Performing a PRESENT from the PAST the Värmland Heritage Gift, Materialized Emotions and Cultural Connectivity

Museum Tusculanum Press :: University of Copenhagen :: www.mtp.dk :: [email protected]

PERfORMING A PRESENT fROM THE PAST The Värmland Heritage Gift, Materialized Emotions and Cultural Connectivity

Lizette Gradén

Drawing on actor-network theory and theories of performance, this article discusses gift-giving as an expansive form of materializing relationships and delimiting boundaries between nations, regions, organizations and individuals in the wake of migration. Initially, I discuss gift-giving as a way of materializing relationships and building networks. Thereafter, I map out the social life of the Värmland Gift to America, a collection donated by the Värmland province in Sweden to the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis in 1952. I suggest the coinage of heritage gift as a term to describe gifts with dense biographies which contain and enact multiple performances that simultaneously create and recreate the idea of gift-giving in its role as an activity that binds people together. The analysis of the Värmland Gift shows how such a heritage gift kept on the move over time involves not one but a series of performances which have fostered dynamic transatlantic relationships for over fifty years.

Keywords : gift-giving, heritage gift, performance, transnational relationships, emigration

On April 1, 2009, the Värmland Gift to America Swedish Institute (ASI) in Minneapolis in 1952. The 1952 took center stage as an exhibition at the royal gift was made with the intention of providing the inauguration of the Swedish American Center in 140,000 people from Värmland who emigrated to Karlstad, Sweden. Among the participating guests the United States between 1850 and 1930 and their were politicians, museum directors, representatives descendants with “in-depth material history that of municipalities, representatives from the US em- they lack in America”1 – a goal that indicates a per- bassy, and cultural organizations commemorating spective of the United States as a place of modernity emigration from Sweden and Norway to the Unit- where history is to be provided from back home, and ed States. The exhibition presented an example of provincial Sweden as the provider of such. In addi- transatlantic heritage; 300 objects, 250 books, and tion to gifts selected by each parish – fine art, craft, 3,000 greetings were assembled by 1,000 individuals design, utility objects, literature and photographs in about 100 parishes, coordinated by the Histori- – the Historical Association of Värmland had in- cal Association of Värmland, debated in the Swed- cluded a bridal crown as a gift from the province as ish press, and eventually presented to the American a whole. The exhibition in 2009 restaged this 1952

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Ethnoologia Europaea :: Journal of European Ethnology 40:2 E-journal Copyright © 2010 Ethnologia Europaea, Copenhagen :: ISBN 987 87 635 3792 6 :: ISSN 1604 3030 http://www.mtp.hum.ku.dk/details.asp?eln=300294 Museum Tusculanum Press :: University of Copenhagen :: www.mtp.dk :: [email protected]

gift-giving performance. The restaged 2009 version subject of gift-giving is vast and includes organ do- contains multiple performances. These raise ques- nation, birthday presents as well as loaves of bread, tions about the malleable relationship between ob- my aim is to provide a study of gift-giving as the nex- ject, giver, recipient and the “thing” at stake. us of ordinary people whose donations are kept in Material gift exchange becomes important when museums, the museums themselves and their staff. Nordic cultural heritage takes center stage as a com- The example of the Värmland Gift is drawn from modity for sale. Central premises for this study are my ongoing research on gift-giving as an expansive that cultural heritage can be described as culture se- form for materializing relationships. This particular lected in the present and projected into the past (Kir- study has grown from my experience in curatorial shenblatt-Gimlett 1998: 7, 149) and that materializa- work and previous studies of transfers and transfor- tions are stylized expressions of who we are (Miller mations of material culture through transnational 1987: 215, 2005; cf. Damsholt 2009: 9–39; Otto 2009: journeys (Gradén 2003, 2004). Here I engage new 143–174). Based on these premises, heritage solidi- theoretical perspectives. fies contemporary perceptions of our past into ma te- Drawing on new theories of materialization, actor- rial culture and such materialized heritage is apt to network theory and performance, I suggest the term reconfigure processes of inclusion and exclusion as “heritage gift” to describe gifts that are singular- relevant to present circumstances.2 In relation to ized by reproduction of their specific biographies. discussions on regional identity in the Nordic coun- The presentations I have observed show that herit- tries (cf. Aronsson 1995; Häggström 2000; Olwig & age gifts are carefully selected. These objects invoke Jones 2008), I take an interest in how communities multifaceted emotions and aspirations in series of such as the national and Nordic are challenged or performances. These performances in turn create strengthened by gift-exchange. The Värmland Gift and recreate the idea of gift-giving as an activity that collection emerges as a particularly interesting case binds people together. In this exchange of gift-giving as values, by definition, are condensed in it through performances, the selected things are transformed careful selection, a process amplified when the col- into potential objects of identity through their (in- lection is presented as a gift. ter)acting that incorporates and constitutes the The purpose of this study of the Värmland Gift is building of transnational networks. In their most to analyze gift-giving as part of a cultural economy, tight-knit forms these networks take on an air of where the performance of cultural difference be- clubs or fraternities. comes an enrichment, and the tension between the local, regional and national an asset. What do cul- Grasping Things: Gift-Giving and the tural gifts actually do? How does gift-giving connect Materialization of Relationships people and locations that are separated geographi- There is a profound relationship between “the mate- cally? How do gift-giving performances delimit cul- rial” and gift-giving.3 That things, just like humans, tural boundaries over time? These questions have have biographies is stated by anthropologist Igor guided my inquiry into the poetics and politics of Kopytoff. He shows that these biographies are longer gift-giving propelled by kin and migration. and more complex in cultures where barter and recy- Cultural gifts are more meaningful than other cling is common (Kopytoff 1986: 67). He also points gifts because they are invested with emotion, con- out that an object may be viewed as a commodity sideration and imagination. Tangible gifts are more in one situation but not in another, or viewed both meaningful than other gifts because they literally as commodity and object of exchange in the same change hands and therefore have the potential of situation. I build on this perspective when I study emotionally touching the lives of people who handle gift-giving. them. These notions of materialized gifts are true to On a general level, gift giving is an act that holds people I have worked with in this study. Whereas the the promise of furthering relationships. Gift-giving

