This year's Minnesota day celebration on August 17 took place as usual in Ljuder Church near Lessebo in an area with tradition of emigrating to Minnesota and also home to the Author Vilhelm Moberg. According to tradition, The Swedish -American of the Year was presented by the Vasa Order of America Swedish lodges. The 2014 Swedish-American is the renowned economist C. Fred Bergsten, until recently director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC.
Fred Bergsten thanked for the award and spoke of his contacts with Sweden and its Swedish heritage from his grandfather's homestead in Närke.
The picture below shows C. Fred Bergsten and the Vasa Order of America Swedish Representative Catherine Bringselius-Nilsson rivalry between them list the previous year's year's Swedish-Americans.
This year's speaker was Dag Blanck manage The Swenson Center at Augustana College,
and the Swedish Institute for North American Studies at the University of Uppsala .He spoke of Swedish-Americans and the construction of a Swedish-American identity in the United States and how it has changed through time. He has. written a book on the subject The Creation of an Ethnic Identity. Being Swedish American in the Augustana Synod, 1860-1917.
The picture below shows Dag Blanck conversing with C Fred Bergsten.
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Even Swedish Emigrant Institute former chief Ulf Beijbom attended launching his memoirs
Oförglömligt (Unforgettable) which provides many interesting insights into his activities as head of the Emigrant Institute, his research and travel.
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