Muus vs. Muus
Wednesday, October 22, 2025, 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Pre-registration required
Registration deadline: October 17

Muus vs. Muus: The Scandal that Shook Norwegian-America chronicles the dramatic marital conflict between Ms. Oline Muus and her husband, Bernt Julius Muus, founder of St. Olaf College, and the first pastor called to Holden Church in Goodhue County. It became a public media storm in both America and in Norway when Oline filed a lawsuit against her husband after she learned that her father’s estate had been settled years earlier and Pastor Muus had withheld her inheritance.

The legal battle that ensued sparked intense debate on both sides of the Atlantic. Muus vs. Muus is a unique study of religion, gender, and power in Norwegian-American immigrant communities. The book recounts the lengthy and dramatic church trials, where members of the congregation (a number of descendants are still members of Holden) openly discussed details of the couple’s private life, the civil proceedings, which were appealed all the way to the Minnesota State Supreme Court, and how the court of public opinion made the case into a news frenzy in both America and in Norway. Muus vs. Muus reads like an Ibsenesque drama on the prairie; an enigmatic love story, an exploration of social and religious conflicts, and a fascinating and rare portrait of a Norwegian-American milieu, at a time when Minnesota was still the frontier.

Torild Homstad is a translator and retired Norwegian teacher and administrator at the University of Oslo International Summer School. She will talk about Muus vs. Muus, and her work as co-translator from the original Norwegian edition.

Presenter: Torild Homstad
Capacity: 50
Cost: $10 Nonmember, $8 Member, $0 Platinum
Space: Room 103