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has a long history entwined with ritual performanc- for exchanging gifts but that the ultimate reason is es as well as everyday life through mundane acts. Be- to create a cement for society (Mauss 1990). When tween these two types of gift-giving there exist many applied to the Värmland Gift, the ideas conveyed other forms of gift-giving situations. These share the by Mauss shed light on the strategic and competitive feature of being defined by the givers and recipients aspects that the exchange of heritage gifts seems to who participate, but also by powers beyond the im- entail. By giving more than their American relatives mediate participants. Thus, gift-giving plays a role have given them, the inhabitants of Värmland may in shaping and regulating relationships between in- expect to win increased respect both from the recipi- dividuals, families, regions, and nations in macro- ents and from their competitors. economic structures in the post-industrial era, as The art of gift-giving is also culturally specific. the American economists Cele Otnes and Richard It matters how the gift is packaged and presented Beltramini (1996; cf. Komter 1996) demonstrate in and by whom.6 Many studies on gift-exchange are their research overview. concerned with social distinction and notably, sev- However, the idea of gift-giving as a means of eral recent studies have been carried out in Japan, furthering relationships is not new. The idea of reci- where gift-giving is highly elaborate and an overt procity, in particular, has its own heritage. Within part of professional relationships. The anthropolo- the Nordic realm, the principle for generating rela- gist Katherine Rupp, for example, demonstrates how tionships through reciprocity appears for example gift-exchange plays an important role in people’s in the Poetic Edda. It says: ”with weapons and weeds social mobility in contemporary Japanese culture, should friends be won, as one can see in themselves, and that there is a very fine line between bribery and those who give to each other will be friends once they gift exchange that one needs to master to move in a meet half way” (The Poetic Edda [1928] 1962: 40).4 In desired direction (Rupp 2003). Studies carried out a similar vein, anthropologist Marcel Mauss’ analy- in Europe show that gift exchange has furthered re- sis of the relationship between gift and community lationships among the British aristocracy (Rosenthal demonstrates that reciprocal gift-giving maintains 1972; Ben-Amos 2008). In Scandinavia the studies and furthers moral relationships, builds trust, and of gifts seem limited to baptismal, betrothal and fosters solidarity (Mauss 1990: 39–46). In the view wedding gifts, which played a key role with regards then held, the gift stands in opposition to the com- to social recognition in peasant culture (Hagström modity, the aim of which is to create financial profit. 2006; Kjellman 1979). Drawing on objects from a As mentioned earlier when stating that things may region marked by migration cultural diversity, the have biographies, this distinction has become a lit- Värmland Gift seems to have successfully fostered a tle blurred. Commodities are understood not as a long-term relationship between its givers in Värm- particular category but as things moving through land and its recipients in Minnesota through repeat- various regimes of value, an approach that makes ed exhibitions and ritual performances. the relationship between gift and commodity more When the donors in Värmland selected the Amer- fleeting and flexible (Appadurai 1986: 3–63; Kopy- ican Swedish Institute as the host for their eclectic toff 1986: 64–91; Miller 2001: 91–118).5 Although gift, they both tapped into and contributed to a long anthropologist Marcel Mauss’ analysis of the rela- history of giving gifts to museums. Gifts were in- tionship between gift-exchange as a moral act and strumental in the founding of the cabinet of curiosity, the making of community has been questioned collections of objects whose categorical boundaries (Derrida 1992: 14; cf. Miller 2001: 91–118), I suggest were yet to be drawn by scientists. Insofar the Värm- that his idea can be fruitfully applied to the rela- land Gift resembles such a collection. The objects of tionship between cultural institutions and their do- these collections were theatrically presented and the nors, as discussed in the introduction to this article. visitor could walk through the display, making his Mauss’ work shows that there is a myriad of reasons own path and conclusions. A well-known example

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from northern Europe is the collection created by lanthropy (White 1995), commissioned gifts seem to the Dane Ole Worm (cf. Hafstein 2003). Following be an expansive form of materializing relationships the cabinet of curiosities as a form of collection and in the business of culture. The giving of gifts associ- display, many collections in museums of cultural ated with heritage may therefore be understood as history in northern Europe were originally gifts. In part of a cultural economy where the performance of Sweden, some of these were expensive treasures from cultural differences becomes enrichment. residents of authority and monetary wealth and donated by philanthropists in commemoration of their Networks and Heritage Gifts owners. Other gifts, however, had divergent biogra- Moving from the view where it is obvious that people phies, as reflected by the lists of gifts published in the attribute meaning to objects (see Appadurai 1986) Nordic museum’s annual Fataburen until the 1970s.7 to the performative approach, allows me to unfold One of the most prominent examples of gift-gener- how gifts that people compose also compose people. ated collections is Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, When the Värmland Gift appears before an audi- a repository for official and unofficial gifts to the ence at the ASI and at the Swedish American Center, Swedish royal family, such as the wedding presents this activity is preceded by earlier acts. To speak in to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel West- the words of Bruno Latour, one of the promoters of ling. actor-network theory, social meaning is produced in It is interesting that the same gesture of gift-giving networks of human and non-human actors. Accord- is chosen to strengthen ties between emigrants and ing to Latour, “anything that does modify a state of their homeland. While gift-giving continues to play affairs by making a difference is an actor” (Latour an important role as an extension of the giver in phi- 2005: 7, cf. 1998), and he continues: “even though it might mean letting in elements which, for a lack of a better term, we would call non-humans” (Latour 2005: 72, cf. 1998). Thus, human and non-human actors together create the reality we are part of and relate to. If we follow Latour, the gift may be seen as an actor – an entity with agency to set further action into motion. For example, when the Värmland Gift collection generally hosted in Minneapolis was turned into an exhibition in Karlstad, the selection of exhibited objects was based on conservatory con- ditions, the size of the gallery, and available funds for shipment and exhibit installation. Moreover, the selection of the Värmland Gift to play the role of the inaugural exhibition at the Swedish American Cent- er was generated by the fact that it once originated and was put together in this province. Thus, when the glass vase plays the star role in the Värmland Gift exhibition at the royal inauguration of the Swedish American Center in Karlstad it Ill. 1: The bridal crown is a replica of the bridal crown in should be viewed as a consequence of a collective ef- Karlstad Cathedral and was commissioned by the Histori- fort, not as the cause of such collective work (Latour cal Association. It was designed by the artist Oscar Jons- 1998: 45). When the ASI gives the vase as a return son and crafted by goldsmith Thure Ahlgren, both from Värmland. Its material is silver with gold filigree and inset gift for the bridal crown of 1952, it also evokes the gemstones. (Photo: Lizette Gradén) role of the bridal crown as a return gift. The docu-

