By Phil Roberts
I’m not a specialist on Scandinavian history and biography, but one late spring day, after several heavy downpours during the week, I was called upon to act as one. At least, show a group around.
I was in my History Department office working on a paper that Friday afternoon when Doug called from the downstairs main office. The place was practically empty. He transferred a call from a man who said he’d be in Laramie shortly (calling by cell from I-80). He wondered if we had any “memorial to Dr. Agnes Wergeland, famed UW professor who had died early in the 20th century”?
I could think of two, but one would not be accessible–her gravesite in Greenhill Cemetery, but for the very recent heavy rain– the mud and pools of water in the lane where the grave is located would have made it inaccessible. The second was a portrait of her, hanging in the very small Laura White seminar room, on the ground floor of the building.
I offered to show the small framed photographic portrait (about 8”x 10”) to him. In the 20 minutes before his arrival, I’d have time to brush up on her biography. That’s when he revealed he was not coming alone. He’d come with an entire busload of Norwegians on a national tour to sites honoring famous Norwegians…
I spoke to the passengers before they left the bus, parked in the middle of the street in front of the History Building. They then trooped into the building and through to the Laura White room.
The leader insisted that I stand next to Dr. Wergeland’s portrait. Everyone then lined up with their cameras and passed by me and the portrait in relentless precision, many of them shooting with flashes. Before the half hour was out, Dr. Agnes and I should have been quite chummy, sharing a pose for numerous snapshots together.
Dr. Wergeland was a remarkably well-educated woman. A Ph.D from the University of Zurich in 1890 made her the first Norwegian woman ever to earn such a degree. She found her opportunities were limited in Europe at the time so she emigrated to the U. S., and accepted a fellowship at Bryn Mahr College. She left two years later for the University of Illinois and then worked for several years at the University of Chicago as a “docent” in history.
She came to the University of Wyoming in 1902. She shared a home, known as “The Doctors’ Inn” with Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard until Agnes’ untimely death at the age of 57 in 1914.
The oldest continuously awarded academic prize at UW, the Wergeland Award, was endowed by her friend Dr. Hebard and, on Hebard’s death in 1938, she was buried next to Dr. Wergeland.
The Norwegian guests, nearly all knowing more about Dr. Agnes than I did, excitedly boarded their bus for the next site visit in Norwegian-American history. Before they left, they invited me to Oslo the following fall to lecture and help dedicate a memorial to Dr. Agnes at their emigration center in Stavanger. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out with my academic schedule, but I can now say with some confidence that it pays to work late on summer Fridays. You never know what you might learn—or the friendships one can develop with traveling Norwegians or long-dead Dr. Agnes.
Caption for above photo–Shown is Agnes Wergeland, professor of history and French; Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, librarian; and student Agnes Wright, class of 1913. The library occupied the space where the President’s suite of offices are now located in Old Main. (AHC photograph)
Laramie Republican, March 9, 1914, p. 3
“FUNERAL HELD FROM HOUSE ON SUNDAY
“The funeral of Dr. Agnes Mathilda’ Wergeland was held from the house, Doctors’ Inn, 3I9 South Tenth street, at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon, with services by Dean Thornberry at the house and with the brief but very impressive burial service at the grave. The pallbearers were from the male members of Dr. Wergeland’s classes in the University of Wyoming, John Anderson, William B. Cobb, John Peterson, Francis Mcßride, Oakley D. Overton and Constant Erwln.
“There was a large attendance of friends and the whole student body and nearly all the members of the faculty, headed by President Duniway, attended the faculty and students marching in a body to the cemetery. In keeping with the wish of Miss Wergeland herself, and of her friends, Miss Alice Hebard of Cheyenne and Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard of the university, the service was very simple, Dean Thornberry reading the service at the house.
“The body was viewed by scores of friends, who passed through the room looking upon the face of their dear friend for the last time. The hood of her order lay upon the casket, the flags of the United States and Norway lying inside with the body.”