I Go to America

I Go to America
Author: Joy K. Lintelman
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2009-06-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0873517628

An intimate and detailed portrait of young Swedish women who chose to immigrate to America in the nineteenth century--why they left, what they found, and how they survived.

Myths of the Rune Stone

Myths of the Rune Stone
Author: David M. Krueger
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2015-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1452945438

What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.

A to Zåäö

A to Zåäö
Author: Nate Christopherson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2019
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781517907884

A fun, whimsical, wide-ranging children's picture book, taking readers from A to Zåäö in the Swedish alphabet and through history via the joy of exploration and imagination. Each object--a chair, a fireplace, carved figures, all historical objects currently held at ASI--is paired with a Swedish verb (and it's translation) that represents how one might explore or use this object if imagination was the only limit.

Swedish-American Borderlands

Swedish-American Borderlands
Author: Dag Blanck
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1452962413

Reframing Swedish–American relations by focusing on contacts, crossings, and convergences beyond migration Studies of Swedish American history and identity have largely been confined to separate disciplines, such as history, literature, or politics. In Swedish–American Borderlands, this collection edited by Dag Blanck and Adam Hjorthén seeks to reconceptualize and redefine the field of Swedish–American relations by reviewing more complex cultural, social, and economic exchanges and interactions that take a broader approach to the international relationship—ultimately offering an alternative way of studying the history of transatlantic relations. Swedish–American Borderlands studies connections and contacts between Sweden and the United States from the seventeenth century to today, exploring how movements of people have informed the circulation of knowledge and ideas between the two countries. The volume brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences to investigate multiple transcultural exchanges between Sweden and the United States. Rather than concentrating on one-way processes or specific national contexts, Swedish–American Borderlands adopts the concept of borderlands to examine contacts, crossings, and convergences between the nations, featuring specific case studies of topics like jazz, architecture, design, genealogy, and more. By placing interactions, entanglements, and cross-border relations at the center of the analysis, Swedish–American Borderlands seeks to bridge disciplinary divides, joining a diverse set of scholars and scholarship in writing an innovative history of Swedish–American relations to produce new understandings of what we perceive as Swedish, American, and Swedish American. Contributors: Philip J. Anderson, North Park U; Jennifer Eastman Attebery, Idaho State U; Marie Bennedahl, Linnaeus U; Ulf Jonas Björk, Indiana U–Indianapolis; Thomas J. Brown, U of South Carolina; Margaret E. Farrar, John Carroll U; Charlotta Forss, Stockholm U; Gunlög Fur, Linnaeus U; Karen V. Hansen, Brandeis U; Angela Hoffman, Uppsala U; Adam Kaul, Augustana College; Maaret Koskinen, Stockholm U; Merja Kytö, Uppsala U; Svea Larson, U of Wisconsin–Madison; Franco Minganti, U of Bologna; Frida Rosenberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm; Magnus Ullén, Stockholm U.

Karin Bergoo Larsson and the Emergence of Swedish Design

Karin Bergoo Larsson and the Emergence of Swedish Design
Author: Marge Thorell
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2018-11-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 147667406X

Identified as "the first designer of what would become known as Swedish Modern" by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Karin Bergoo Larsson (1859-1928) was a mother of eight and wife to Sweden's beloved painter, Carl Larsson. Herself a well-regarded artist, she gave up painting when she married, at the request of her husband. Taking up needles and cloth, she then turned a somewhat ugly cottage--Lilla Hyttnas in the tiny village of Sundborn, Sweden--into a designer showcase. Inspired by the Swedish countryside, she filled the home with handcrafted wall hangings, bed coverings, tablecloths, pillow covers and even furniture of her own design, while greatly influencing her husband's work by encouraging him to move away from dark oils to more illuminating and light-filled watercolors. His paintings of their home made her interior designs famous, and her influence continues to inform the concepts of retail giant IKEA.

Swedes in Minnesota

Swedes in Minnesota
Author: Anne Gillespie Lewis
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0873517539

A concise history of Swedes in Minnesota and the enormous influence that they have had on our state's politics, history, and culture.

Letters from the Promised Land

Letters from the Promised Land
Author: H. Arnold Barton
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2000-08-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781452905457

Swedish immigrants tell their own stories in this collection of letters, diaries, and memoirs--a perfect book for those interested in history, immigration, or just the daily lives of early Swedish-American settlers.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
Author: Margareta Magnusson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1501173251

*The basis for the wonderfully funny and moving TV series developed by Amy Poehler and Scout Productions* A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.

Whiskey Breakfast

Whiskey Breakfast
Author: Richard C. Lindberg
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 338
Release:
Genre: History
ISBN: 1452932654

A poignant, multigenerational tale of the Swedish-American experience for two disparate Chicago families