Arnold Berge

Arnold Berge at the Val-Kill Forge, ca. 1930.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Craftsman

Place of Birth:

Norway

Date of Birth:

1909

Date of Death:

1975

Arnold Berge immigrated to the United States from Norway in 1927 and held various jobs in New York City before moving to Hyde Park where he secured employment as an assistant gardener at Crumwold, the estate of Roosevelt neighbor Archibald Rogers. While there he met his future wife Johanne, a housemaid. They married in 1930 and a few days after their wedding began working as caretakers at Val-Kill, where Arnold’s brother Otto was employed as a furniture-maker.

Arnold was first apprenticed to his older brother Otto in the furniture shop in 1929. A quick study, he made several fine pieces of furniture under his brother’s instruction.

Arnold consented to operate the Val-Kill Forge when offered and received his training in only a few weeks from a New Jersey pewtersmith. The Forge offered more than 50 items, including plates, bowls, porringers, mugs, candlesticks, pitchers, and lamps, most copies of popular eighteenth-century forms and a few modern products such as match book covers and cigarette boxes.

Berge usually worked with one assistant, Clifford Smith from 1935 to 1937, followed by Frank Swift.

Berge continued operating the Forge for Mrs. Roosevelt and her partners on the Val-Kill property after the Furniture Shop was disbursed. In 1938, Berge relocated the operation of the Forge as sole proprietor from 1938 until the war when it became difficult to obtain the necessary raw materials. Berge closed the Forge and went to work in a shipyard, and did not reopen when the war ended.