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“Careers of Service: The Lutheran Deaconess”
Join Us:
Saturday, September 12, 2026 1:00-2:00 PM CDT
with Laurann Gilbertson, Chief Curator at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.
This is a virtual presentation via ZOOM
Register Here
Our speaker:
Laurann Gilbertson holds a B.A. In Anthropology and an M.S in Textiles and Clothing both from Iowa State University. She has worked at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa for 30 years. She worked as the Textile Curator for 19 years and is now the Chief Curator. Among her duties are overseeing the collection of more than 30,0000 artifacts, creating exhibits, and leading the Textile Study Tours to Norway.
The topic:
Deaconesses , women called to serve the church and humankind, come from a tradition dating back to Biblical times to the Middle Ages. Their work was revived in Germany in 1836 and the “modern” diaconate spread to Europe and America. There were three Norwegian Lutheran deaconess Motherhouses in America- in Brooklyn, Chicago and Minneapolis. The slide presentation you will see introduces audiences to the women who were deaconesses and their work in hospitals, church parishes, social services and foreign missions.
Norwegian Deaconesses in 1905
courtesy ELCA archives www.elca.org/archives