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mentation that accompanies the Gift in 1952 bears by the Soviet Russians to the Polish people. Giving witness to thoughts of transatlantic space, created and receiving heritage gifts is thus a performance through acts of reciprocity. According to the gift- that can be potentially used to strengthen a variety givers, the Värmland Gift and its bridal crown are to of relationships, and show that the distinctions be- be viewed as return gifts to family and friends over- tween heritage gifts, bribes and patronage may be seas in exchange for the numerous American pack- complicated.10 Whereas these gifts are monumental ages (Amerikapaket) consisting of coffee and other and single, collections are assembled over time and goods that were rationed in Sweden and Norway across space, suggesting multilayered relationships. during the Second World War. The idea of reciproc- In the United States, several institutions per- ity is articulated in this thought, which gives the col- forming Nordic culture can be described as effects lection exchange value (cf. Appadurai 1986). Thus, of gifts. The Turnblad Mansion, which became the on one level, the collection is equated with the huge American Swedish Institute in 1929, was explic- number of coffee cans which came to play a central itly a gift to the “Swedish people in Minnesota and role in the everyday life of Swedes and Norwegians their descendants” from Småland immigrant and during the war years. If the ASI did not provide the newspaper publisher Swan J. Turnblad.11 The man- Värmland Gift collection for the inaugural exhibi- sion, originally Turnblad’s home, was reframed as a tion of the Swedish American Center and present the space where Swedish culture – literature, arts, crafts glass vase as a return gift for the bridal crown, the and music – could be developed, and later as a place story of close connectivity through gift-giving in the where Swedish American culture would be collect- past and present would lack content. ed. In a similar vein, Artur Hazelius, founder of the Viewed as a collective effort to connect places by Nordic Museum and the open-air museum Skansen materializing new spaces, the Värmland Gift collec- in Stockholm, Sweden, presented the collections as a tion resembles diplomatic gifts extended from one gift to the “people of Sweden” (Medelius, Nyström & nation to another. Many monuments (cf. Frykman Stavenow-Hidemark 1998). Turnblad and Hazelius & Ehn 2007) are gifts. Perhaps the most recognized both envisioned their institutions as monuments of gift is the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, Swedish culture but also as spaces where their deeds a gift of friendship from the people of France to the and dedications could be reproduced and recipro- people of the United States and a universal symbol of cated as performances. freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was In a less overt way, gift-exchange also plays a role dedicated on October 28, 1886, designated a Nation- in materializing sister-city relationships. Founded in al Monument in 1924 and restored for her centennial 1956 as a result of President Eisenhower’s call, sister on July 4, 1986. A regional example is the kinsmen cities were an attempt to assist US cities reaching out monument in Rottneros, Värmland, as a symbol of to communities in enemy countries during the Sec- the Finnish immigration to Värmland in the 17th ond World War. Cities in the Nordic countries were century and the emigration from Värmland to the among the first to embrace the idea of sister-city re- United States. The inscription on its base reads: “In lationships.12 commemoration of the connection with our kins- The Värmland Gift, however, challenges the idea men to the west and to the east of the waters.”8 The of a monument or permanent symbol of recognition monument was dedicated on June 22, 1953, and re- such as sister-city agreements. Instead its continued mains a site for ritual performances commemorat- movement and cumulative biography emerge as cen- ing emigration.9 These diplomatic gifts come with tral. Building on Marcel Mauss’ concept of the gift more or less overt expectations of receiving some- as a thing that can bind people together, and com- thing in return. One European example where the bining this thought with the assumption that objects expectations of return-gifts are more overt is the become inalienable through appropriation and so- Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw, extended cialization (Appadurai 1986; Miller 2001), this par-

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ticular heritage gift enables a shared transregional formance in the two locales, I draw on the stud- space to emerge through repeated performances. ies of performance-scholar Richard Bauman, who Like diplomatic gifts, this heritage gift communi- characterizes performance as displays of expressive cates specific cultural competence, including local competence. This sense of performance focuses on knowledge. Such sensitivity to context amplifies cul- form and composition (Bauman 1992), in this case tural recognition, connectivity and collaboration. on how gifts and gift-giving are carried out, and how It enables the smallest community or institution to they relate to life outside of the performance itself establish an international profile.13 The gift-giving (cf. Patraka 1999: 91). acts as performance emerge as a method of negotiat- Performance is also understood here as stylized ing reciprocation. communication that takes place front stage, following Goffman (1990), that is, in rooms that are ac- Gift-Giving as Performance cessible to the public to a greater or lesser extent. Knowing how to give and receive gifts in transna- Museum exhibitions and the public events that are tional relationships is to be understood as perform- linked to them are obviously part of the front stage. ances of intercultural competence. The exhibiting In this study, however, I also consider performances of the Värmland Gift takes place in two different that take place in other areas where the objects are locales, Värmland in Sweden and Minnesota in the handled – rooms considered backstage for the mu- United States, and the exhibitions and their two cen- seum visitor. In these backstage areas, participants tral objects, the bridal crown and the vase, may be in the study and I, the researcher, take on roles as viewed from the viewpoint of performance. Draw- collaborating actors (cf. Snellman, this volume) per- ing on the works of Richard Schechner, I understand forming on stages, adding yet another dimension to performance as an activity that is framed, presented, the drama studied. highlighted, and displayed (Schechner 2006: 2) – an A further understanding of performance is where activity marked by a physical and temporal begin- activities are repeated over time to the point that they ning and end. Understood as such, any event and are taken for granted. This understanding builds on action can be studied “as” performance (ibid.: 38, Judith Butler’s concept of performativity, defined as 40; cf. Goffman 1990: 15–16; Gunnell, this volume), an endless effect of practice, which also defines the and this is also the case for gift-giving. Thus there position from which it is being performed (Butler are two kinds of performance at work here: the cul- 1993; Damsholt 2009; cf. Schechner 1993). View- tural institution where objects interact with viewers ing people’s actions as performative allows us to see and then the fact that gift-giving is an act, here ap- that the same process of making meaning as in ex- proached as a ritual performance, which integrates plicit performance is present also in the continuum thought and hands-on action (Schechner 1993, of everyday life. The ASI and the Swedish American 2006: 57). When studied as performance, gift-giving Center take responsibility for how the Värmland and gifts both reflect and generate social, cultural, Gift is framed, while the institutions’ physical and technical and economic circumstances beyond what financial circumstances and conventions affect the takes place on stage. As this framing varies with con- selection and framing. Over time the stylized and text and situation (Schechner 2006: 240; cf. Gun- repeated gift-giving performances emerge as perfor- nell, this volume), it is fruitful to study gift-giving mative, as actors that set people, objects and organi- and gifts because these contain and enact multiple zations in motion. In this sense the Värmland Gift performances presented in various places, at vari- can be understood as a network of performances; ous times and in various situations. I understand the objects are gifts that serve to underline the fact the Värmland Gift exhibition and collection as two that the exhibition is in itself a gift, with an added kinds of practiced performance.14 meaning that it is not limited to the locale, but also To further understand these two senses of per- includes the givers.

