The O. E. Rølvaag House was the home of Ole Edvart Rølvaag

Ole Edvart Rølvaag

Ole Edvart Rølvaag was an American novelist and professor who became well known for his writings regarding the Norwegian American immigrant experience...

 (1876-1931), Norwegian-American novelist and professor at St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...

. The home is located at 311 Manitou Street in Northfield

Northfield, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. Rølvaag wrote most of his works in this house, which is near St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College

St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...

, where he taught.

Rølvaag was the first novelist to describe the psychological cost of pioneer

American pioneer

American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...

ing on the American frontier. Rølvaag's famous trilogy—Giants in the Earth (1927), Peder Victorious (1928), and Their Father's God (1931)—assesses the adjustments immigrant farmers had to make to prosper in the American Midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

.