Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center

Our 6-week Swedish language classes are continuing with Swedish 2 in just under two weeks. Read all about it and sign up here. https://augustana.formstack.com/forms/swedish2july2024

$130 for Swenson Center members and $150 for non-members.

If you’re in Geneva IL this weekend, stop by and talk genealogy with the Swenson Center’s Jill Seaholm at Swedish Days!

Begins this weekend!

VIRTUAL Language Classes
SWEDISH 1

First class Sunday, June 16 2024
Register here https://augustana.formstack.com/forms/swedish1_june2024 by noon on June 16

Classes on Sundays, 5:00–6:00 p.m. Central
Dates: June 16, 23, 30, July 7, 14, 21.

Zoom / $130 for members, $150 nonmembers / Registration is open!

Are you interested in learning Swedish? Are you planning a trip to Sweden and would like to learn some of the language before you go? Do you want to watch all of those fabulous Swedish noir television series and not have to use the subtitles?

The Swenson Center offers four sequential courses designed for community members to learn the Swedish language, wherever they are in the world. Classes meet once per week via Zoom for 60 minutes over 6 weeks per course. Students will learn skills in reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking.

Courses are taught by Alex Hart. Our first offering, Swedish 1, is designed for those completely new to Swedish, and begins this Sunday (June 16). In Swedish 1, students learn the Swedish alphabet and become familiar with the language’s sounds. Noun gender is introduced and discussed at length, and students break the ice by speaking and listening to the new words they are learning. Numbers are also taught, allowing for discussion on how to tell time and read calendars.

The course uses the book Basic Swedish: A Grammar and Workbook by Ian Hinchliffe and Philip Holmes, part of the Routledge Grammar Workbooks series. The book can be purchased from www.routledge.com/Basic-Swedish-A-Grammar-and-Workbook/Hinchliffe-Holmes/p/book/9781138779570 & www.amazon.com/Basic-Swedish-Grammar-Workbooks-Hinchliffe/dp/1138779571/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1695755950&refinements=p_27%3AIan+Hinchliffe&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Ian+Hinchliffe.

Swedish Language Classes | Swenson Center Want to learn Swedish online? We offer classes designed for adults to learn the Swedish language. Students will learn skills in reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking.

Support the Swenson Center with a donation through the Birdies for Charities program, where we'll receive a minimum 5% match. This is part of the John Deere Classic PGA tournament July 1-7 in our area. Our Birdie number is 2132, and we are listed as "Augustana College: Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center." Thank you!

Donate - Birdies for Charity Validate Email Make a Donation Your donation is maximized through Birdies for Charity! Your charity will receive 100% of your donation and will be guaranteed an additional bonus promise of at least 5%. A donation to the Bonus Fund (Bird #1041 in the list below) will help us to provide the bonus prom...

Join us on Tuesday in the Swenson Center (in-person only)

April 20th is Polkagris Day in Sweden, aka Polkagrisens dag.

Polkagrisar (plural) are the candy cane-like peppermint sticks manufactured in the town of Gränna, on the eastern shore of Lake Vättern, north of Jönköping. https://jkpg.com/en/granna-visingso/polkagrisens-dag/

Enjoy this Gränna photo by Associate Professor of Scandinavian Studies Mark Safstrom. His Swedish Contemporary Society class spent time here, among other places, during Augustana's January term this year.

This week we got to explain to a visitor about the myth of names being changed at Ellis Island and other immigration points. See the below article for explanation.

https://journals.ala.org/index.php/dttp/article/view/6655/8939 #:~:text=Records%20kept%20by%20the%20government,promoted%20by%20a%20popular%20film

Our final post for National Library Week 2024 is a book recommendation by our intern Madeline. Thanks for joining us!

It's National Library Week! Below is our intern Sophia's recommendation from our Lending book collection.

Happy National Library Week - you get the picture. Below is our student employee Paige's book recommendation from our Lending collection.

Happy National Library Week! Today it's our intern Abby's turn to recommend a book from our Lending collection to all of you.

Happy National Library Week! Below is our intern Kat's recommendation from our Lending book collection. Check back for more intern posts this week!

Language Classes: Swedish 1 is rolling around again!

Sundays, late April through May / 5:00–6:00 p.m. Central
Dates: April 21, 28, May 5, 12, 19, 26.

Zoom / $130 for Swenson Center members, $150 nonmembers

Registration is open now! www.swensoncenter.org/swedishclasses

Help Kat!