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Performing a Transnational Bond United States of America. The gift is a mark of – Being Part of the World friendship from the old home of the forefathers. The reproduction of the Värmland Gift’s symbolic It is an expression of the wish to maintain the af- value takes place in complex processes of re-charg- finity between American and Swedish citizens of ing. The collection may be understood as inalienable the same origin. through the act of repeated performances. When the Värmland Gift was given to the ASI in Minneapo- The letter of intent may be interpreted as the gift- lis in 1952 and exhibited before an audience, objects givers’ performance of fear to be left in oblivion by such as grave markers from Ekshärad, ceramics from relatives and friends who had created new lives for Arvika, glass from Eda, birch-bark shoes from Rita- themselves in the United States. After all, Värmland mäki, linen from Klässbol, Easter witches, spinning had lost a quarter of its population to emigration wheels, folk costumes, statues, photo albums from between 1869 and 1930, an emigration that divided the local Coop store, the collected works by local au- families and households. The letter of intent also thors Erik Gustaf Geijer, Selma Lagerlöf and Gustaf conveys an image of the United States as the hub of Fröding as well as the bridal crown appeared in a modernization and novelty, in need of a material novel light. history with roots that run deeper than that provid- While these objects bear witness to their mak- ed by the American soil. The Värmland Gift materi- ers, users and givers, the collection itself and its alizes an image of such roots. exhibition perform the current relationships at the As recounted in the exhibition in Karlstad in 2009, institutions that host them, articulated through the the stories about how the collection came about vary. physical assemblage and conceptual framing of the One of the most cited versions say that Carl Fredrik objects (cf. Butler 1993). Collected by local histori- Hellström, the Swedish Consul General in Minnea- cal associations in the parishes and assembled by polis, and Sigurd Gustavson, secretary of the His- the Historical Association in Värmland into the torical Association of Värmland, together conceived Värmland Gift collection, these objects drew up of the Gift as a way to demonstrate the good rela- connections between networks of for example, craft, tions between Värmland and the United States. The art, manor culture, peasant culture, Christian and idea captivated Värmland’s governor, Axel Westling, pre-Christian culture and created something new. and in October 1951 he invited every parish in the The donors’ objects that people had crafted, inher- province to participate. The friendship gift became ited or lived with, anchored the gift on an individual a popular movement throughout Värmland. Coordi- level. In a Swedish-American museum setting, these nated by Sigurd Gustavson, the committee of repre- objects become potential symbols of identity to the sentatives from Värmland’s approximately 100 par- visitors and staff who interact with them. There ishes collected the Gift, having involved more than were probably a multitude of emotions involved in 1,000 individuals in materializing the Gift through making the Värmland Gift in Värmland. Suddenly, making and selecting objects. The objects selected individuals in every parish could feel like actors on from the parishes became actors in the play of heri- a global stage when selecting and sending a concrete tage and reflected the complexity of life in Värmland object across the Atlantic. The gift-givers’ overarch- on a global stage. In hindsight it is noteworthy that in ing state of mind was summed up in the letter of in- a similar manner objects from provinces were select- tent that accompanied the gift. The letter of intent ed as building blocks when Artur Hazelius conceived reads as follows: of what later became the Nordic museum to reflect the Swedish nation internationally. Inhabitants in all parishes, cities and towns of the The Värmland Gift was not without controversy province of Värmland in Sweden send greetings at the outset. People involved in making and collect- with a gift to citizens of Värmland lineage in the ing the objects, of course, appreciated the concept of

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the Gift, including its complexity. As the exhibition a key role as performance of pride and appreciation in Karlstad demonstrated, some promoters of Swed- to the recipients. Once the Gift arrived in Minnea- ish culture, including those working abroad, reacted polis in 1952, it was given a room of its own on the strongly to the initiative of the Värmlanders to pro- top floor of the building where it was displayed in vide their relatives and friends in the United States its entirety, organized by parish, and accompanied with the collection of artifacts from the province. only by object labels, seemingly needing no further According to, for example, Albin Widén, a collec- explanation. tion from Sweden in America should promote fine Presented at the ASI, the Värmland Gift appeared art and craft and downplay peasant culture, as a as a collection of examples. In a similar way as we performative act favoring high-brow culture and a may walk through a cabinet of wonder or a city (cf. modern nation state.15 Österlund-Pötzsch, this volume), the visitor to this The altercation over the Värmland Gift thus re- version of the Värmland Gift exhibition could me- flected different performances of heritage. In the ander from one object to the other, from parish to mid-twentieth century, museums in the Nordic parish and connect them and creatively make them countries often presented their collections from a part of their own individual performances of the nineteenth-century view of “peasant” and upper- past. class cultures. For example, provincial costumes, Upon receiving the Gift in 1952, the museum everyday pottery, and religious objects were classi- hosted a gathering of Swedish Americans and in- fied by region and unattributed to maker or donor vited guests from Värmland who had coordinated (“man’s folk costume, Östervallskog Parish, Värm- the Gift. The ceremonies included a presentation of land province”), whereas objects from the upper class the Gift in the Turnblad Mansion, a banquet, pri- were classified chronologically and always identified vate parties, and receptions, and culminated in the with owners and donors (Bronze statue, “The Sheaf visiting Värmland delegation being featured at Sven- Binder”, Christian Eriksson, bequest 1952 of Ölme skarnas Dag in Minneapolis, a performance within Parish). The Värmland Gift includes objects from a performance of one of the major festivals in the both spheres, which made it an intercultural per- United States for Swedish immigrants and their de- formance (Schechner 2006: 315) that became a cause scendants. It also involved a wedding in which the of controversy at the time (cf. the project of Samdok crown played a key role as performance of embodied 20 years later; see Snellman, this volume). Regard- heritage (Gradén 2010). While these performances less of where the idea for the Värmland Gift origi- are effects of the Värmland Gift, these performanc- nated, the organizers simultaneously drew attention es simultaneously play key roles in solidifying the to Värmland in the past and present performed as a Värmland Gift’s status as a heritage gift; they add to place different from the rest of Sweden based on its the singularization of the crown and growing biog- cultural diversity and migration history.16 Through raphy of the Värmland Gift. ritual performances based on kin, Värmland was At the ASI, the Värmland Gift has since the in- expanded beyond the province’s physical borders to auguration in 1952 been displayed throughout the include Värmlanders in the United States. Turnblad Mansion. Restaged in 1996, the exhibition presented the province of Värmland instead of each Small Things Matter – the Art parish and labels recounting the gift-giving cer- of Performing Return Gifts emony were added. In 2002, the ASI organized the For its givers in Värmland, the Värmland Gift played fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Värmland Gift a key role in materializing feelings both of loss and in Minneapolis. The three-day celebration brought debt of gratitude. It also expanded Värmland be- together 120 artists and official representatives from yond its physical borders to include kin in the United Värmland and thousands of Swedish Americans States. In the United States, the same gift has played for a renewed exhibition of the Värmland Gift. The

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Ill. 2: Display of the Värmland Gift at the American Swedish Institute in 1952. (Photo: The American Swedish Institute collection)

Värmland Jubilee can be seen as another return gift, was standing there and I came over and probably a performance that revitalizes the ties between Min- yelled out loud, which he found amusing, “Look, nesota and Värmland, and augments networks by here are Samuel’s pieces!” I was in wonder. I had including descendants of those who once gave the many questions. How did this happen? Who had Gift, such as ceramicist Ulla Nilsson from Värmland made the selection? The Värmland Gift was com- in Sweden. About her encounter with her relative pletely new to me! Samuel Johansson’s pieces in a display case at the ASI, she said: In ceramicist Ulla Nilsson’s depiction of her encounter with the display of her relatives’ ceramic pieces, At the time I didn’t know anything about the the Gift invoked wonder, like in a modern cabinet Värmland Gift. It was like a review of all the par- of curiosity, through which she made her own path ishes in Värmland, of all parish names in Värm- based on kin and material expertise. Moreover, her land. And there were pieces that had been donated depiction demonstrates that the descendants of the which I recognised. From Arvika, there were lots artists who once contributed to the Värmland Gift of ceramic pieces that my relatives had made (…) had lost contact with it. The exhibition of the Värm- So we were standing there in front of the display land Gift in Minneapolis in 2002 re-charged this cases. Yes, there are lots of ceramics here. I knew relationship by showcasing the objects. Thus, the that [Värmland’s Governor] Ingemar Eliasson objects were made to perform in a new way. was moving through the exhibit with his wife. He Taken together these acts can be understood as

