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NEWS ITEMS Russell W. Peterson, president of the National Audubon Society and former governor of Delaware, was selected as "Swedish American of the Year" by the Swedish lodges of the Vasa Order of America. On "Swedish-American Day," 1 August 1982, he was made the twenty-third recipient of the award amid traditional festivities at Skansen in Stockholm. Born in Wisconsin of Swedish parents, he received a Ph.D. degree in chemistry and worked for the Du Pont Company before serving as governor of Delaware, during which time he distinguished himself as a leading authority on environmental matters. He has headed the Audubon Society since 1979. * * * As has become traditional in recent years, the following annual summer events devoted to Swedish-American themes were held in Sweden in 1982, in addition to "Swedish-American Day" in Stockholm, noted above: "Korpargillet," a Swedish-American "homecoming" in Uddevalla (19 June); "Sweden-America Day" in Kalmar (20 June); "Peter Cassel Day" in Kisa (20 June), in which your editor had the pleasure of taking part; "Värmland-America Day" in Ransäter (25 June); the "Swedish-American Lodge Meeting," held by the Vasa Order of America in Höganäs (3 July); "Emigrants Day" in Trollhättan (16-17 July); "John Ericson Day" in Filipstad (25 July); and "Minnesota Day" at the Emigrant Institute in Växjö (8 August). A "Summer Meeting with Swedish Americans" was also held in Sågmyra (18 July). These events are largely sponsored or supported by the local lodges of the Vasa Order of America. * * * At its annual "Minnesota Day" celebration, the Emigrant Institute, Växjö, conferred its Charlotta Medal upon several persons, including emigration researchers John Johansson of Långasjö, Lilly and Lennart Setterdahl of East Moline, Illinois, and Dr. Albin Widén of Bromma. * * * In addition to receiving the Emigrant Institute's Charlotta 89 Medal (above), Dr. Albin Widén has been selected as "America's Swede of the Year" by the Swedish Council of America. Dr. Widén, who published the first of his many books on Swedish-America in 1937, remains the pioneer in his field in Sweden and was the initiator of the annual "Swedish-American Day" and "Swedish American of the Year" awards in Stockholm. The award is to be made, in absentia due to poor health, at the 1982 Great Swedish Heritage Awards dinner to be held in New York on 9 November 1982, attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. Former "Swedish American of the Year" Roger Tory Peterson, noted ornithologist and artist, will receive the Council's award to an American of Swedish descent, while its two posthumous awards will go to sculptor Carl Milles and to inventor Alfred Nobel. * * * EI Information, Vol. 7, No. 1 for 1982 from the Emigrant Institute, Växjö, contains several items of interest. During the spring term, 1982, thirty pupils from Växjö schools studied genealogical research techniques under Leif Carlsson of the Institute. On 17 April 1982 a conference was held in Bengtfors, Dalsland, for some twenty local researchers studying emigration from Västergötland, Bohuslän, Dalsland, Värmland, Dalarna, Småland, and Blekinge. The Institute's catalog of its collection of microfilmed Swedish-American church archives is being revised and augmented. Dr. Allan T. Nilsson of the Historical Museum in Gothenburg has returned from a research trip to Australia in connection with the ongoing cooperative study of Scandinavian immigrants in the Antipodes. Nordic researchers interested in that area met at the Finnish Migration Institute in Turku (Åbo) on 17-19 February 1982. A meeting on 12 May 1982 at the Swedish Institute in Stockholm considered future research into Swedish-American literature. Plans are afoot for a Norwegian emigrant institute in Hamar. Meetings for local emigration researchers in Bohuslän and Dalarna were held in Ljungskile and Leksand on 6-7 and 20-21 March 1982, respectively. The Emigrant Institute has received a large collection of materials on the Swedes in Texas from the late Carl Starkenberg, Nässjö. * * * An exhibition entitled "A Prairie Vision: The Paintings of Olof 90 Krans," featuring the work of the self-taught painter of the Bishop Hill community in Illinois, together with photographs and handicrafts, was held at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York from 29 September 1982 to 2 January 1983, supported by grants from the Swedish Council of America and the Mobile Corporation. A catalog by curator Merle Glick was printed in the fall issue of The Clarion. * * # As a part of Michigan's "Swedish Heritage Week," 1-10 October 1982, The Cadillac Area Scandinavian Society celebrated a "Swedish Heritage Night" on 4 October in Cadillac, at which Mats Ris and Bent Bentsson of Gothenburg, Sweden, presented their findings on the history of Swedish settlement in the area. * * * A Symposium on Scandinavian Immigration was held at the University of Washington in Seattle on 12-13 November 1982, in connection with the nationwide "Scandinavia Today" program, sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. Titles