I realized I missed the opportunity to talk about the my time at the Swedish American Center in Karlstad, so while I cook up my pasta with ketchup, I'll take you back for a short visit to the center.
The Swedish American Center started in the early 60's as an educational and research institution. The center continues to fulfill the same role today, often hosting guest lecturers from all over and holding international conferences at the site. During my visit, a gentleman from Sweden was lecturing on Swedish Immigration to Oregon.
The current exhibit on display teaches about the gold rush in the Alaskan Klondike. It is geared toward high school students and makes extensive use of a graphic novel style in its delivery.
The "Three Lucky Swedes" who traveled to the Klondie to search out their fortunes. They were some of the few to strike it rich. Most men who attempted it came back empty handed. The Swedes had a reputation in the Klondike for panning for gold in areas that were thought to already be exhausted of gold. People would see them prospecting, shake their head, and say, "leave it to the Swedes". Sometimes the Swede's persistence paid off when they struck gold at these abandoned sites.
Andreas was my host for the Klondike exhibit. He also and spent the better part of an hour with me explaining the intricacies of genealogy research and Swedish databases, such as EmiWeb. He's been working with the center for ten years and knows his subject well.
A peek into the genealogy research center. Andreas showed me a paragraph of information he had been working on. It took him three hours to collect the info. The work is time consuming but rewarding.
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