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American Swedish Institute
The
American Swedish Institute is an organizational and research
facility and museum in the Phillips West neighborhood of
Minneapolis, Minnesota; dedicated to the preservation and study of
the historical part that Sweden and the Americans of Swedish
heritage have contributed to the US history and culture. Some of
their programs include the Swedish language-teaching society, the
Svea Club and the Turnblad Mansion Museum that showcases displays
and special events. The institute is housed in the
turn-of-the-century mansion constructed for Christina and Swan
Turnblad who had come to this country in 1868, at the age of eight,
with his parents. Swan wasn't cut out for farming, and in 1879 he
moved away from Vasa and came to Minneapolis where he began his rags
to riches life. Swan would work at many Swedish language newspapers
as a typesetter, and his intense interest in the printing business
would soon lead him to publish the Swedish language newspaper, "Svenska
Amerikanska Posten", and within 10 years he had become the owner.
During his management, he increased the circulation from 1400 weekly
papers to more than 40,000 and became his main source of wealth. The
paper's success was because of his aggressive management style, plus
the wonderful support of the Swedish immigrants that also supported
it. He went on to create the best technically advanced newspaper in
the region by using only the best possible printing equipment
available at the time. He became the first Swedish publisher in the
nation to set his type using the Linotype machine and in 1903, it
became the first Swedish language paper to use the duplex rotary
color printing press, allowing the paper to have color
illustrations. He soon met and married Christina Nilsson, who
had also come to this country with her parents, settling in
Worthington, Minnesota in 1876, when she was 15. Her first position
in this country didn't pay any wages, but did help her gain valuable
work experience and learn the English language. She worked as a
waitress for a year, and in 1882, moved to Minneapolis, where she
would meet Swan at a Templar meeting. The couple were married in
1883, and had Lillian Zenobia, their sole child, a year later.
During the early 1900s, they planned their luxurious estate, and
having traveled to Europe many times, decided on an elegant chateau
type of mansion, full of elaborate designs on the interior. In 1903,
they bought some land on Park Avenue and plans drawn up for them.
Bills were always paid when presented, and there aren't any records
of the construction costs, although when the museum took over in
1929, the Minneapolis Tribune stated that the cost is thought to
have been in the neighborhood of $1 million, but no one knows for
sure. The mansion became a museum in 1929 when the family donated it
and the newspaper to start the American Institute for Swedish Arts,
Literature and Science; sometime later becoming the American Swedish
Institute. The mansion has 33 rooms, two story grand hall,
carved stone and woodwork, sculpted ceilings and 11 floor to ceiling
kakelugnar, which are Swedish porcelain tile stoves.
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