Swedish American Museum

10/31/2023

Happy Halloween from one of the Museum’s resident witches!

Pictured here is a witch puppet created for the internationally famed Kungsholm Miniature Grand Opera. The opera operated from 1940 until 1971 in the Kungsholm, a Scandinavian restaurant located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. The puppet opera started as an idea by the restaurant’s owner, Fredrik Chramer, and his fond memories of puppet shows during his childhood in Denmark. This specific puppet would have made her debut as the evil witch in a production of “Hansel and Gretel.”

While witches are often meant to be a frightening sight, like the witch in “Hansel and Gretel”, witches take on a different role in Sweden. Instead of witches being icons of Halloween, Swedish children most often associate them with Easter. Children dressed as Easter witches go house-to-house to deliver treats and often receive treats in return. Beginning in the 1800s, the tradition was much more mischievous and involved playing tricks on one’s neighbors. Thankfully, it has transformed into a day of fun, costumes, and plenty of treats!

Accession # 2017.54.52

10/31/2023

The exhibit "Some of My Own" featuring the artwork of Jenny Mörtsell (Jenny Mortsell Draws) is now up. This exhibit will be on display in the Raoul Wallenberg Gallery until Sunday, March 3, 2024.

"Some of My Own" is a series of pencil drawings about being a Swede raising kids in America and being an American raising kids in Sweden. It is also about finding happiness in small everyday moments of beauty when things don’t go as planned.

Jenny Mörtsell is a Swedish illustrator. After several years studying art and earning an MA in Graphic Design and Illustration at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in, she relocated to New York, working with clients as New York Times Magazine, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Roberto Cavalli, Harry’s, Wealthsimple, Wallpaper, Whyred, Refinery 29, Outdoor Voices, Aritzia, Urban Outfitters, ELLE, Vogue, Lula, Grey Magazine, The Last Magazine, NYLON, Target, Fossil, The Swedish Post, The California Sunday Magazine, Twin Shadow, Aziz Ansari, Martin Rev. She is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden

10/30/2023

The Museum galleries and Store will be open until 8 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 2. This is an excellent opportunity to visit the exhibits “Tattoo: Identity through Ink” and “Some of My Own” or shop in our Store. Please note that the Children’s Museum will close at 4 p.m. There will be another Tattoo Drawing Workshop 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

10/30/2023

Join us this Thursday, Nov. 2, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for "Bold will Hold," a tattoo drawing workshop.

This workshop includes a traditional drawing and painting lesson with tattoo artists from Evoke Tattoos. Come hang out and talk about the basics of what makes a timeless tattoo, and then practice drawing and painting an American traditional tattoo design. We suggest a donation between $5 and $10 for this workshop (paid at the door).

10/29/2023

Please join the Chicago Swedish Mixed Chorus for a concert of lively choral music in Swedish and in English today, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. Fika will follow the hour-long musical presentation. Suggested donation is $10. For further information, call 773-316-3498 and leave a message.

10/29/2023

Come together to knit, crochet, cross stitch or any other similar craft at the Museum's pop-up cafe next today, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m.

10/29/2023

Stop by the Museum for a fika in our pop-up café today, Oct 29, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Try a Swedish Cinnamon Roll, Sandwich or other baked goods in the Museum’s pop-up café in the main gallery while enjoying our exhibit on display.

10/29/2023

Silent Auction -

The silent auction is held online again this year. You can bid both from home and from the Museum. You can already view the items by using the link below. If you need help setting up or learn how to bid we are happy to help you at the Museum.

10/28/2023

Stop by the Museum for a fika in our pop-up café tomorrow, Oct 29, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Try a Swedish Cinnamon Roll, Sandwich or other baked goods in the Museum’s pop-up café in the main gallery while enjoying our exhibit on display.

10/28/2023

The Museum book club reads a wide range of books from the Nordic countries. In October, we are reading “In Every Mirror She’s Black” by Lola Akinmade Åkerström. The Book Club will meet online today, Oct. 28, at 1 p.m. This is a free event, the Zoom code is located on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32922.

10/27/2023

The exhibit "Some of My Own" featuring the artwork of Jenny Mortsell Draws opens tonight, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m.

"Some of My Own" is a series of pencil drawings about being a Swede raising kids in America and being an American raising kids in Sweden. It is also about finding happiness in small everyday moments of beauty when things don’t go as planned.

Jenny Mörtsell is a Swedish illustrator. After several years studying art and earning an MA in Graphic Design and Illustration at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in, she relocated to New York, working with clients as New York Times Magazine, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Roberto Cavalli, Harry’s, Wealthsimple, Wallpaper, Whyred, Refinery 29, Outdoor Voices, Aritzia, Urban Outfitters, ELLE, Vogue, Lula, Grey Magazine, The Last Magazine, NYLON, Target, Fossil, The Swedish Post, The California Sunday Magazine, Twin Shadow, Aziz Ansari, Martin Rev. She is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden

10/27/2023

Join us online for another Genealogy Session tomorrow, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. to hear from Dr. Joy Lintelman, a U.S. social historian specializing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with special interests in Swedish American immigration, food history, local history and public history. She serves as a full professor at Concordia.

