American Swedish Institute

http://www.americanswedishinst.org
2600 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-871-4907

Hours: Tues, Thurs-Sat noon-4pm; Wed noon-8pm; Sun 1-5pm Nov-Dec, Sat 10am-5pm

This historic house, museum and cultural center celebrates Swedish-American and Swedish culture with exhibits, programs and activities. Learn how immigrants made the move from Sweden, travel to the Swedish community they created in Minneapolis and imagine the immigrant newspaper-publishing family who built this 33-room mansion in 1908. A family-friendly booklet can help you explore the gardens, children's corners, museum store, coffee shop, and hand-crafted stone, plaster and woodwork of the Twin Cities' only castle.

Exclusive Museum Adventure Pass Offer

Visitors may purchase one new annual Individual or Household membership for $25 on day of visit-up to 50% off value. Complete membership information is available at http://www.americanswedishinst.org/member

Adventure Pass Exclusions

Passes will not be accepted on the following dates: November 7, 2009, (Christmas Fair), and November 21, 2009, (Christmas Fair II).

Passes are limited to general exhibit admission only. Passes may not be applied towards educational and group tours. Special exhibitions and other attractions may not be covered, and other restrictions may apply.

Please visit http://www.americanswedishinst.org for specific exhibition information.

Learn more about it at your metro public library

All Ages

The American Swedish Institute-Turnblad's Castle
Anne Gillespie Lewis, American Swedish Institute, 1999
Swedes in the Twin Cities
edited by Philip J. Anderson and Dag Blanck, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2000
Swedes in Minnesota
Anne Gillespie Lewis, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004
Nordic Calendar Minnesota
Website listing cultural, social and business events with a Swedish connection or flavor.
Link for Minnesota
So Far Away in the World: Stories from the Swedish Twin Cities
Anne Gillespie Lewis
Of Swedish Ways
Lilly Lorenzen, Crown, 1978
Letters from the Promised Land
H. Arnold Barton
Swedish Emigrant Series: The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, Last Letter Home
Vilhelm Moberg, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1995
The Man on the Balcony: The Story of a Crime (and other detective mysteries)
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Vintage Books, 1993
The Man Who Smiled: A Kurt Wallander Mystery, (and other detective mysteries)
Henning Mankell, W. W. Norton & Co., 2006
Hannah's Daughters
Marianne Fredriksson, Ballantine Books, 1999
The Emigrants (based on the novel by Vilhelm Moberg)
directed by Jan Troell, Warner, 1971
Pelle the Conqueror
HBO Video, 1988 VHS
My Life as a Dog
directed by Lasse HallstrÞom, Home Vision Entertainment, 2003 DVD
The Seventh Seal and Smiles of a Summer Night
written and directed by Ingmar Berman, Criterion Collection, 1998 DVDs
Swedish Folktales and Legends
Lone Thygesen Blecher, Pantheon Books, 1993
Touring Swedish America: Where to Go and What to See
Alan Winquist, Minnesota Historical Society, 2006

Kids

Festus and Mercury: Ruckus in the Garden
Sven Nordqvist, Carolrhoda Books, 1991
Moominland Midwinter
Tove Jansson, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992
Pelle's New Suit
Elsa Beskow, Floris Books, 2000
Hanna's Christmas
Melissa Peterson, HarperFestival, 2001
The Tomten
Astrid Lindgren, Coward-McCann, 1961
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
Selma Lagerlof, Skandisk, 1991
Boo and Baa in Windy Weather
Olof and Lena Landström, R&S Books, 1996
The Long Way Westward
Joan Sandin, HarperTrophy, 1992, (also audio book)
The Swedish Americans
Allyson McGill, Chelsea House Publishers, 1997
Welcome to Kirsten's World 1854: Growing Up in Pioneer America
Susan Sinnott, Pleasant Company American Girl's series, 1999
Kirsten's Promise
Janet Shaw, Pleasant Company American Girl's series, 2003
Land of Dreams
Joan Lowery Nixon, Delacorte Press, 2000
The Long Way to a New Land
Joan Sandin, Harper & Row, 1981
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren, various formats: Book, audiobook, videocassette

Tell Us About Your Adventure

If you visited American Swedish Institute, we'd love to hear about your experience.

Tell Us About Your Adventure!

