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A few histories of Luther College make mention of Anton SANDER's one year tenure as an instructor in 1878-1879. The earliest (which is mentioned in previous posts and also lists him and his brothers as students) is Luther College Through Sixty Years 1861-1921 by The Luther College Faculty (Editorial Committee: O. M. Norlie, O. A. Tingelstad, and Karl T. Jacobsen). This book was published by Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis, MN in 1922. For simplicity I have referred to it as (Norlie, 1922). Subjects Anton taught that year include: German, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.


Left image: Norlie, et al. "Teachers of Religion at Luther College by Subject" (1922), p. 36. Right image: "Distribution of the Teaching Load, 1878-1879" (1922), p. 133. Images courtesy of Archive.org.

Anton's biography with his picture indicates that he was the "first graduate of Luther College to obtain the Ph. D. degree."


Norlie, et al., "Faculty" (1922), p. 117. Image courtesy of Archive.org.

Olav Morgan Norlie also compiled and edited a book called School Calendar, 1824-1924: A Who's Who among Teachers in the Norwegian Lutheran Synods of America (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1924). Anton's entry appears to be based primarily on his biography in Norlie's earlier work. Of interest is that it indicates that Anton taught at Flushing, N. Y. the year after he graduated from Yale and before he returned to Luther.


Norlie, Olaf Morgan. "SANDER, Anton B." (1924), p. 625. Image courtesy of Solveig Quinney.

David T. Nelson published a history of the college entitled Luther College, 1861-1961 (Decorah, IA: Luther College Press, 1961). On p. 109, he describes the reason for Anton's brief stay at Luther:

Anton B. Sander, '74, has the distinction of being the first graduate of Luther College to earn the Ph.D. degree (at Yale University in 1877). Although very popular with the students, he had the temerity, in a meeting of the Decorah congregation, to challenge certain views of the church leaders. Moreover, he was regarded by some of the faculty as "too American." Accordingly, as not "firmly orthodox," he was dropped from the faculty after one year (1878-1879). [22] His promising career was cut short two years later by illness.

Since I am only in possession of a photocopy of this page from the book, I can only speculate that Nelson may have had access to an unpublished manuscript, "At Luther College," by Andrew Andersen Veblen. Since that information is fairly lengthy it will be dealt with in the next post. It is interesting to note here, however, that Veblen states that Rev. Koren "did not think Dr. S. unfit on doctrinal grounds."

The only other mention of Anton SANDER in Nelson's book (p. 99) describes how he was part of a committee along with Veblen and Jacob D. Jacobsen that recommended modifications to the wording and form of Luther's diploma. These were adopted by the faculty on 29 May 1879.