornaas’s collection were taken after 1915, indicating that he either saved no later work or that he gave up photography altogether.  In December1936, Bjornaas sold his land on the Rapid River for $1090 to the United States government as part of the area’s Resettlement program.  He then lived with two of his brothers in Pinewood, Minnesota in Beltrami County.  Eventually he returned to the family farm in Underwood, where he died in 1949.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

This is a major collection of 1100 photographic prints and 450 glass negatives.  The collection includes numerous prints of communities and sites in Northwest Minnesota, including Baudette, Cook, Fergus Falls, Roosevelt, Tower, and White Earth.  A number of prints of North Dakota communities were also in the collection. 

Inventory

Glass Plates Inventory  (The number in parenthesis indicates the corresponding print number of the negative.)

Box 1 (8 x 10)

COMMUNITIES

            #950 - Hickson, ND and unidentified portrait

              951 - Kent, MN

              952 - Christine, ND

              953 through 955 - Abercrombie, ND

PORTRAITS

            #956 through 962 - Unidentified

Box 2 (5 x 7)

COMMUNITIES

            #964 through 977 - Norcross, MN

              978 - Davenport, ND (449)

              979 - Donnelly, MN

              980, 981 - Colfax, ND

              982 - Kindred, ND

              983 - Georgetown, MN (490)

              984 - Georgetown, MN (488)

              985 through 988 - Georgetown, MN

              989 through 992 - Harwood, ND

              993 - Harwood, ND (497)

              994 - Vining, MN (597)

              995 - Vining, MN (601)

              996, 997 - Vining, MN

Box 3 (5 x 7)

COMMUNITIES, continued

            #998, 999 - Clitherall, MN

             1000 - Clitherall, MN (408)

             1001 - Clitherall, MN (679)

             1002 - Clitherall, MN (680)

             1003 - Clitherall, MN (413)

             1004 - Clitherall, MN (419, John Harwory Family)

             1005 - Clitherall, MN (421, John Harwory Family)

 1006 through1017B - Clitherall, MN

 1018 through1026 - Hendrum, MN

 1027 through 1031 - Dilworth, MN

#1032 - Dilworth, MN (451)

              1033 - Dilworth, MN (450)

              1034 - Dilworth, MN (455)

              1035 - Dilworth, MN (454)

              1036 - Dilworth, MN (452)

              1037 through 1039 - Dilworth, MN

              1040 - Wolverton, MN (629)

              1041 through 1046 - Wolverton, MN

  1047 - Horace, ND (511)

  1048, 1049 - Horace, ND

  1050 - Hickson, ND (508)

  1051 - Hickson, ND (503)

  1052 - Hickson, ND (510)

  1053 through 1056 - Hickson, ND

  1057 - Fargo, ND (462)

  1058 - Fargo, ND (460)

  1059 - Christine, ND (402)

  1060 - Wendell, MN (611)

  1061 through 1063 - Wendell, MN

  1064, 1065 - Battle Lake, MN

  1066 - Battle Lake, MN (374)

COMMUNITIES, continued

 #1067 - Nashua, MN (522)

   1068 - Nashua, MN

            1069 - Underwood, MN (577)

            1070 - Underwood, MN (587)

            1071 - Underwood, MN (574)

            1072 through 1078 - Underwood, MN

            1079 through 1097 - Unidentified

            1092 - (886)

BJORNAAS FAMILY

          #1098, 1099 - Thomas Bjornaas

            1100 - Thomas Bjornaas and Pete Ness

            1101 - Thomas Bjornaas (337)

1102 - Martin Nes Farm, Cook, MN (345, From right: Mr. Nes, Thomas Bjornaas, Conrad Nes.  The rest are unidentified. 1914)

            1103 - Bjornaas Caricature

AGRICULTURE

         #1104, 1105 - (358)

           1106 through 1112 - Unidentified

HOMESTEADS/HOUSES

         #1113 - (636, Site from St. Louis County, MN)

           1114 - (648)

           1115 though 1126 - Unidentified

RURAL

         #1127 through 1130 - Unidentified

PORTRAITS

         #1131 - (882)

           1132 - (883)

           1133 - (814, Hanson’s)

           1134A - (814, Hanson’s, similar)

           1134 through 1136 - Unidentified

Box 7 (5 x 7)

