The materials in this collection date from approximately 1870 through 2001, with the bulk of the materials documenting the period between 1880 and 1950. The majority of the collection documents three major individuals in the Uhrenholdt Family, Soren Uhrenholdt, Andrew Uhrenholdt, and Johanna Uhrenholdt Johnson. Soren's distinguished career as a farmer and timber conservationist is documented along with materials relating to his early attempts to establish himself in Wisconsin, including his correspondence with Christine Thorn. These materials provide valuable insight into the struggles and successes of an immigrant farmer in northern Wisconsin. The materials related to Soren's second son, Andrew, document his academic life at Northland College and his military service during World War I. A large portion of the collection relates to Soren's second daughter, Johanna. These materials document Johanna's education and involvement with a number of public health organizations including the National Tuberculosis Association, the American Red Cross, the United States Public Health Service, and the American Public Health Association. Finally, the collection also contains materials documenting several other members of the Uhrenholdt and Thorn families.
The collection is divided into four main series: Uhrenholdt Family Materials, General Family Materials, Uhrenholdt Farm Records, and Visual Materials. The Uhrenholdt Family Materials series contains documents and other items that are related exclusively to Soren and Christine Uhrenholdt, their children, and their children's families. This series includes correspondence, diaries, journals, notebooks, subject files, newspaper clippings, diplomas, citations, school records, licenses, business and identification cards, and certificates related to members of the Uhrenholdt Family. There are five subseries in the Uhrenholdt Family Materials series. Four of these subseries are devoted to family members that are heavily represented by the collection: Soren Jensen Uhrenholdt, Christine Thorn Uhrenholdt, Andrew Uhrenholdt, and Johanne Uhrenholdt Johnson. A fifth subseries, Uhrenholdt Family Records, contains fragmentary documentation about other members of the Uhrenholdt family.
The Soren Jensen Uhrenholdt subseries consists of correspondence, school records, notebooks, and journals. The correspondence is primarily between Soren and his wife Christine before their marriage while he resided in Waupaca and she in Denmark. There are several folders with records from when Soren attended the Folk school in Svendborg, Denmark-the equivalent of secondary school in the United States. This includes a couple of Soren's notebooks from that school. There are three diaries that document Soren's experience as a sailor in the Danish Navy after he completed his education, and three diaries that document the time he spent in Waupaca. This subseries includes a copy of the joint will between Soren and Christine from 1887. Finally, the subseries contains awards and citations presented to Soren, and newspaper clippings related to him. A large portion of the correspondence and other materials found in the subseries is written in Danish. Translations of some of these letters can be found in the scrapbook included in the General Family Material series.
The Christine Thorn Uhrenholdt subseries primarily contains Christine's correspondence with Soren and her father, Andreas Thorn. The majority of this correspondence is written in Danish, and the bulk of these materials date approximately between 1881 and 1911. A diary as well as some personal documents relating to Christine can also be found in this subseries.
The Andrew Uhrenholdt subseries consists of material related to Soren and Christine's second oldest son, Andrew. These records document Andrew's education at Northland College and his service in the United States army during World War I. Included in the subseries is correspondence from Northland College and during World War I, several notebooks and documents from when he was a student at Northland College, a hunting license, business cards, death certificate and insurance payment, and a savings book.
The Johanna Uhrenholdt Johnson subseries documents Soren and Christine's second youngest daughter Johanna. These records focus on Johanna's education and involvement with numerous public health organizations at the local, state, and national levels. Over the course of her career Johanna was associated with the American Red Cross, the National Tuberculosis Association, the United States Public Health Service, the American Public Health Association, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and a number of other groups and organizations. Included in this subseries is correspondence, high school and college records, subject files related to her teaching and professional career, awards, publications, personal files, collected articles and poems, and writings.
The Uhrenholdt Family Records subseries documents the remainder of the immediate Uhrenholdt family. This includes two diaries from Jens Uhrenholdt, one file folder related to Johanna's husband Willis Johnson, daughter Christine Uhrenholdt's correspondence, Elizabeth Uhrenholdt's school records, and other materials related to the immediate family.
The General Family Materials series contains materials related to all members of the Uhrenholdt Family, and materials concerning the Uhrenholdt's extended family. Included in this series is a collection of correspondence from 1910 through 1970 that relates to multiple members of the Uhrenholdt Family. This correspondence is arranged chronologically and includes letters written from Soren and Christine to their children, from their children to them, and between their children. Also included within this set of correspondence are letters from cousins, spouses, and other Uhrenholdt family members. This series also includes a scrapbook containing some of the letters written by Soren and Christine, as well as copies of those letters translated from Danish to English by their daughter, Johanna Uhrenholdt Johnson. The scrapbook also contains materials related to other members of the Uhrenholdt's extended family.
The Uhrenholdt Farm Records series contains a variety of different materials that document the Uhrenholdt family farm. These documents provide evidence of the family’s success at farming, while still being able to utilize and conserve the natural forest environment of northern Wisconsin. This series includes two sets of correspondence organized by subject. The first set of correspondence relates to the operation of the farm after Soren Uhrenholdt could no longer maintain it by himself. The “Partnership Correspondence” begins in 1939 and ends by approximately 1974--the “Partnership” was a cooperative venture amongst several of Soren and Christine's children and their spouses. The second set of correspondence files discusses plans for the St. Croix and Nemakagon rivers in northern Wisconsin. This series also contains a number of account books, financial and business records, work books, and time books. Finally there is a collection of materials that document the Uhrenholdt Memorial Forest, a demonstration forest managed by the State of Wisconsin. These materials provide valuable insight into how Soren Uhrenholdt was able to not only thrive, but prosper despite farming in an area of poor soil in Northern Wisconsin.
The Visual Materials series primarily contains photographs and scrapbooks. One of these scrapbooks also contains valuable translations of letters originally written in Danish by Soren and Christine. Finally, the Visual Materials series also contains one VHS tape of the Uhrenholdt Family reunion in 2000. The photographs are arranged by family member and also by relationship to the Uhrenholdt family.