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return gifts to descendants of people in Sweden that Swedish-Americans today feel an even greater who took part in assembling the Gift in 1952 and an need for even closer connections with their roots extension of networks that participants have spun in Sweden. As this world grows increasingly more around them. In the Swedish-American museum complex and operates with quickening pace, there setting, these objects from Sweden are transformed is a growing yearning among Swedish-Americans into symbols of ethnic identity. For emigrants from for this connection.17 Värmland and their descendants, the Värmland Gift is a tangible reminder of their old homeland. When While Karstadt’s scripted speech marked a climax exhibited and viewed, the Värmland Gift is trans- of the Värmland Gift inaugural dinner, its con- formed into symbols of provincial or local identity, tent seemed to sum up emotions and spontaneous a sense of history that is both foreign and familiar performances that permeated the entire process of and that gives contour to peoples’ identification as making the exhibition. Swedish. To visitors from Sweden the objects are re- When preparing the Värmland Gift’s pilgrimage minders of the Swedishness of their American cous- and homecoming to Sweden, a volunteer at the ASI ins as well as their own materialized presence in the made a point of telling a staff member that he looked United States. To ASI visitors in general, the Värm- forward to the Gift returning from Värmland. He land Gift displays analogies of their own migration thought the celebration over there would strengthen stories whether being first generation immigrant or many museummembers’ ties to Sweden regardless descendants of immigrants, primarily from north- of where their families came from: “A gift so large, ern Europe. so unusual, and so heartfelt must be taken into ac- Among the leadership, members and staff of the count.” ASI today, this fifty-year-old gift remains a topic of When summing up the installation of the exhibi- conversation. In his speech at the inaugural dinner tion of the Värmland Gift in Karlstad, several per- of the Swedish American Center and the exhibition formances backstage (Goffman 1990) highlighted Värmland Gift to America 1952, Bruce Karstadt, pride and honor on being selected part of the team CEO of the American Swedish Institute, said: and trusted to work with these objects.

The Institute’s relationship with Värmland took Joel Pieper, contractor with ASI for 15 years, said: on a very special meaning in 1952 with the presentation of Varmlandsgåvan, the Värmland Gift. Being asked to go to Sweden with this particular This “friendship gift” of more than 300 objects collection was an acknowledgement of my aes- and books constitutes the largest donation ever thetic and technical skill (…) and being in Swe- made to the Institute’s collections. Its presentation den gave me a rare opportunity to get to know a in June 1952 by a delegation from Värmland led by culture outside my own, work with Swedish peo- Governor Axel Westling was a singular milestone ple as part of the same team, with the same goals, in the history of this museum. (…) over the years, challenges and deadlines and work as a group to the Swedish American community has changed. accomplish our shared mission to display this This is inevitable, as the distance between the unique collection again. early immigrants and later generations has grown in length. One could fear that this distance, cou- Curt Pederson, curator at ASI, described his involve- pled with the dramatic social changes happen- ment in this way: ing in America and throughout the world, con- stitute a threat to the close ties between Sweden Although I do not share a direct lineage connec- and those of Swedish descent. However, there is tion to Värmland [indirect by marriage] or the much evidence to support a different view, being gift, I was pulled in by the gravity of this entire

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piece. I look back on my involvement, directly consideration, the choice to “perform” the province working with the gift itself for many years at ASI of Värmland rather than Sweden probably contrib- and installing it at the Swedish American Center, uted to the Värmland Gift’s success at the ASI at this and relationships formed as a result. Yes, this gift time. Framed as regional, the Gift included craft spe- has a greater capacity than a gift in general. I sus- cific to the descendants of Forest Finns who settled in pect the in-depth-value, and potential, of such Värmland in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, gifts are not always realized, utilized and appreci- textiles from the Norwegian border and books about ated. the activity at Bofors, a weapon industry in the province.20 In hindsight, the Värmland Gift, as the largest After more than fifty years, the Värmland Gift donation to the ASI, contributed to the institution’s continues to play a central role for the museum growing role as a museum, where people could expe- leadership, the members of the museum, its staff rience universal themes such as migration and places and related contractors. The Gift invokes feelings of home. As such the ASI performed the heritage of of thankfulness, pride, honor and connectivity. As Swedish descendants in America, whereas the do- the curator and contractor point out, the Gift gen- nation of the Värmland Gift performed glimpses of erates increased knowledge about location, extends contemporary culture in the areas from which their networks and create new relationships. This also ap- parents and grandparents had come.21 plies to me as researcher of the Värmland Gift and member of the exhibition production team.18 As the Keeping the Gift on the Move largest donation ever to the ASI, the Värmland Gift A gift must be reciprocated to advance relationships. becomes a leading actor in the play of transnational When applied to the Värmland Gift, the question heritage which the museum is to perform. It shows becomes what reciprocation of such a gift requires. how a gift given in 1952 has generated multiple per- If someone receives a gift and refrains from giving formances, which create and recreate relationships something in return, it will be a choice that creates over time and across geographic distances. an unfavorable position in the eye of the one who The ritual performances of gift-giving seem to first extended a gift (Mauss 1990). In other words, emerge in times marked by ambivalence, when rela- to accept gifts means to take on an obligation of also tionships are at stake. In the United States, and due giving a gift, to foster solidarity. I have suggested to the frosty relations between the United States and that ASI’s caring for and exhibiting the Värmland Sweden during the Second World War, the Värmland Gift can be viewed as a return gift, understood as Gift was granted a particular cultural and diplomatic an act of solidarity with the donors, and an act of status. Moreover, the time when the Värmland Gift respect towards immigrants from Sweden and their was donated to the ASI coincides with a time of ex- descendants, for which the Gift was explicitly in- pansion for the museums established by immigrants tended. themselves to collect and display mementos of the While having the collection on show creates a de- great emigration from the Nordic countries. As gree of reciprocity, leaving it at that would keep the highlighted in the ASI eightieth anniversary exhibi- relationship at the status quo. Developing a relation- tion in 2009, “between 1941 and 1945, the Institute’s ship into a dynamic and long-lasting one requires ability to interact with Sweden was made difficult by further acts that can be observed and recognized the war. Its image was complicated by the reactions by both the Swedish and the American sides. The of some to Sweden’s (so-called) neutrality. Many following performance is thus an effect of previous Americans and Swedish-Americans alike could not ones. understand how the country could stand outside the At the inauguration of the Swedish American struggle against the Nazis.”19 Taking the strained re- Center, the ASI ceremonially presented a 60 cm tall lationship between Sweden and the United States into glass vase to “the people of the province Värmland”.