In addition to a number of journal articles and book chapters published over the past three decades, her book, I Go to America: Swedish American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson was released in 2009 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Her current research examines the urban experiences of Swedish Americans, focusing on a historic neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota called East Side Flats.

Cost is free for Swedish American Genealogical Society members who can register for this event by emailing [email protected]; $10 for non-members to participate. Reservations are required and can be made on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32995.

10/26/2023

This weekend -

Some of my own By Jenny Mörtsell Some of my own is a series of pencil drawings about being a Swede raising kids in America and being an American raising kids in Sweden. It is also about finding happiness in small everyday moments of beauty when things don’t go as planned. Jenny will join us from ...

10/26/2023

The Museum galleries and Store will be open until 8 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 2. This is an excellent opportunity to visit the exhibits “Tattoo: Identity through Ink” and “The Spirit of Place: Earth is Home” and shop in our Store. Please note that the Children’s Museum will close at 4 p.m. There will be another Tattoo Drawing Workshop 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

10/26/2023

Volunteers have been an integral part of our Museum since our inception in 1976. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for their hard work and dedication! The Museum hosts special events, workshops, and lectures, providing cultural and educational programming to the community. New volunteers are always welcome! Apply on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/volunteering.

10/25/2023

Please visit the Museum website and ensure your information is up to date. You now have the option to log in to our website and see what events you have signed up for, when your membership expires and what you have bought in the Museum Store.

The first time you sign in, you will need to reset your password. You can do this by clicking on the icon of a person in the top right corner or by signing up for an event. Then click on the reset password link and follow the directions. If you have been a member of the Museum in the past, attended an event or donated, you should already be in our system. If resetting your password doesn't work, please email [email protected], and we will update your information to ensure you can log in.

10/25/2023

Stop by the Museum for a fika in our pop-up café this Sunday, Oct 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Try a Swedish Cinnamon Roll, Sandwich or other baked goods in the Museum’s pop-up café in the main gallery while enjoying our exhibit on display.

10/24/2023

Please join the Chicago Swedish Mixed Chorus for a concert of lively choral music in Swedish and in English this Sunday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. Fika will follow the hour-long musical presentation. Suggested donation is $10. For further information, call 773-316-3498 and leave a message.

10/24/2023

The Museum book club reads a wide range of books from the Nordic countries. In October, we are reading “In Every Mirror She’s Black” by Lola Akinmade Åkerström. The Book Club will meet online this Saturday, Oct. 28, at 1 p.m. This is a free event the Zoom code is located on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32922. The book can be bought in the Museum Store.

About “In Every Mirror She’s Black”
Three Black women are linked in unexpected ways to the same influential white man in Stockholm as they build their new lives in the most open society run by the most private people.

Successful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi is lured from the U.S. to Sweden by Jonny von Lundin, CEO of the nation’s largest marketing firm, to help fix a PR fiasco involving a racially tone-deaf campaign. A killer at work but a failure in love, Kemi’s move is a last-ditch effort to reclaim her social life.

A chance meeting with Jonny in business class en route to the U.S. propels former model-turned-flight-attendant Brittany-Rae Johnson into a life of wealth, luxury, and privilege—a life she’s not sure she wants—as the object of his unhealthy obsession.

Refugee Muna Saheed, who lost her entire family, finds a job cleaning the toilets at Jonny’s office as she works to establish her residency in Sweden and, more importantly, seeks connection and a place she can call home.

Told through the perspectives of each of the three women, In Every Mirror She’s Black is a fast-paced, richly nuanced yet accessible contemporary novel that touches on important social issues of racism, classism, fetishization, and tokenism, and what it means to be a Black woman navigating a white-dominated society.

10/23/2023

This year's gala will be held next Saturday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m. at the Swedish American Museum. The Swedish American Museum’s annual fundraising event is a night of fun and celebration of Swedish and Swedish-American heritage and culture.

This year we are honoring Tamara Biggs, who has been making exhibitions for over 40 years, beginning in 1981 as a preparator at Chicago’s Field Museum. After five years as a project manager at Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she became director of exhibitions at Chicago History Museum, where she led an award-winning team for 22 years. Together they created nearly 100 exhibitions, four of them winners of the American Alliance of Museum’s Excellence in Exhibition award, one a winner of the Allan Bérubé Prize from the Committee on LGBT History, and one a winner of the Costume Society of America’s Richard Martin Exhibition Award, as well as five MUSE awards for exhibit media. She was a founder of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of ethnic museums and cultural centers, and has served on the boards of National Association for Museum Exhibitions and the National Indo-American Museum.

