Encourages research, scholarship and appreciation of Danish immigrants, their descendants, and the contribution that they have made to American life and culture. This goal is being accomplished by issuing works drawn from materials located in the Danish Immigrant Archive - Dana College and by publishing manuscripts submitted by outside sources.

Between 1870 and 1970 more than 350,000 Danes emigrated from their native Denmark. They came from cities, towns and farmsteads to take up a new life in America. Upon their arrival they rapidly disbursed, spreading across the continent from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, and from Texas to Canada. Their greatest concentration, however, was in the Upper Midwest, Utah, and later, the West Coast.

Some established churches, colleges, folk schools, newspapers and businesses, but even as these strove to maintain their identity, the Danes, as a whole, were the ethnic group that most readily assimilated into the American mainstream. Because of this, the preservation of their past experience and their ongoing contribution to America presents certain difficulty. Among the organizations committed to the task of preserving this heritage are the two branches of the Danish Immigrant Archive at Dana College, Blair, Nebraska, and Grand View College, Des Moines, Iowa, and the Danish Immigrant Museum at Elk Horn, Iowa.