PORTRAITS

         #1137 through 1160 - Unidentified

           1161 - Anna Neryaard, Josephine Berg, Berthart Haukebo, Anna Hakold, Gina Ranning, Martha Ranning, Edgar Wold, Rev. John Mattson, Edwin Wold, Selmer Hovde (142)

           1162 - Erik Moen (655)

           1163 - Ole Sivertson’s

           1164 - (885)

           1165 - (822)

           1166 - (251)

           1167 through 1172 - Unidentified

           1173, 1175 - Norwegian Ladies Aid Society (141)

           1176 through 1183 - Unidentified

           1184 - Louis Albertsons

           1185 - (842)

           1186, 1187 - (211)

           1188 - Unidentified

Box 9 (3 x 5)

COMMUNITIES

         #1189 - Rapid River Area (223)

           1189A - Rapid River Area

           1190 - Vining, MN (600)

           1191 - Hickson, ND (502)

           1192, 1193 - Dilworth, MN

           1194 - Underwood, MN

           1195 through 1208 - Unidentified

CHURCHES

         #1209 through 1214 - Unidentified

BJORNAAS FAMILY        

         #1215 - Ole O. Bjornaas

           1215A - Ole O. Bjornaas (21)

           1216 - J. O. Bjornaas (36)

           1216A - Elmer Bjornaas (335)

           1217 - P.O. Bjornaas and Pete Hanson (40)

           1217A - Henry, Ida, John, Sophia Bjornstad, Tom Bjornaas, and Ed Olson (341)

           1217B - Tom, John and Pete Bjornaas (41)

AGRICULTURE

         #1218 - Wold-Olson-Berg Treashing Rig, ca. 1900 (56)

           1219 - (356)

           1220 - Unidentified

Box 10 (3 x 5)

AGRICULTURE, continued

         #1221 through 1229 - Unidentified

LOGGING

         #1230 - W.B.O. Sawmill (94)

           1231, 1233 - Unidentified

RURAL

         #1234 - Svendry Farm on Horseshoe Lake (84)

           1235 - Unidentified

           1236 - (234)

           1237 - Tower view from north side of Horseshoe Lake (238)

           1238 - Unidentified

           1239 - Otter Tail Lake Outlet (240)

           1240 through 1255 - Unidentified

Box 11 (3 x 5)

HOMESTEADS/HOUSES

         #1256 - P. Bjornstat Barn (75)

           1257 - (661)

           1258 through 1286 - Unidentified

Box 12 (3 x 5)

PORTRAITS

         #1287 - James Luior (125)

           1288 - (144)

           1289 - (700)

           1290 - (746)

           1291 through 1321 - Unidentified

Box 13 (3 x 5)

PORTRAITS, communities

            #1322 through 1326 - Unidentified

              1327 - Selvin Brydal, Clara, Edwin, Margretta Wold (790)

              1328 - (801, similiar)

              1329 - (802)

              1330 - (Mrs. Bjornstad (803)

              1331 through 1353 - Unidentified

  1354 - O.L. Nygaard, Gjertrude Hanson, Rof Wik (sp), Mary Nygaard and Severt Hanson (133)

  1355 - (233)

Box 14 (3 x 5)

PORTRAITS, continued

#1356 - (758)

  1357 - (758, similar)

  1358 - (762)

  1359 - (764)

  1360 through 1386 - Unidentified

  1387 - Haukebo girls

  1388 - (248)

  1389 - (250)

  1390 through 1400 - Unidentified

  1401 - Fido (51)

  1402 through 1413 - Unidentified

  1414 - (212)

  1415 - (853)

Picture Inventory

Box 1

Agriculture

Bjornaas and Family

Communities

Houses

Logging

Portraits

Rapid River Area

Rural

School

Photo Album

Box 2

Photographs by other Photographers

Houses

Humorous

Box 2

Portraits

Rural Life

Schools

Other Photographs

Miscellaneous Documents Inventory

Box 1

DVD - Images of all pictures in collection, produced by MSUM Instructional Media.  2006 

Mounted Display Pictures - 8 x 10

Slides

Box 2

Bjornaas, Haakon

Brochures/Publicity

Correspondence

Evaluation Forms, Returned

Forms

Grant Information

Newspaper Clippings

Photographs of Exhibit

Schedule of Exhibit

Slide Presentation