Tamara has worked with the Museum since 2012 to envision, plan and implement an updated core exhibit on the second floor, beginning with an analysis of Dream of America and a successful grant to upgrade collections storage. In 2021, we received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create We Are America. The $500,000 project is half funded by IMLS and half fundraised by the Museum during our 40th Anniversary campaign in 2016 and 2017. Tamara has been with us throughout the process, and her guidance and knowledge have been instrumental every step of the way.

We are now in the middle of the update and anxiously await the grand opening of "We Are America" in late 2023 or early 2024.

To buy your tickets or learn more about the gala, visit our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/annual-gala.

10/23/2023

The exhibit "Some of My Own" featuring the artwork of Jenny Mortsell Draws opens next Friday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m.

"Some of My Own" is a series of pencil drawings about being a Swede raising kids in America and being an American raising kids in Sweden. It is also about finding happiness in small everyday moments of beauty when things don’t go as planned.

Jenny Mörtsell is a Swedish illustrator. After several years studying art and earning an MA in Graphic Design and Illustration at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in, she relocated to New York, working with clients as New York Times Magazine, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Roberto Cavalli, Harry’s, Wealthsimple, Wallpaper, Whyred, Refinery 29, Outdoor Voices, Aritzia, Urban Outfitters, ELLE, Vogue, Lula, Grey Magazine, The Last Magazine, NYLON, Target, Fossil, The Swedish Post, The California Sunday Magazine, Twin Shadow, Aziz Ansari, Martin Rev. She is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden

10/22/2023

Come together to knit, crochet, cross stitch or any other similar craft at the Museum's pop-up cafe next Sunday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m.

10/22/2023

Join us online for another Genealogy Session this Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. to hear from Dr. Joy Lintelman, a U.S. social historian specializing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with special interests in Swedish American immigration, food history, local history and public history. She serves as a full professor at Concordia.

In addition to a number of journal articles and book chapters published over the past three decades, her book, I Go to America: Swedish American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson was released in 2009 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Her current research examines the urban experiences of Swedish Americans, focusing on a historic neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota called East Side Flats.

Cost is free for Swedish American Genealogical Society members who can register for this event by emailing [email protected]; $10 for non-members to participate. Reservations are required and can be made on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32995.

10/21/2023

Small Fish Radio Theatre and Thespinarium are returning to the Swedish American Museum for their Annual Horror Show. Join us at the Museum tomorrow, Oct. 22, for first-row seats to this awesome event. Reservations can be made by emailing [email protected]. The cost of admission is $10 cash by the door.

10/20/2023

Please join the Chicago Swedish Mixed Chorus for a concert of lively choral music in Swedish and in English on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. Fika will follow the hour-long musical presentation. Suggested donation is $10. For further information, call 773-316-3498 and leave a message.

10/20/2023

Stop by the Museum for a fika in our pop-up café next Sunday, Oct 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Try a Swedish Cinnamon Roll, Sandwich or other baked goods in the Museum’s pop-up café in the main gallery while enjoying our exhibit on display.

10/19/2023

The Museum galleries and Store will be open until 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 19. This is an excellent opportunity to visit the exhibits “Tattoo: Identity through Ink” and “The Spirit of Place: Earth is Home” and shop in our Store. Please note that the Children’s Museum will close at 4 p.m.

10/19/2023

Looking for a fun Halloween activity? Come paint ghosts, bats, pumpkins and more on a thrifted painting at the Museum tonight, Oct. 19, from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5, all materials are provided. Register on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32935.

10/18/2023

The Museum book club reads a wide range of books from the Nordic countries. In October, we are reading “In Every Mirror She’s Black” by Lola Akinmade Åkerström. The Book Club will meet online on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 1 p.m. This is a free event the Zoom code is located on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32922. The book can be bought in the Museum Store.

About “In Every Mirror She’s Black”
Three Black women are linked in unexpected ways to the same influential white man in Stockholm as they build their new lives in the most open society run by the most private people.

Successful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi is lured from the U.S. to Sweden by Jonny von Lundin, CEO of the nation’s largest marketing firm, to help fix a PR fiasco involving a racially tone-deaf campaign. A killer at work but a failure in love, Kemi’s move is a last-ditch effort to reclaim her social life.

A chance meeting with Jonny in business class en route to the U.S. propels former model-turned-flight-attendant Brittany-Rae Johnson into a life of wealth, luxury, and privilege—a life she’s not sure she wants—as the object of his unhealthy obsession.

Refugee Muna Saheed, who lost her entire family, finds a job cleaning the toilets at Jonny’s office as she works to establish her residency in Sweden and, more importantly, seeks connection and a place she can call home.

