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Songs were one of the more entertaining and communal methods of describing the immigrant experience in America. Songs, written by and for immigrants of the same ethnicity, provided not only enjoyment but also information about the conditions of life as a newcomer in the United States. Many of the folk songs contained colorful images of the opportunities and benefits available in America, although some warned of harsh conditions and others spoke tenderly about the people and places left behind in the Old World.

With tongue in cheek, Ditmar Meidell, editor of a humorous journal in Norway, wrote "Oleana" as a satire of those songs. Oleana was a Norwegian settlement in Potter County, Pennsylvania. Contrary to the songs and tales that many people had heard in Norway, residents of Oleana struggled; their lives were characterized by hard work, desolate and unproductive farmland, and frustration, rather than by the great...