About the Award
This award is reimbursement of travel and living expenses associated with your 1- to 2-week visit to the Swenson Center, up to $2,500.
The award is open to anyone doing academic research on any aspect of Swedish-American history or relations. It is not to be used for genealogical research.
The award should be used within one year of notification.
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This award was established by Nils William Olsson, a leading authority in the field of Swedish-American studies, and his wife Dagmar.
Collections
The Swenson Center's collections consist of library and archival materials, maps, photographs, music recordings, sheet music, newspapers, microfilm, and more. To gain a better understanding of the resources available and to get ideas for project topics, see Library/Archives and Research Guides.
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Depending on your area of research, the necessary resources may be in the Swedish language. Most of our more recent records are in English.
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Questions? Contact us.
Timeline
May 15: The deadline for applications every year
June 15: Applicants will be notified of the decision
Report
Within 1 month of your visit, you will be expected to write a short article summarizing your project and how you used the Swenson Center's collections.
This report will be published in our journal (Swedish American Genealogist), digital repository, and/or on our website.
To Apply
1) Identify the collection materials you would like to examine during your visit ​
2) Write a Proposal (2 to 3 pages)
Include:
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An outline of your proposed research (and a title for the project)
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Specific resources at the Swenson Center that are appropriate for your project,
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A proposed timeframe for the study (can be approximate)
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3) Submit proposal and your CV to the Swenson Center
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Applications will be reviewed by Swenson Center staff and the Swenson Center Advisory Committee.
Past Recipients
2023
Gregory C. Gaines
University of Maine
Scandinavian-American Philology: Influencing Cultural Identity in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century America​
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Saniya Lee Ghanoui
University of Texas, El Paso
"I'm Writing for Help, What Should I Do?": Advice Columists as Educators in the United States and Sweden​
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2022
Åsa Bharathi Larsson
Södertörn University, Sweden
Uncle Tom's Cabin in Swedish-American Borderlands
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2021
Waqnahwew Benjamin R. Grignon
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
John Olof Viking and Johan Baner: Documenting early Indigenous Oral Traditions in Upper Michigan
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2020
Isabelle Gapp
University of York, United Kingdom
From Woodstock to the Great Plains: The American Landscape in the Painting of Birger Sandzén and John F. Carlson
2019
Gunilla Hermansson
Gothenburg University, Sweden
Song Lyrics as a Challenge to Transnational Literary History--the Case of "Vårvindar friska"
[Canceled due to COVID-19]
2018
Nevra Biltekin
Stockholm University, Sweden
Between Transnational Migration and Cultural Diplomacy: Gendered Practices, Imagined Homelands, and Swedish Women in the United States, 1980s-1990s
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Ulf Zander
Lund University, Sweden
News Exchange - Allan Kastrup and Swedish Public Diplomacy in the United States in the Postwar Decades
2017
John Everett Jones
Collegeville, Pennsylvania
Pioneer Swedish settlers of western New York (Jamestown) and Northwestern Pennsylvania (Sugar Grove/Chandlers Valley) in the era prior to the American Civil War (1844-1860)
2016
Anders Bo Rasmussen
University of Southern Denmark
For God and Country: Race, Religion, and Reconstruction in Swedish American Texts
2014
Philipp Gollner
University of Notre Dame
"Evangelize-Americanize:" White Religion and Acculturation among late 19th-Century Swedish Immigrants
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2013
Juri Rebkowetz
Ludwig-Maximilians University. Munich, Germany
German and Scandinavian Immigration to Minnesota and Wisconsin during the Second Half of the 19th Century - Contacts, Conflicts, and Cooperation
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2012
Jennifer Vanore
University of Chicago
The Call to Care: Religion and the Making of the Modern Hospital Industry in Los Angeles, 1895-1965
2011
Adam Hjorthén
Stockholm University, Sweden
Commemorating Presence: Swedish-American Jubilees in Transnational Perspective, 1938-1996
Katrin Leineweber
Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany
The Integration of Swedish Immigrants in Seattle/King County since 1850
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2010
Brita Butler-Wall
University of Washington
Women in the Bishop Hill Colony
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2009
Erika Jackson
Michigan State University
"Scandinavian Preferred": Nordic Ethnic Identity, Gender and Work within Chicago, 1879-1933
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2008
Rachel Gianni Abbott
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Folklore and Material Culture among Swedish Immigrants in late Nineteenth-Century Utah
2007
Elizabeth Baigent
Oxford University, U.K.
Swedish Immigrants in McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Christopher Cantwell
Cornell University
Swedish Immigrants in Chicago and their Relationship to D.L. Moody
2006
Christopher Jaffe
Northern Illinois University
Swedes and Other Ethnic Groups in Rockford, Illinois
2005
Agnieszka Stasiewicz
Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Swedish Immigrant Children and Books Published for Them by the Augustana Book Concern
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2004
Ms. Joanna Daxell
Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
Swedish Literature in North America
2003
Paul Lubotina
St. Louis University
Swedes and other Ethnic groups on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range
2002
Lars Nordström
Beavercreek, Oregon
The Life and Work of Samuel Magnus Hill, a Pioneer Educator and Minister in Nebraska
Malin Glimäng
University of Hawai'i
The History of Swedish Female Immigration
2001
Gabriella Rundblad
University of East Anglia, U.K.
Language Use in the Creation of a Swedish-American Identity
2000
Anne-Charlotte Harvey
San Diego State University
Swedish Theatre in the United States 1880-1930
Eva St. Jean
University of British Columbia, Canada
Swedish Immigrants in British Columbia
1999
Barry L. Peterson
Tallahassee, Florida
Comparison of Swedish traditions in the Rural Midwestern United States and Sweden
1998
Christopher Mitchell
University of Georgia
Strindbergarna—A Swedish Theater Club in Chicago 1912-1915
1997
Edward Burton
University of Göteborg, Sweden
Social and Political Views of Postwar Swedish-America
Roger Kvist
Umeå University, Sweden
Swedish Immigrants in the American Civil War