Swedes in the Twin Cities: Immingrant Life and Minnesota's Urban Frontier - Paperback

by Philip J. Anderson (Editor), Dag Blanck (Editor), Barton (Contribution by)

During the era of Swedish mass emigration to the United States-about 1.3 million Swedes arrived between 1850 and 1930-more members of this group made their homes in Minnesota than in any other state. By 1910 Swedes were the largest ethnic group in Minneapolis, claiming a quarter of the city's residents, and the second largest in St. Paul. As newcomers to this urban landscape, Swedish immigrants managed to leave their mark-in politics and in business, in religion and in art-even as they assimilated to the urban American culture in which they lived and worked.

In this book, contributions from twenty-four leading scholars in both the United States and Sweden investigate various facets of Swedish life and culture in the Twin Cities. For these immigrants, many of whom had been farmers in the old country, the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul were truly an urban frontier. Essays in Part One, "Aspects of Urban Settlement," explore this concept, considering such topics as why Swedes chose the Twin Cities, where they lived once they arrived, what their employment opportunities were, and how they might have spent their time when down on their luck.