of the presentations to be given were not available at press time, but participants were to include Ingrid Semmingsen (Norway), Kristian Hvidt (Denmark), Ulf Beijbom (Sweden), Odd Lovoll (U.S.A.), George R. Nielsen (U.S.A.), and H. Arnold Barton (U.S.A.). * * * The latest addition to the "Gammelgården" outdoor museum in Scandia, Minnesota, is the original log sanctuary of the Elim Lutheran Church, built in 1856 and long used for other purposes. After it was moved and reassembled at Gammelgården, it was rededicated on 12 September 1982, in a ceremony attended by Prince Bertil and Princess Lillian of Sweden. * * * At press time, the Swedish-born actress, Viveca Lindfors, was scheduled to perform a new one-woman show, "Anna O," based on the diary of Anna Olesdotter, who emigrated from Sweden to Polk County, Minnesota, in the last century, as well as other stories and poetry by Swedish authors, at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on 15 November 1982. * * * 91 A lecture, "The Divided Heart: Scandinavian Immigrant Artists, 1850-1950," by Mary Towley Swanson, was scheduled for the University Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, on 7 November 1982. * * * The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis announced in October 1982 the appointment of Dr. John Z. Lofgren as executive director, in addition to which he will continue to serve as curator, a position he has held since 1976. A native of Finspång, Sweden, Dr. Lofgren came in 1964 to the United States, where he studied art in California and Oregon. He received his doctorate in art history at the University of Oregon. He has been acting director of the Institute since last year. * * * The Pacific Northwest Danish Cultural Conference was held for the fourth time at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Oregon, overlooking the Columbia River, on 25-27 June 1982. Danish-American, as well as Danish themes were considered. * # # On 7 August 1982, the Stephansson House Historic Site in Markerville, Alberta, was officially dedicated, commemorating Stephan G. Stephansson (1853-1927), who has been hailed as Iceland's greatest poet since the thirteenth century as well as one of Canada's great poets, who homesteaded there from 1889 to 1913. * * * A symposium on "The Norwegian-American Life of Chicago" was held on 23 October 1982 at the Norway Center in Chicago, at which over a dozen experts presented papers on social and cultural topics. * * * Pace University in New York is planning a conference on "The Multi-Ethnic City: Conflict or Synthesis, in American Literature, Society, and History," to be held on 12 and 13 November 1983, and interested scholars are invited to propose papers. Abstracts should be sent to Professor Dorothee von Huene, Department of English, Pace University, Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038, prior to 15 February 1983. * * * 92 Passage Tours of Minneapolis has created a new Heritage Tour Program, focusing upon family ties between Scandinavia and America. Included are programs entitled "Tracing Your Swedish Ancestry" and "Tracing Your Norwegian Ancestry," for which 16-page booklets with these same titles have been prepared, offering tips on family research. For information, contact the Swedish/Norwegian Tourist Office, 75 Rockefeller Center, New York, NY 10019. Tel. 212/582-2802. * * * THE SPHS FALL MEETING, 1982 The Society held its fall meeting at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, on Saturday, 24 September 1982, following the Conference on Swedish-American Research Resources, held at the college on 23-24 September under the co-sponsorship of the Society and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, which many members from far and wide had come early to attend. (See REPORT in this issue.) On the afternoon of Friday, 24 September, a "Pioneer Tour" busload of members from the Chicago area arrived for the weekend, in time to join conference participants, area members, and friends for the closing reception and banquet of the conference, at which Dr. Ulf Beijbom of the Emigrant Institute, Växjö, Sweden, spoke on "Present Progress in Swedish-American Studies." On Saturday, 25 September, many members visited the annual fall festival, "Jordbruksdagarna," in nearby Bishop Hill during the day before returning for the fall banquet at Augustana College. Entertainment was provided by the "Bellman Singers," led by Professor Lars Scott of the Scandinavian Department, and Consul-General Arne Thorén from Chicago commented on the recent Swedish elections. Glen Brolander, president of the SPHS thereupon conferred the Society's fifth Carl Sandburg medal upon Dr. Nils William Olsson, editor of the Swedish-American Genealogist and the Swedish Council News, formerly foreign service officer and director of the American-Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and of the Swedish Council of America, for his long and distinguished contributions to Swedish-American relations and scholarship.

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