Told through the perspectives of each of the three women, In Every Mirror She’s Black is a fast-paced, richly nuanced yet accessible contemporary novel that touches on important social issues of racism, classism, fetishization, and tokenism, and what it means to be a Black woman navigating a white-dominated society.

10/18/2023

Aspire! Gala 2023 -

The Swedish American Museum’s annual fundraising event is a night of fun and celebration of Swedish and Swedish-American heritage and culture.

10/17/2023

Tonight, Oct. 17, the Museum will show “The Girl Who Saved My Life.” You can come enjoy the movie in our gallery space at 6:30 p.m.

The film is $10, reservations can be made on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/event/dinner-movie-night/.

“The Girl Who Saved My Life” tells the story of a filmmaker who fled to Sweden and returned to his homeland, Iraq, to give a face to the millions of refugees in that region. He meets an 11-year-old girl who stops him from making a fatal journey.

10/17/2023

Small Fish Radio Theatre and Thespinarium are returning to the Swedish American Museum for their Annual Horror Show. Join us at the Museum this Sunday, Oct. 22, for first-row seats to this awesome event. Reservations can be made by emailing [email protected]. The cost of admission is $10 cash by the door.

10/16/2023

The Museum galleries and Store will be open until 8 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 19. This is an excellent opportunity to visit the exhibits “Tattoo: Identity through Ink” and “The Spirit of Place: Earth is Home” and shop in our Store. Please note that the Children’s Museum will close at 4 p.m.

10/16/2023

Looking for a fun Halloween activity? Come paint ghosts, bats, pumpkins and more on a thrifted painting at the Museum this Thursday, Oct. 19, from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5, all materials are provided. Register on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/32935.

10/15/2023

This year's gala will be held on Saturday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m. at the Swedish American Museum. The Swedish American Museum’s annual fundraising event is a night of fun and celebration of Swedish and Swedish-American heritage and culture.

This year we are honoring Tamara Biggs, who has been making exhibitions for over 40 years, beginning in 1981 as a preparator at Chicago’s Field Museum. After five years as a project manager at Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she became director of exhibitions at Chicago History Museum, where she led an award-winning team for 22 years. Together they created nearly 100 exhibitions, four of them winners of the American Alliance of Museum’s Excellence in Exhibition award, one a winner of the Allan Bérubé Prize from the Committee on LGBT History, and one a winner of the Costume Society of America’s Richard Martin Exhibition Award, as well as five MUSE awards for exhibit media. She was a founder of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of ethnic museums and cultural centers, and has served on the boards of National Association for Museum Exhibitions and the National Indo-American Museum.

Tamara has worked with the Museum since 2012 to envision, plan and implement an updated core exhibit on the second floor, beginning with an analysis of Dream of America and a successful grant to upgrade collections storage. In 2021, we received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to create We Are America. The $500,000 project is half funded by IMLS and half fundraised by the Museum during our 40th Anniversary campaign in 2016 and 2017. Tamara has been with us throughout the process, and her guidance and knowledge have been instrumental every step of the way.

We are now in the middle of the update and anxiously await the grand opening of "We Are America" in late 2023 or early 2024.

To buy your tickets or learn more about the gala, visit our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/annual-gala.

10/15/2023

"The Spirit of Place: Earth is Home" closes today, Oct. 15. This exhibit features lithography by Kurt Seaberg.

Kurt Seaberg is a Sami-American artist currently residing in Minnesota. He was born in Chicago, IL, and studied intaglio and lithography at the University of Minnesota. Nature has always been a theme and source of inspiration in his work and the particular spiritual qualities he finds there. He believes one of the tasks of an artist is to remind us where our strength and power lie – in beauty, community, and sense of place. Seaberg uses his art to connect with his Sami heritage and his father, who was also an artist. This exhibit showcases Seaberg’s lithographs, which connect you to natural, beautiful landscape

10/15/2023

Scandinavian Jam will be in person tomorrow, Oct. 15, from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Join Mary Allsopp and Paul Tyler at the Museum for an afternoon of traditional roots music. We teach by ear, review and share tunes. We are happy to take suggestions and love meeting new people.

Contact [email protected] or [email protected] with any questions. This is a free event.

10/14/2023

The Museum dinner and movie night series are returning. We will watch several movies in Swedish with English subtitles. You can choose to come for dinner or just enjoy the movie. This Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m., we will show “The Girl Who Saved My Life.”

The cost for dinner and movie is $20 for members and $25 for non-members. The film is only $10 for all. Prepaid reservations are required for the dinner, with no refunds available for cancellations within five days of the event. The last day to reserve diner tickets is Saturday, Sept. 16. Reservations can be made on our website at https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/event/dinner-movie-night/.

“The Girl Who Saved My Life” tells the story of a filmmaker who fled to Sweden and returned to his homeland, Iraq, to give a face to the millions of refugees in that region. He meets an 11-year-old girl who stops him from making a fatal journey.