Beginning in its sesquicentennial year, St. Olaf is committing to telling more honest stories about its history as one way to live out its Land Acknowledgment statement. This volume gives voice to untold stories of the college's institutional saga -- from those of the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation who preceded the college's founders, to those of the women, immigrants, Lutheran Christians, and first-generation students the college has served since its inception, to those of students, faculty, and staff across a diversity of identities not envisioned in 1874 as part of the college's story. The volume also illustrates the college's ongoing affiliation with the ELCA and how it is nourished by Lutheran tradition while also nourishing, and being nourished by, the religious diversity that exists within the contemporary college community.

Faculty and staff authors in the volume present a messy, complicated, and detailed telling of significant aspects of the college's 150 years. This approach honors the legacies of those who have come before and sets a vision for a more inclusive institutional vocation going forward. This collaboratively-crafted volume illustrates how honesty requires a boldness that happens most fully in community.