Title: The Papers of Paul Hasvold, 1888-2015

Predominant Dates:1961-1999

ID: LCA/RG15/Hasvold, P

Primary Creator: Hasvold, Paul (1933-2015)

Extent: 1.6 Linear Feet. More info below.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into 4 series:

1) Church Unity, which contains material related to Rev. Hasvold's ecumenical work across various Christian denominations.

2) Lutheran-Episocal Dialogues, which contains material related to Rev. Hasvold's particapation in the first Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogues of 1969-1972 and continued conversations between the two denominations.

3) ARC and Advocacy, which contains material related to Rev. Hasvold's advocacy work. These collections primarily focus on his service and presidency of the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC), and his service on the Governor's Commission for Human Services.

4) Biographical Files, including his funeral program, and typed reminiscences.

Instead of grouping all of Rev. Hasvold's sermons together, they have been left with the files where they were originally located.

Languages: English

The papers of Luther graduate and Decorah-area minister Rev. Paul M. Hasvold, documenting his ecumenical work, participation in the Lutheran/Episcopal Dialogues, and disability advocacy.

Collection contains articles, biographical material, committee records, correspondence, lectures, newsclippings, organizational records, publications, reports, research notes, sermons, and speeches.

Paul Morris Hasvold was born to Morris P. and Ruth M. (Levorson) Hasvold on March 15, 1933 in Watertown, South Dakota. He attended Luther College 1951-1955, majoring in music and philsophy and graduating as valedictorian. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Michigan, where he earned his M.A. in philosophy, and Luther Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1960. Hasvold also attended the University of Oxford on a Fulbright scholarship. He taught religion and philsophy at Luther College, 1957-1958, and for four years at the University of Kansas after he completed his work in Oxford.

After being ordained a Lutheran minister, Hasvold served for four years at East Koshkonog Lutheran Church near Cambridge, Wisconsin, 1967-1974. During his tenure, Hasvold participated in the Lutheran-Episcopalian Dialogues, which was a gathering of Lutheran and Episcopalian theologians who met periodically from 1969 to 1972. These meetings resulted in the publication of a report called Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue: A Progress Report, which posed inter-communion bewteen the two groups was appropriate.

Hasvold then served 24 years at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Decorah, Iowa, where he and the congregation sponsored several Hmong and Vietnamese refugees in the area. He also worked as an advocate for the disabled. In addition to serving on Winneshiek County's chapter of ARC (then Association for Retarded Citizens, now The Arc), he served on the Iowa ARC Board of Directions, 1979-1989, chaired Iowa ARC's Governmental Affairs Committee 1981-1986, was president of the ARC of Iowa, 1986-1987, and board member of the ARC of America, 1983-1988. In the 1980s, Governor Robert Ray invited Hasvold to serve on the Governor's Commission for Human Services, which evaluated the effects of prosed legislation on those who received services. He drafted what became the Bill of Rights for Handicapped Citizens, passed in the Iowa legislature in [year].

Hasvold married Carol Williams on December 29, 1958. He passed away on January 19, 2015.

Repository: Luther College Archives

Alternate Extent Statement: 6 boxes

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Finding Aid Revision History: 6/10/24: Abby Bates updated copyright policy link.