American Swedish Institute

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

Hours: Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday: noon-4pm
Wednesday: noon-8pm
Sunday: 1-5pm

This 33-room historic house, museum and cultural center celebrates Sweden and Swedish-America with exhibits, programs and activities.  Visit and imagine the immigrant newspaper-publishing family who built this mansion in 1908, learn how they and others made the move to the Twin Cities, and discover the dynamic community center they established in the heart of the city.  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 here.

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!

Jan 2 '10 we went for a Christmas concert with Ross Sutter. We all danced and our daughter Sila was a tomte with tomte Kiasa. After we visted all the Christmas rooms, each decorated in the style of a different Scandinavian country
Nov 14 '09 I'm not sure on the exact date of our vist, but we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Am. Swedish Inst. They were exhibiting glass artists at the time and we were amazed to see such beautiful pieces. Also enjoyed the wonderful scandinavian sweaters and appreciated all the hard work that went into designing and making them. Loved the history and gift shop (spent a lot of time there too). After the museum we ended our day eating at the scandinavian Pearson's restaurant, made a whole day out of it.
Adventure Pass is such a great program, we've also have used it for the Russian Art, MAI, and Walker - thank you so much!
Aug 29 '09 Our family of six had a wonderful time checking everything out at this magnificent building. The architecture and furnishings are fabulous! WE really appreciated the scavenger hunt paper which helped keep the kids looking for all the details as we went around the place.
Jul 14 '09 My brother-in-law from Oklahoma joined us to visit this museum - he had no prior information about Sweden or the history of Swedish immigrants to Minnesota. He read every word of every exhibit!....and then discussed it with us and asked questions we native Minnesotans did not know.
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

Upcoming Events

17 Swedish Designers
January 29-May 30, 2010
www.17swedishdesigners.com

Featuring the work of seventeen contemporary designers--all young, progressive women--the exhibit comes to Minneapolis from Sweden, a country renowned for innovative modern design. The exhibit showcases examples of the most recent work from these seventeen designers, spanning a wide variety of design fields including glass, ceramics, textiles, architecture, furniture, industrial design, interior design, and graphic design.

Ring-a-Tour Cell Phone Tour

The American Swedish Institute is pleased to announce the launch of its Ring-a-Tour cell phone tour. This free audio tour, available in both English and Swedish, offers visitors a new way to explore the American Swedish Institute's 1908 Turnblad mansion. Ring-a-Tour is accessed from the visitor's cell phone or as a podcast, consists of 21 stops throughout the mansion, and is included with museum admission. For information call 612-871-4907.

Dialing a toll-free number from your cell phone, visitors can access information on the mansion's history and its former owners, the Turnblad family, who founded the American Swedish Institute in 1929. The audio tour provides interesting information about the mansion's period rooms, which compliments the information available to guests in print, and even includes a game for children.

Ring-a-Tour was developed in partnership with Museum 411, a local company that has done work nation-wide, and has been made possible by a generous grant from the Anne Ray Charitable Trust.

Membership

For information on membership to the American Swedish Institute, please visit their website at www.americanswedishinst.org/ASI/Membership.html.


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