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While all other gifts to the Swedish American Center and Minnesota, involving both nature and objects were presented following the inauguration speeches from the collection. They chose to work in the grail in the auditorium, the presentation of the vase was technique because according to them the technique reserved for when His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf itself, the layered glass technique, best emphasized and Queen Silvia were ushered through the inaugu- the heritage-making process. Its layers, separated ral exhibition. The presentation, carried out by the yet merged, highlight the vase’s materiality, creating ASI’s President and CEO, highlighted the vase as a depth, representing time and space, with the past return gift for the Värmland Gift to the ASI in 1952, encapsulated in the present. In Andrea Blum’s story and as an attempt to match the artistic quality and about the selection process of making the piece she symbolic value of the bridal crown, the key object of declares that: the original gift; this can be seen as an incantation in which gift-giving as a ritual performance emerges On the interior, a clear layer incorporates expand- as a creative force in the dialogue between two time ed silver and gold leaf, symbolizes the promised periods, two countries, two places, two cultural in- richness of the new land. The background color stitutions, two objects. of deep blue symbolizes the lakes common to The vase took center stage in the 2009 exhibit. both Värmland and Minnesota. In the next in- As a result, a long series of complex and symboli- terior layer symbols are drawn from objects in cally charged ritual performances unfolded.22 One the collection: the eagle, the wrought iron cem- of the stories brought to the fore was materialized etery cross, the folk art horse, and the family tree in the room next to the vase and dedicated to the representing the Värmland Gift and the life left bridal crown, the key gift from 1952, described as behind when the Värmland emigrants moved to ”an emblem of a desire that the ties between Ameri- Minnesota. The exterior incorporates trees, wheat can and Swedish citizens of the same tribe shall be and corn, representing the timber and farming in- joined generation after generation.”23 The crown was dustries, the two predominant occupations of the positioned at the center of the room, surrounded by emigrants upon arrival in Minnesota. 24 labels and photographs presenting its American biography highlighting the gift-giving act in 1952 as a The artists’ close study of both of the collection of wedding ceremony. Along with its placing in a dis- objects and the landscapes gives this gift a particu- play case lit by fiber optics, the exhibition’s presenta- larly rich potential to perform long-lasting relation- tion of the crown’s biography singularize it (Kopy- ships through which places are connected. Just as toff 1986; cf. Gradén 2010), renews it and contributes the bridal crown was created out of silver and gold to its aura of being “different” from other objects in filigree and gemstones, the vase is created from the exhibition. When brought together in the same material that is transformative. Made from sand, exhibition, the bridal crown and the vase underline water, fire, and air this particular glass vase is si- that the exhibition in Minneapolis in 1952 and the multaneously transparent and opaque, sustainable exhibition in Karlstad in 2009 were both seen as re- and fragile. Shaped into an object, the gift from turn gifts. the Minnesotans to the Värmlanders is rich in vis- The vase itself brings to mind the characteristics ible symbolism, created in layers compressing space of a kaleidoscope or a concretized slideshow, which and time – characteristics that were also true for the recompose selected images and highlights the art- crown. Although the crown and the vase were cre- ists’ practice as performance. In 2008, when the ated to be used as gifts, they refer to performances glass designers Warren Olson and Andrea Blum of different kinds. Furthermore, just as a play has a were commissioned to create a vase for the people of climax, the climax of the 1952 gift was the crown, a Värmland, they thought the vase should clearly il- ritual performance that is repeated in the ASI’s giv- lustrate the multiple connections between Värmland ing of the glass vase.

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The invocation is the core of the work of the artist that it is witnessed by Swedish royalty and invited according to the curator Lewis Hyde as he discusses guests. Such multilayered ritual performance fos- pieces of art as gifts (2007: 4). This is evident in the ters connectivity (Schechner 1993, 2006: 57). For performance of gift-giving as well. Cultural compe- both parties – the ASI and the Swedish American tence goes beyond professional skill and artistic tal- Center – the receiving and returning of the Värm- ent and includes intuition and emotional presence. land Gift is a competitive act that strengthens the The crown and the vase, both commissioned pieces ties that bind, and each exchange seems to offer the of craft, are transformed into inalienable objects possibility of furthering the networks invoked when through their detailed personification (Miller 2001) the Värmland Gift was originally made. Accord- and socialization into the network of Värmlanders ing to the director of the Swedish American Center, in Sweden and the United States. Similarly, the at- the choice to “perform” the Värmland presence in tention to detail, including when selecting artists, Minnesota in Karlstad was a success. The exhibition demonstrates the gift-giver’s degree of cultural com- attracted more than 5,000 visitors in 2009 of which petence. a great number were descendants to the original There seems to be two ways of returning the gift-givers.25 While the Swedish American Center Värmland Gift: the on-going honor of displaying a performed the Värmland Gift as part of a Värmland gift and the concept of echoing the original gift. A heritage in America, the Värmland Gift performed third way is to keep the gift on the move by com- gift-giving as an emerging form of contemporary missioning brand new return gifts which echo the cultural economy, connecting cultural institutions artistic quality and materiality of previous gifts. In and ordinary people in the United States and Swe- the light of Marcel Mauss’ theory of gift exchange, den. the glass vase emerges as a catalyst for a phase in the reciprocal exchange and cultural competition be- Materializing Emotions: Composing and tween two institutions, two regions and two coun- Recomposing Cultural Connectivity tries to expand their networks and strengthen their In this article I have suggested the term “heritage positions within the increasingly global cultural gift”, exploring the role of material gift-giving as economy. part of a cultural economy. This specific part of such Recent studies have suggested that commissioned an economy reaches beyond a market with visible art should be viewed as commodities because such transactions of sponsorship and grants, to a form art is exchanged for money (Timm & Waade 2010). of exchange where gift-giving performances take This view is challenged when commissioned art and center stage. The purpose has been to draw atten- craft is entered into the cultural economy of gift-giv- tion to heritage gifts and exhibitions and rituals as ing. Although the time, skill and invocation invested gift-giving performances, aiming at an understand- in art and craft may make them popular presents, ing of the role these have in furthering relationships it is the gift-giving performances that transform between museum institutions, its donors as well as commissions like the bridal crown and the vase into collections and audience. heritage. The attention to details here demonstrates Utilizing theories of materialization, perform- the gift-giver’s degree of (inter)cultural competence. ance and actor networks and applying these to the This competence in performance, ultimately, pro- Värmland Gift to America, I show how gift-giving duces the inalienable heritage gift. Although it was becomes a means of both materializing relationships never articulated as such by the ASI, the institution and delimiting boundaries between regions and na- and its staff demonstrate reflexivity when they se- tions. Moreover, I demonstrate how the presenta- lect artists whose heredity goes back to Värmland, tion to a region or a museum of a heritage gift with frame the vase as a return gift, and organize the gift- a dense biography actually involves a series of ritual- giving in the Värmland Gift exhibit in Karlstad so istic performances. Drawing on these multiple per-

