Gunnar Nerheim, the editor of clengpeerson.no

Gunnar Nerheim, born 1949, is the editor of the website www.clengpeerson.no They came to build. He is professor emeritus in modern history at the University of Stavanger. Between 1995 and 2005 he was CEO of the Norwegian National Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo. During his career he has been the author or co-author of more than 20 books and 25 articles.

Nerheim has been a member of the Stavanger Academy of Sciences since 2012 and was president of the Academy from 2020 to 2022.

Nerheim has participated in several national and regional history projects. He has published in the fields of history of technology, economic history, business history, urban history, health history, and migration history.

Among his larger works are two volumes on the history of Norwegian oil, published in the 1990s, as well as books on Norwegian electricity history, the history of the Norwegian milling industry, and how ferries in Western Norway contributed to free people from the constraints of the fjords. In 2010 he was editor and co-author in an urban history project on the city of Sandnes, Norway, (2010, two volumes), and the history of Rogaland County, Norway (2015, two volumes).

Who was Cleng Peerson?

Cleng Peerson was born in 1783 at Tysvær municipality, Rogaland, and died in December 1865 at Norse, Bosque County, Texas. He is best known as the pathfinder for Norwegian immigrants to USA and has become a symbol for people who dare to leave their homes and habitats and try to build a new and better life for themselves in another place. During his life Cleng Peerson was known for his tolerance and accept of others with respect to religion, language, and color of their skin. He sat down and talked with neighbors, fellow countrymen, Americans who were of other ethnic heritage, including the native Indians.

Migration includes movement across borders, between social groups, nations, countries: in this website more specifically, but not limited to emigration from Norway and immigration to Norway. One of the aims of the website is to strengthen tolerance and respect for the human being in migration processes all over the world – in the past and today.

In the website articles will be published on migration and lives lived, but also articles on cultural, religious, social, economic, and political systems and processes in the places where immigrants settled and adapted their life to a new society.

If you are interested in contributing an article, read How to write an article. The website will be updated and extended continually. All authors will be credited and given their own byline.

Gunnar Nerheim, redaktør av clengpeerson.no

Redaktør av nettsiden er Gunnar Nerheim, f. 1949. Han er professor emeritus i moderne historie ved Universitetet i Stavanger. Mellom 1995 og 2005 var han museumsdirektør ved Norsk Teknisk Museum, Oslo. Gjennom årene har han vært forfatter eller medforfatter i mer enn 20 bøker og mer enn 25 artikler.

Han har deltatt i en lang rekke nasjonale og lokale historieprosjekter og skrevet om temaer innen teknologihistorie, økonomisk historie, urbanhistorie og medisinhistorie. Blant større arbeider kan nevnes to bind oljehistorie, flere arbeider om elektrisitetshistorie, mølleindustri, veier på Vestlandet samt byhistorie om Sandnes og Rogaland fylkes administrative historie.

Migrasjonshistorie – utvandring og innvandring – har det siste tiåret blitt en positiv besettelse. Gunnar har undervist og vært veileder for bachelor- og masteroppgaver i migrasjonshistorie ved Universitetet i Stavanger. De første fruktene av dette forskningsarbeidet ble publisert høsten 2020 med boken I hjertet av Texas. Den ukjente historien om Cleng Peerson og norske immigranter i Texas, som er utgitt på Fagbokforlaget, Bergen.

I hjertet av Texas forklarer hvordan og hvorfor så mange utvandrere fra Rogaland, Agder og Hedmark endte opp som nybyggere i Texas. Dette er fortellingen om uår, malaria og indianere, om nordmenns holdninger til slaveri, om deres rolle i sørstatshæren under borgerkrigen og hvordan de rekrutterte billig arbeidskraft hjemmefra.

Nettsiden clengpeerson.no er helt uavhengig av enhver organisasjon eller forening og er drevet og finansiert privat.

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