Feb 8 '09 What a treat to be introduced to your program via the American Swedish Institute. Where to start? The building itself is amazing -- magnificent carved woodwork throughout on the walls (and furniture)and beautiful ceilings and carpets. One could spend hours just absorbing that craftsmanship. Then to the Bohus Knit exhibit. What beautiful pieces of handwork -- took me back to my grandmother's knitting. Certaintly done with love -- but the big joke was that, even if she measured our torso length, she would always determine that, holding up the product at a certain point, "That HAS to be long enough". It was invariably two - three inches too short. Cool now, with layering, but not the fashion 40 years ago. Also, the Norwegian Art glass exhibit was remarkable. And mostly local artists or local connections. As stated above, I look forward to bringing my husband for a visit. Thank you.
Jan 25 '09 My boyfriend and I visited the American Swedish Institute. We really like all the cool designs on the fireplaces. It was very well kept up. I really like the 3 season porch. It had a lot of sitting places and the sun would shine in. The coffee shop done stairs was busy and very good.
Sep 13 '08 My mom, sister, neice and I took a girls day to see the Queen's dresses. It was the first time any of us had been to the ASI, and we spent the whole time gasping and telling eachother to "look at that!" We really enjoyed the dresses, but loved the castle and the museum. One of my favorite moments was when I grabbed my sister's arm and said "Have you looked at the ceiling yet?" We had a wonderful time and say Thanks to the ASI and Melsa for the experience!
Aug 18 '08 Me and my friend took our three daughters, ages 3-6 to the Swedish Institute all dressed up in their nicest princess dress-up dresses. They wore gold, cream and green with flowers in their hair. We went to see the exhibit of the twenty dresses Queen Sylvia of Sweden had worn to the last 20 Nobel Prize dinners in Stockholm. It was a fun day and all the older visitors commented on how cute our little princesses were. We ended the day with some Swedish snacks downstairs in the Kaffestuga.
Aug 8 '08 The most facinating tour I have been on in years! I am of Swedish descnet and just love to know more about the Swedish traditions and all the aritfacts from the beginning eras. I love to teach my children about their ancestrity also. Great time!
Jul 29 '08 My two girlfriends & I had a great museum day adventure! We had wanted to do this for a 2 years & finally did it! We had a fabulous day of museums! We went to the russian art museum first, Judy got a pass from her library. We are both high school teachers in the area & had never been to this museum, a great display of Russian impressionist paintings & a photography show, both fantastic!Also a great gift store-check it out!The next stop was the Swedish Institute & we saw a fabulous show of the Queen of Sweden's dresses,really fun,perfect show for us!The gowns were gorgeous!
Great museum & show for any gal who loves
the movie,Princess Dairies! Also great art from Sweden & a nice gift store.
The beautiful tile fireplaces are a must see! The Queen's gowns are on display until the end of Sept. Plan a trip-You would love it, especially if you have girls!
Thanks much for doing this museum pass program, it is a great savings & blessing! We all want to plan another day soon!
Lisa Leon
Jul 24 '08 My 2 and 4 years olds loved seeing Queen Silvia's gowns (from a real queeen!) and the "castle" setting of the mansion was very exciting for them. They also enjoyed Tomten's knook and writing notes to him. The beautiful grounds were a perfect place to end our visit with a picnic!
Feb 17 '08 The guides were so friendly. The Swedish Institute was impressive. Our school-aged children certainly learned a lot of history about early Minnesota.
Jan 26 '08 My daughter who I do not see all the time and I were able to share a Couple hours of precious time together!! We both love art and history so enjoyed this experience very much! Thanks to all the organizations that make this possible! The Swedish Art Institute was Awesome!! Cheryl =)
Jan 12 '08 We only had a little time for our visit so we will be back again soon. The Christmas rooms were delightful. I especially appreciated the 3rd floor exhibit about the Swedish immigrants. Also the artwork displayed, especially the pottery and glasswork, were wonderful!
Dec 13 '07 My three Swedish cousins and I had a wonderful time in the beautiful Swedish Museum, especially with all the gorgeous Christmas decorations in place. It is MUCH prettier than I remember it being ten years ago when I last visited.
Dec 1 '07 My Mom, Sister, Aunt, and two daughters all went to the Swedish Museum. We were thrilled with the holiday decorations and the building itself is just fantastic. We were hoping to get a glimpse of a lion chair that we believe was donated to the museum by my Uncle, but we didn't see it. It was a wonderful experience though, and I'm sure we will be back again. My daughter, Emily (7 yrs old), really wanted one of the Dala horses from the gift shop. The larger ones were too expensive, but we found a key chain that was more affordable. My Mom asked her if she would like the key chain to which she enthusiastically replied, "Oh yes! I have a key chain collection." My Mom was surprised and asked her how many key chains she had in her collection. She replied, "This will be my first one!" So now we will have to add key chains from all of th museums we visit!
Nov 23 '07 Loved seeing the castle decorated for Christmas! It really got us in the mood to decorate and bake traditional treats. Astrid Lindgren's Emil books have been the bedtime story choice ever since.
Nov 7 '07 My children were completely swept up in their own adventure (the search for the troll/gnome), so I was able to REALLY enjoy my own adventure. ;) Thank you!
Sep 29 '07 The employees/volunteers were very welcoming. I wasn't as big a fan of the art/religious floor but really enjoyed the top floor with it's historical displays. I would have like to see more. My son really liked the music room and trying to find all the cherubs in the woodwork.
Sep 13 '07 Hi! My aunt and I had a great time at the American Swedish Institute! We liked seeing the history of the Swedish Baptists downstairs. My aunt and I just found out that we were fairly closely related to F.O. Nilsson. He is my 4x great uncle and my aunt's 3x great uncle. We thought that was pretty cool, so we decided to go on a trip to your museum. Again, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there! We hope to come again soon to your smörgåsbord.
Jul 21 '07 Great place! Very intricate house. We loved the additional displays around the house.
Mar 31 '07 I took my son to the MN Zoo. We had a great time and my son loved all of the animals, he was very interested in them and it was a great experience to see my 13 months old paying so much attention an pointing at the animals.
Feb 7 '07 My husband, my daughter, and I went to the American Swedish Institute and I remembered that my grandmother had attended nursing school at the Swedish Hospital. We found an alumni book in the Swedish Hospital display and located my grandmother's name in her graduating year. We called her and told her about it while we were there, and she was delighted! It was so neat to see how directly my family is involved with our state's history!

Membership


Media sponsors:KARE 11  Star Tribune
Melsa.org