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formances of the Värmland Gift I suggest that cul- broader and inclusive cultural uses. Not all regions tural differences become enrichment, and tension in Sweden are equally usable in this sense – the prov- between the local, regional and national becomes a inces of Värmland, Dalarna and Småland are used flexible and creative asset in relationships developed more often than Sörmland, Östergötland, Halland in the wake of migration. and Öland (see Aronsson 1995; Häggström 2000; The point is that heritage gifts – as in the case of the Olwig & Jones 2008; Turtinen 2006). When the same Värmland Gift – with their dense biographies, have regions are highlighted in the United States, such a particular capacity to act on human emotions: to performances may be interpreted as mirroring the anchor them, transfer them and connect them into activities in Sweden. The situation is, however, more networks, over time amplifying them, strengthening complex. As the gift-giving performances involving the position of the heritage gift even more. For ex- the stars of the collection show, the bridal crown and ample when the ASI in Minneapolis lent the Värm- the vase are reproduced as heritage gifts. land Gift to the United States in 1952 to be the key Similar to an actor on stage performing emo- exhibition at the royal inauguration of the Swedish tions for an audience to perceive, the heritage gift American Center in 2009, the institutions on both performs affection, allegiance, honor, submission sides invested in transatlantic networks through the and diplomacy and more. Although there are lots collective performance of locally anchored material of differences in size and scope, there are parallels culture. As a result, the differing performances in- between the collective effort of Värmland extend- volved in the Värmland heritage gift have served to ing the provincial Gift in 1952 and keeping it on foster a wide range of binding dynamic transatlantic stage as a star of the ASI and other cultural insti- relationships. Even the smallest community or institutions, whose appointed heritage sites can be seen tution, family or artist is able to establish an inter- as presents from the past – performances staged in national profile, and infuse a feeling of being part the present (Schechner 2006: 28) and an alterna- of a larger network – one that spans generations and tive modus of exchange from looting and repatria- physical locations in Sweden and the United States. tion. This is a much discussed topic among muse- Moreover, the heritage gift illuminates how the um scholars (Cooper 2008), including those in the real homeland and the imaginary are not easily Nordic countries (see Reinius 2007; Kuoljok 2007; separated. A location is not only material; it is also Grønnow, Gabriel & Dahl 2008; Svanberg 2009; spiritual and emotional. Whereas territorial bound- Skrydstrup 2009). Small or large organizations, in aries define where Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland their authoritative lead role in the drama of heritage or Denmark begin and end, the ritual performances making, legitimize, maintain and amplify the values of gift-giving demonstrate how emigrants in the of gifts into heritage gifts. Because of their capacity United States and people in the old homeland to- to contain and enact a multitude of performances, gether create a transatlantic space that circumvents heritage gifts have a greater capacity than a gift in such boundaries. The transfer of heritage gifts from general to act on us as human beings and make us Värmland to Minnesota, and from the country to perform accordingly. As such, these presents from the city, is deeply symbolic, challenging the limits the past are returned to givers and distributed to of solidarity both within and between nations. This various audiences in the form of preservation, cer- is explicit in border regions in the Nordic countries emonies, performance and exhibitions to be carried such as Värmland. on into the future, performances that reflexively also The regional connotation of the stars of the col- explain the performances. lection – the bridal crown and the glass vase – means To regard gift-giving as ritual performance they are uniquely Swedish, viewed as an area of folk- (Schechner 2006: 57, 1993) and network (Latour lore and authentic heritage, but they are also apo- 2005, 1998) means to emphasize the capacity of ob- litical, non-nationalistic or partisan, and open to jects to act on us, to invoke emotions, to maintain

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existing relationships and to generate new ones. The ceiving from a perspective in which gifts and exchange are not separated (Rupp 2003: 179–181). In a similar Värmland Gift and the rituals surrounding these vein Daniel Miller points out that it is the actual ex- objects all play parts in multiple performances of in- change that makes things happen (Miller 2001: 94). In tercultural gift-exchange, spanning more than fifty other words, the gift has agency and gift-giving as per- years, sustaining relationships between gift-givers formance is an effect of a previous performance. and their descendants in Värmland and Minnesota, 6 � Although receiving and giving gifts remain an important activity at the museums in the Nordic countries, the ASI and the Swedish American Center, despite this activity has been largely overlooked by recent changes of directors, staff, members and visitors and scholarship on museums (see for example Svanberg despite the changes in municipality, inhabitants and 2009). geographical landscape both in Värmland and Min- 7 � When the Nordic museum introduced Samdok, its de- nesota, Sweden and the United States. Instead, these partment for documentation, curators sometimes gave packages of coffee as gifts to people they interviewed in objects expand individual as well as institutional exchange for their time and information (cf. Snellman, networks based on kin. These processes of string- this volume). ing performances together suggest that heritage gifts 8 � “Till hugfästande av sambandet med stamfränder and gift-giving should be seen as an expanding form västanhavs och östanhavs.” of the cultural economy, exploring how materializa- 9 � Another example of monumental gifts in northern Eu- rope are the Nordic cultural houses Hanaholmen in tions sustain and compose relationships and close Helsinki, Voksenåsen in Oslo, and Shaeffergården in and open doors to new spaces in the world. Copenhagen. These are all cultural spaces that were performed as gifts from one nation to another to maintain friendly relationships with northern Europe in the wake Notes of the Second World War (Gradén & Larsen 2009: 7). 1 � Letter of intent, Värmlandsgåvan, ASI archives. 10 Besides monuments, many museums may be viewed as 2 � In his analysis of consumption focussing on the objec- results of gift-exchanges. Some of these gifts have been tification of mass-produced goods, Daniel Miller un- ambiguous as they are exchanges of goods as the ef- derlines that “The authenticity of artefacts as culture fects of missionary work and anthropological research derives, not from their relationship to some historical and expeditions in the nineteenth and twentieth cen- style or manufacturing process (...) but rather from their turies. The assembling of these goods has evolved into active participation in a process of social self-creation in for example ethnographic museums. In recent years, which they are directly constitutive of our understand- these objects have generated acts of repatriation, and ing of ourselves and others” (Miller 1987: 215). re-contextualizations in countries from where they 3 � Even if material culture was put on the back burner as once came. In hindsight the acts of repatriation for the theoretical interest in discursive models began to museum purposes may be understood as translations grow in ethnology in the 1960s, interest in it continued, into a space where Nordic versions of colonialism is viewed in semiotic terms or as products of discourses. performed. This focus changed in the early 2000 with a new ap- 11 www.americanswedishinstitute.org. proach to materiality (see for example Damsholt 2009), 12 For examples, see Gradén 2003. Compared to the quite sometimes referred to as the “material turn”. similar restitution process (Skrydstrup 2009), the her- 4 � I would like to thank folklorist Lena Norrman and itage gift is less oriented towards the juridical rights to translator Ylva Hellerud for pointing me in the direc- the object. tion of this particular translation of the Poetic Edda. 13 As the Värmland Gift shows, the heritage gift’s value 5 � French Philosopher Jacques Derrida, however, has increases with reciprocation. claimed that there is no such thing as a free gift (1992: 14 I view the exhibition as the result of the research- 14) and criticises Mauss by saying: “Mauss does not ers’ and curators’ selection and connection of things worry enough about the incompatibility between gift into meaningful entities. Each exhibition, here of the and exchange or about the fact that an exchanged gift Värmland Gift collection, is therefore understood as a is only a tit for tat, that is, an annulment of the gift” new collection, which adds another layer to an ongoing (Derrida 1992: 37). As Katherine Rupp has pointed performance that takes place in a museum. out, Derrida writes about giving from his own culture’s 15 Albin Widén writes in the Swedish daily Dagens Ny- position where gifts and exchange are not conflated, heter on April 4, 1952: “Tanken på att Minneapolis- whereas Mauss is trying to understand giving and re- institutet och liknande institutioner i Amerika ska

