Dana College - History

History

The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Association in America (or Blair Church) was formed in 1884 by a group of Danish members who left the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Many Blair Church pastors were supportive of the Inner Mission.

The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America (or North Church) was formed in 1894 when seminary professor P. S. Vig, along with a number of pastor and congregations, left the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over theological differences.

In 1896, two small groups of Danish Lutherans in America - known as the Blair Church and the North Church - came together to form the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (commonly known as the United Church). This church body was a part of the Danish Lutheran "Inner Mission" movement, which supported a revival of religious practice based on the Bible and orthodox Lutheran teachings. Its members strongly opposed the liberalizing influence of Danish theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig, who had supported the realization of religious expression through sacramental and congregational practices.

Led by Peter Sørensen Vig and C. X. Hansen, one of the United Church's first priorities was to establish an educational system. Elk Horn Højskole in Elk Horn, Iowa, had been founded in 1878 as the first Danish folk school in America. In 1894, Pastor Kristian Anker, then owner and principal of the Elk Horn Højskole, sold it to the newly formed Danish Lutheran Church in North America for use as a seminary and college. When the North Church merged with the Blair Church in 1896, the seminary was consolidated with Trinity Seminary in Blair, Nebraska.

When the Dana School was founded, part of its purpose was to be a pre-seminary school for those preparing for ministry in the Lutheran church. Many of Dana's early graduates went on to study at Trinity Seminary. For many years, Dana and Trinity shared faculty, administrators, staff, and presidents. This relationship ended in 1956 when Trinity Seminary merged with Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

The Dana School was begun as preparatory school. By the early 1910s - in cooperation with the University of Nebraska - the Dana School was awarding Associate's Degrees. In the 1930s Dana College became an accredited four-year school and began awarding Bachelor's Degrees.

The institution faced economic troubles in the 2000s. In 2010 it was put up for sale to a group investors which formed the Dana Education Corporation. The group intended to transform the institution into a for-profit institution with a focus on "doubling enrollment, aggressively marketing the school and building Dana's study abroad program." The sale of the college was not approved by the institution's regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission. Without the approval and no other source of financial backing, the college was forced to close in July 2010.

College assets in the form of archival materials relating to Danish-American immigration history are in safekeeping at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa.