Visit the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis

Swedish immigrant, Swan J. Turnblad, founded the American Swedish Institute, located at 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55407, in 1929. The primary reason for the founding of the Institute was to receive the donation of Turnblad's mansion, his newspaper business, and many of his belongings. According to a brochure available at the Institute, Turnblad's vision for the Institute was "To foster and preserve Swedish culture in America." According to a tour guide, no other ethnic group has a museum in the Twin Cities.

The Mansion. Swan Turnblad arrived in the United States at the age of 8 in 1868. Working hard over the years, he eventually became a millionaire, primarily through the publication of a Swedish language newspaper. In 1903, he had a firm design a 30-room mansion for him, his wife, and their daughter. Construction began in 1904 and the family moved into their new home in 1908. Available records show an estimated cost of $200,000 for the mansion, although other estimates run as high as $1,000,000-an immense sum for those days.

The mansion was never fully furnished. In 1929, Turnblad founded the Institute and donated the mansion to it. Turnblad stated that he had long planned for the home to be a Swedish-American institute. Wikipedia quotes him as saying, "many persons may have wondered what a small family like ours, a family which had not great social ambitions, wanted with so big a house. Perhaps they can guess now." The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Exhibits. Although there are very few original furnishings in the mansion, the Institute has collected items that reflect the period during which the mansion was built. There is also a helpful exhibit showing the kinds of belongings that immigrants carried with them from Sweden to the new world. Included are family photographs, clothing, tools, and some home furnishings. For the majority of the immigrants, their journey from their homeland was a one-way trip. They would never see Sweden again.

Thousands of the immigrants ended up in Minnesota after stops in such states as Illinois and Iowa. An interesting part of the Institute exhibits focuses on an area of St. Paul that became known as "Swede Hollow." Located near Phalen Creek, the area had no plumbing or electricity. New arrivals simply moved into vacant houses. No money exchanged hands and no deeds were involved. As residents became more affluent, they moved on and room was created for other immigrants.

The Institute also sponsors special exhibits during the year. A current exhibit is "Sacred Beauty," consisting of items from Swedish cathedrals and churches: baptismal fonts, vestments, communion items, and so on.

Other Institute Programs. If you've ever wanted to learn Swedish, the Swedish Institute can teach you. It offers regular classes for beginning and advanced students. The Institute also offers a wide variety of films, concerts, lectures, and other programs throughout the year. The Institute is currently raising $18,000,000 for a planned expansion of their facilities.

For a touch of Swedish heritage in the big city, be sure to visit the American Swedish Institute.

Source:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Swedish_Institute