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fyllas med gåvor av snidade träsaker, trasmattor och måtte förbliva fasta släktled efter släktled” (official gift modeller öppnar svindlande perspektiv. (...) Man ska letter, ASI archives). inte överdriva det sentimentala värdet som allmoge- 24 Interview with Andrea Blum, Minneapolis, February sakerna kan ha för emigranterna. När en svenskameri- 12, 2009, and label based on Warren Olson and Andrea kan går på museum vill han hellre se konstverk av klass Blum’s artists’ statement. som ger honom en känsla av stolthet att vara svensk – 25 Director’s report to ASI, September 2010. visar man honom en spinnrock av det slag han minns från sin barndom blir det för honom en påminnelse om det Fattigsverige som han ville slippa ifrån när han References reste till Amerika. (...) Nu måste det sägas ifrån: sven- Sources sk-amerikanska institutioner är icke avsedda att bli av- 2008–2009. Participant observation during production läggare av rikssvenska hembygdsmuseer. Från museal process of the Värmland Gift to America 1952 at the synpunkt är det orimligt att blanda upp de samlingar Swedish American Center in Karlstad and the American av svenskamerikas nybyggarkultur som hopbragds Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota. i Minneapolis och på andra håll med sändningar av allmogesaker från Sverige. Exportera konst och konst- Interviews hantverk, men låt allmogesverige stanna hemma!” Andrea Blum, February 2009 16 The project was granted cultural and political approval Bruce Karstadt, February 2009, speech April 1 through collaboration with all parishes and munici- Ulla Nilsson, June 2008 palities, which in turn collaborated with businesses, Joel Pieper, discussions during installment of exhibition in churches, folklore association, artists and artisans. Karlstad and summing up afterwards 17 CEO Bruce Karstadt’s speech was also performed in the Curt Pederson, discussions during installment of exhibition form of a label in the exhibition. in Karlstad and summing up afterwards 18 This article can be viewed as yet another performance generated by the Värmland Gift. Literature 19 Perhaps to ease this strained relationship, some of the Appadurai, Arjun (ed.) 1986: The Social Life of Things: Com- Institute’s activities in this period were designed to off- modities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge set the criticism and included programs and exhibits Univ. Press. on wartime Sweden and participation in fund rais- Aronsson, Peter 1995: Regionernas roll i Sveriges historia. ing efforts to aid victims of the war. Exhibits featur- Östersund: Expertgruppen för forskning om regional ing Swedish and Swedish-American themes included utveckling: Stockholm: Fritzes. “Sweden’s War Preparedness: An Exhibition” (1943), Bauman, Richard (ed.) 1992: Performance. In: Folklore, Cul- Swedish-American art (1941), and the immigrant com- tural Performances and Popular Entertainments: Commu- munity of Bishop Hill (1943). nications-Centered Handbook, pp. 41–49. New York: Ox- 20 For further readings on immigration from Savolax, ford Univ. Press. please see literature by Gabriel Bladh. Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman 2008: The Culture of Giving: In- 21 The so-called pioneer museums performed heritage formal Support and Gift-Exchange in Early Modern Eng- just as the tilled and ploughed landscapes of the prairie, land. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. had become popular venues at the turn of the twentieth Butler, Judith 1993: Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive century, as manifestations of the successful develop- Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge. ment of settlements to townships. The new museums Cooper, Karen Coody (ed.) 2008: Spirited Encounters: Amer- were formed by urban immigrants. ican Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices. Lan- 22 Presented in the third gallery, yet visible when the visi- ham, Md.: AltaMira Press. tor entered the exhibition, the vase was encircled by Damsholt, Tine & Dorthe Simonsen 2009: Materialiserin- other objects: pewter plates, brass candle holders, a gar: processer, relationer och performativitet. In: Tine manor house chair, folk costumes, iron candle sticks, Damsholt, Dorthe Gert Simonsen & Camilla Mordhorst and oil portraits of the local authors Selma Lagerlöf, (ed.), Materialiseringar: Nye perspektiver på materialietet Gustaf Fröding, and Erik Gustaf Geijer. For the staff og kulturanalyse, pp. 9–38. Aarhus: Aarhus universitets- and members of the organizations involved and for vis- forlag. itors to the exhibition in Värmland, the presentation in Derrida, Jacques 1992: Given Time. Translation: Peggy Ka- the center of the gallery, with all other objects circulat- muf. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ing around it, made the vase a lead actor. Frykman, Jonas & Billy Ehn (eds.) 2007: Minnesmärken: 23 �“Den är en sinnebild av en önskan att banden mellan Att tolka det förflutna och besvärja framtiden. Stockholm: amerikanska och svenska medborgare av samma stam Carlsson.

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Goffman, Erving [1959] 1990: The Presentation of Self in Eve- Miller, Daniel 1987: Material Culture and Mass Consump- ryday Life. London: Penguin. tion. Oxford: Blackwell. Gradén, Lizette 2003: On Parade: Making Heritage in Linds- Miller, Daniel 2001: Alienable Gifts and Inalienable Com- borg, Kansas. Diss. Stockholm: Stockholm Univ. modities. In: Fred R. Myers & Annie E. Coombes (eds.), Gradén, Lizette 2004: Christmas in Lindsborg: Miniatures, The Empire of Things: Regimes of Value and Material Cul- Time and Place. In: Barbro Klein, Stein Mathisen & Anna ture, pp. 91–115. Santa Fe: School of American Research Lena Siikala (eds.), Creating Diversities: Heritage Politics, Press. Folklore and Religion, pp. 276–291. Helsinki: Studia Fen- Miller, Daniel 2005: Materiality. London: Routledge. nica Olwig, Kenneth R. & Michael Jones (eds.) 2008: Nordic Gradén, Lizette 2010: Dressed in a Present from the Past: The Landscapes: Region and Belonging on the Northern Edge of Transfers and Transformation of a Swedish Bridal Crown Europe. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. in the United States. Culture Unbound, 2, 695–717. Otnes, Cele & Richard F. Beltramini (eds.) 1996: Gift Giving: Gradén, Lizette & Hanne Pico Larsen 2009: Nordic Spaces A Research Anthology. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green in North America: Heritage Preservation in Real and Im- State University Popular Press. agined Nordic Places. Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore, pp. Otto, Lene 2009: Kommunismens ubekvemme kulturarv. 1–7. Uppsala: Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien. Materialiseringar: processer, relationer och performativ- Grønnow, Bjarne, Mille Gabriel & Jens Dahl 2008: Utimut: itet. 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Turtinen, Jan 2006: Världsarvets villkor: Intressen, förhand- Lizette Gradén, Ph.D., is researcher at the Department of lingar och bruk i internationell politik. Diss. Stockholm Design, Craft and Textile Art at Konstfack, Sweden. Gradén University. is the author of the prize-winning dissertation On Parade: White, E. Douglas 1995: The Art of Planned Giving: Under- Making Heritage in Lindsborg, Kansas (2003). Her research standing Donors and the Culture of Giving. New York: interests include the roles of material culture in ritual and John Wiley & sons, inc. performance of heritage. She currently studies gift-giving and leads the project Nordic Spaces in the North and North America: Heritage Preservation in Real and Imagined Nor- dic Places (2008–2011). ([email protected])

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