Aagot Raaen was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author and educator.

Background

Aagot Raaen was born in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

. Her parents, Thomas Raaen and Ragnhild Rodningen, were immigrants from 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...

. The family moved to Dakota Territory

Dakota Territory

The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...

 to establish a homestead, settling near Hatton, North Dakota

Hatton, North Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 407 people, 289 households, and 186 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,184.2 people per square mile . There were 331 housing units at an average density of 554.4 per square mile...

. In 1903, Raaen graduated from the Mayville State Normal School, now Mayville State University

Mayville State University

Mayville State University is an institution of higher learning in Mayville, North Dakota, part of the North Dakota University System....

. In 1913, she graduated from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

.

Educator

Raaen taught at rural schools in North Dakota as well as at the Oak Grove Seminary Oak Grove Lutheran School in Fargo, North Dakota

Fargo, North Dakota

Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...

. From 1917 to 1922, Aagot was the Superintendent of Schools in Steele County, North Dakota

Steele County, North Dakota

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,258 people, 923 households, and 635 families residing in the county. The population density was 3 people per square mile . There were 1,231 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

.

Author

Raaen authored several historical articles and books including the 1950 autobiographic work Grass of the Earth: immigrant life in the Dakota country. Through a description of the life of her family during their homesteading days, Raaen detailed pioneer life on the prairie.

Selected works

• Grass of the Earth: Immigrant Life in the Dakota Country, Ayer Publishing (1950) ISBN 405116586
• Measure of My Days North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, (1953) ISBN 0911042008
• Hamarsbön-Raaen Genealogy 1957

Papers

The papers of Aagot Raaen are contained within the North Dakota State University Institute for Regional Studies:

• Aagot Raaen Photograph Collection
• Aagot Raaen Papers, 1915–1953
• Institute for Regional Studies records, 1950–present

External links

• Aagot Raaen graduation portrait
• North Dakota State University Libraries