O. Fritiof Ander Lecture Series
The annual O. Fritiof Ander Lecture invites a prominent scholar in the field of immigration studies to give a lecture on the Augustana campus.
The lecture series is named in honor of Dr. O. Fritiof Ander, who taught history at Augustana College from 1930 to 1968. A legendary professor at the college, he was a pioneer and leading name in immigration history and the author of numerous books and articles in the field.
View a playlist of the lectures on YouTube.
Past Lecturers
October 2020
Hélène Ohlsson
Transatlantic Performances of Swedishness: The Opera Divas Jenny Lind and Christina Nilsson in the U.S. in the 19th Century
October 2019
Ola Larsmo
Author of "Swede Hollow."
Swede Hollow: A Different Swedish-American Story
October 2018
Panel: Karin Henriksson, Martin Gelin, Wendy Hilton-Morrow, and moderator Ulf Jonas Björk
News from America: Reporting on the United States in Sweden
October 2017
David Krueger
Author of "Myths of the Rune Stone: Viking Martyrs and the Birthplace of America."
American Rune Stone— Monument, Memorial and Myth
October 2016
Adam Kaul
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Welfare, Augustana College
Making and Marketing Heritage: Nostalgia, Dissonance, and Sustainability in Bishop Hill, Illinois
October 2015
Peter Kivisto
Richard A. Swanson Professor of Social Thought, Augustana College
Immigration Backlash in the Nation of Immigrants
October 2014
Philip J. Anderson
Professor Emeritus, North Park University
Voluntary Religion and the Swedish Immigrant Experience
October 2013
Gunlög Fur
Professor of History, Linnaeus University
Indians and Immigrants: Entangled Histories.
Keynote address for the conference "Indians and Immigrants: Entangled Histories"
October 2012
Donna Gabaccia
Professor of History, University of Minnesota
The Freedom to Move. Immigrants and Natives 1776-present.
October 2011
Jennifer Eastman Attebery
Professor of English and Director of Folklore Program, Idaho State University
Blending Celebrations in the Rockies: How Midsummer became American and Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Pioneer Day became Swedish
October 2010
Henrik Williams
Professor of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University
The Kensington Runestone - Fact and Fiction
October 2009
Anne-Charlotte Harvey
Professor of Theatre, San Diego State University
Yon Yonson ― The Original Dumb Swede But Not So Dumb: Swedish-American Comic Stereotypes in American Popular Culture
October 2008
Joy Lintelman
Professor of History, Concordia College
“I Go to America”: Swedish American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson
October 2007
Thomas Tredway
President Emeritus, Augustana College
Pinching Pennies in the Provinces: The Mid-Century Finances of an Immigrant College
Keynote address for the conference "Friends and Neighbors? Swedes and Norwegians in the United States"
October 2006
Lars Nordström
Independent scholar, Beavercreek, Oregon
Being Swedish in America in the Post-War Period
October 2005
Don Lago
Freelance author, Flagstaff, Arizona
Swedish America: Nostalgia for the past, or hope for the future?
October 2004
Werner Sollors
Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English and Afro-American Studies, Harvard University
Gustaf Jarlson's "America letters" and the Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves
Keynote address for the conference "Jag lever och har hälsan (I'm alive and well)"
October 2003
Jon Gjerde
Professor of History, University of California-Berkeley
Freedom and the Immigrant Myth: European Immigrants in the United States
November 2001
Barbro Klein
Director, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Uppsala University
Keynote address for the conference “Being Swedish-American Today”
October 2000
Maria Jarlsdotter Enckell
Independent Scholar, Seattle and Chicago
Scandinavians Immigrants in Russian Alaska: 1800-1867
October 1999
Ulf Jonas Björk
Associate Professor of Journalism, Indiana University-Indianapolis
The Swedish-American Press as an Immigrant Institution
October 1998
H. Arnold Barton
Professor of History, Southern Illinois University
Crossings and Recrossings: America and Sweden in the 20th Century
Keynote address for the conference “The Migration of Ideas: Sweden and the United States in the 20th Century”
October 1997
Nils Hasselmo
President Emeritus, University of Minnesota
Language Policy and Language Politics in the U.S. and Europe
April 1996
Kathleen Conzen
Professor of History, University of Chicago
Pioneering as an Immigrant Process in the 19th Century American West
Keynote address for the conference "O Pioneers" : Swedes on the American Frontier"
April 1995
Byron Nordstrom
Professor of History and Scandinavian Studies, Gustavus Adolphus College
Dead Uncertainties: Swedish-American Images of History
April 1994
Nils William Olsson
F.A.S.G., editor of Swedish American Genealogist
Naming Patterns Among Swedish Americans
Keynote address for the 1994 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (SASS): "Naming Patterns Among Swedish Americans"
April 1993
Mary Swanson
Professor of Art History, College of St. Thomas
Swedish American Art and Artists
October 1991
Harald Runblom
Associate Professor of History, Uppsala University
‘We are all Swedish here, aren’t we, Mrs. O’Brien?’ Swedes and Other Ethnic Groups in American Life
April 1990
Rudolph Vecoli
Professor of History, University of Minnesota
The Trials and Tribulations of an Immigration Historian: George Stephenson and the Swedish-American Community
April 1989
Robert Ostergren
Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Geographic Perspectives on Swedish Immigrant Settlement in North America
May 1988
John Bodnar
Professor of History, Indiana University
The Origin and Function of Memory in Ethnic Communities