Kat would like to give this bride, Mrs. Adolph Hagelin, a first name. We think that this could be Adolph Fredrik Hagelin and Julia Justina Johnson of Geneseo, Henry Co, IL, but we would love it if someone recognized them from the photo just to be sure. https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/578

This might be our last Kat post, since they will have completed their internship hours. Feel free to look at other photos in our collection to see if you have any more information to share about them. There is a "Send us feedback" button with each image. Thank you! https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/search

Help Kat!

Here is a photo of Mr. & Mrs. Elias Fant taken in DeKalb IL. We would like to give Mrs. Fant a first name.

We think this might be Elias Fant & Edla Nelson who lived in Sycamore, DeKalb Co., IL and belonged to First Lutheran Church in DeKalb, but would love to hear from someone who recognizes the couple’s faces.

https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/512

Thank you!

Help Kat!

First, thanks so much to those who have responded to our previous posts and given us the information needed to identify some of the previously-nameless wives in our pictures of couples.

Here is another couple that our intern Kat is having trouble identifying because there is no date or place. We have done some searches in various U.S. and Swedish-American sources but have no way to tell one Herbert Erikson from another. Do you know these Eriksons, considering that Herbert may have been his middle name?

Tack så mycket!

Help Kat, please!

Our intern Kat would love to give an identity to the bride in this photo of Rev. & Mrs. Carlson, taken in Galesburg IL. The archival envelope the photo is stored in is labeled "Rev. P. Carlson." There is a second photo in the envelope which we assumed to be the same person because he was in the same envelope, but is he really? The second photo was taken in 1934 in Minneapolis MN and is labeled "Pastor P. Carlson." We are running into several P. Carlsons and none quite fits.

https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/413

https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/412

Update: the payment form is available again for signing up for this class https://augustana.formstack.com/forms/swedish1_feb2024

Hejsan, alla! Our website says that our Swedish 1 class started February 25th, but we decided to delay it by two weeks and there is still time to register! This is a six-week class, which will run Sundays at 3:30pm Central from March 10 through April 13. Taught by Alex Hart, this course is designed for students completely new to the Swedish language.

Please help Kat again!

Our intern Kat would love to give an identity to the wife in this photo of Reverend & Mrs. Isacson, taken in Kane PA. Can you help?

https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/679

Help Kat again!

Our intern Kat is hoping to give an identity to the bride in this photo of Mr. & Mrs. John Ekblad, taken in St. Louis MO. Can you help?
https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/470

Update: we have our answer (in the comments)! Thanks to all who helped!

Help Kat!
Our Augustana student intern Kat would like to give an identity to the wife in this photograph, captioned "Wedding photo of Mr. & Mrs. Alex. Larson." It was taken in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, by McAdam Brothers Photographers. Do you recognize the bride or groom?
https://swensoncenter.catalogaccess.com/photos/738

Added February 19, 2024

Added February 13, 2024

Our July 2024 Nordic Book Club reading https://www.swensoncenter.org/bookclub

Added February 13, 2024

Our August 2024 Nordic Book Club reading https://www.swensoncenter.org/bookclub

Happy 215th birthday, Mr. Lincoln! Enjoy this article from our biannual journal Swedish American Genealogist. Click on the link below then on "Download" to see this 3-page article.

Abraham Lincoln's Swedish Photographer By Nils William Olsson, Published on 03/01/04

Added February 9, 2024

Our May 2024 Nordic Book Club reading www.swensoncenter.org/bookclub

Added February 9, 2024

Our March 2024 Nordic Book Club reading www.swensoncenter.org/bookclub

Added February 9, 2024

Our February 2024 Nordic Book Club reading www.swensoncenter.org/bookclub

VIRTUAL
Language Classes: Swedish 3
Sundays, early January through mid-February / 5:00–6:00 p.m. Central
Dates: January 7, 14, 21, 28, February 4, 11.
Zoom / $130 for members, $150 nonmembers / Registration is open!

The Swenson Center offers classes designed for community members to learn the Swedish language. Classes meet once a week via Zoom for 60 minutes over 6 weeks. Students will learn skills in reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking. More information can be found at www.swensoncenter.org/swedishclasses.

Our next course, Swedish 3, is taught by Alex Hart and begins Sunday, January 7. Students will expand upon what they can say through a heavy focus on prepositions and common topics of conversation. Prepositions of location add the ability to talk about objects in space. Comparative and superlative adjectives, along with discussion about types of clauses, lead students to consider how they can start making Swedish a language of their own!

Previous enrollment in Swedish 1 and 2 is not a requirement to join, but the book from Swedish 1 and 2 is still highly recommended.

Swedish Language Classes