SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
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    • The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil >
      • ​"First Swedish Agricultural Company" Lindsborg Founders, 1868 >
        • Swedish Pastor Olof Olsson Immigrating to Lindsborg 1869, June 27th Arrival >
          • Church and Lindsborg Founder Pastor Olsson, 1869 - 1876 >
            • ​"He Gave God Glory" The Story of Olof Olsson, ​1841 - 1900
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Church" 1869 >
        • Their "Augustana Lutheran Synod," 1860 - 1962 >
          • The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016
        • Their "Augustana Women's Missionary Society," 1892
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Home" Since 1907
      • Their Lindsborg's "First" Swedish Smoky Valley Community Chronicle 1909 and Their "Second" 1919 >
        • "Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas," 1965 >
          • "The Smoky Valley in The After Years," 1969
      • Their 1920s Coronado Heights Photographs and their Smoky Valley Historical Association (SVHA)
      • Their 1936 1873 Swedish Homestead, "The Old Deere Farm," The Peter J. Larson Farm, etc. >
        • Their 1873 Swede House
        • A Smoky Valley Swedish Virtual Memorial - ​"Dedicated to the Memory of the Smoky Valley Swedish Settlements" >
          • Recognizing & Thanking >
            • - Claude Koehn -- The Before and After
      • Their 1940 Deere Home >
        • Emil's and Nina's 1961 Thunderbird
      • 1943, After Lydia--The Building of the Lindsborg Hospital
    • Their Bethany College Handel's "Messiah" Performances, 1882 on... >
      • "Messiah" Performers, Venues & Audiences, Press and Broadcasts
    • Their Bethany College 1899 Swedish Artists' Midwest Art Exhibition
    • Their Bethany College 1902 "Terrible Swedes," Coach Bennie Owen, Their 1903 "Rockar Stockar"
    • Their Bethany College 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Swedish Pavilion
    • Their Bethany College Anniversary Celebrations: 15, 20, 25, 100 years >
      • Their Celebrating 15 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1896. The First Bethany Annual, 1895-96
      • Their Celebrating 20 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1901. The "Forget-Me-Not," 1902 >
        • The King of Sweden's Emissary, 1901
        • Yale University's Bethany Club
      • Their Celebrating 25 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1906, "Souvenir of Lindsborg and Bethany College"
      • Their Celebrating 100 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1981, "The Centennial of Bethany College"
    • Their "I WAS THERE" Coin ~ Bethany College Celebration, 1902
    • Their Bethany College's 1937 Introduction to New Sweden, founded in 1638 >
      • Deere's Introduction to New Sweden
    • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1975 "Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college" >
      • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1953, "Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas"
    • Their friend, Leon Lungstrom, and his 1990 "History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas"
  • Swedish Immigration Story, 1854
    • "The Story of the Old Spoon" by Ingrid Anderson Sohlberg & Daughter Lydia Sohlberg Deere, 1937
    • Who They Left Behind
    • From Sweden with Love Collections >
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Portraits, 1867 >
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Glass
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Letters
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Royal Gold Thread Embroidery Sampler (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Post Cards (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Magazines, (c1940s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Books, 1819/1886 to 1899
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Albums, late 19th early 20th centuries
      • The Swedish Deere Coins -- 1801-1929
    • Lydia Sohlberg Deere's 1927 "Lindsborg Swedish Club's" Handwork >
      • Lydia's Signatured Black Book of Her Handwritten Sewing Instructions >
        • Nina Sohlberg's Child's Sewing "Little Dots" PICTURE BOOK >
          • The Lindsborg Swedish Club's "Allers Monster-Tidnings" magazine, 1940
  • Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
    • Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925 >
      • The Hats
      • The Smoky River
      • The Smoky Hill Bluffs
      • Coronado Heights -- One Winter's Day
      • In and Around Lindsborg
      • Sohlberg House with Parents >
        • Our Sohlberg Home and Neighbor Alma Luise Olson
      • Sohlberg House with Emil 1916 to 1920 >
        • Lydia's Travels with Deere 1916 - 1930s >
          • Lydia's California Photographs for Painting
          • Lydia's Palm Springs Pictorial Magazine, 1938-1939
          • Lydia's California Pressed Wild Flowers, c1930
      • "LYDIA'S WORLD" Photography Exhibitions in Lindsborg, 2005 - 2011
    • Lydia's Art, 1919-1938 >
      • Lydia's Art: The Kansas Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The California Collection >
        • The Sketches
    • Lydia's Art Professor Sven Birger Sandzén, 1871-1954 >
      • Lydia's Assignments for Professor Sandzén >
        • Students of Sandzén 2019 Exhibition
        • Bethany Home ~ Celebrating Artist Birger Sandzén through His Students' Paintings
    • Lydia's Art Professor Birger Sandzén's "Art Exhibitions" ... 1893-1940 >
      • Lydia's Art Professor Sandzén's Exhibition at the Babcock Gallery in New York, 1922
    • Lydia's Sandzén's Body of Work Reviewed by N.Y.C, 1984 "American Impressionism," author William H. Gerdts
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Charles Edward Hallberg, 1855-1940
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Oscar Brousse Jacobson, 1882-1966
    • Lydia’s Sohlberg Family Connection to Sandzén, 1880-1894-1993
  • Scientist Emil O. Deere
    • Deere's & Lydia's Bethany -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Bethany College "Campus from Above"
      • Bethany College "The Gateway" 1917 and "Bethany Campus Association" 1912
      • Bethany College "College Street," today's "North First Street"
      • Bethany College "Campus Life"
      • "Bethany College's Earliest Buildings" >
        • Bethany College "​Ladies Dormitory" / "Lane Hart Hall" 1883 - 1899 - 1983
        • Bethany College "Old Main" 1887-1968 >
          • Lydia's and Emil's Old Main Apartments, 1920 to 1940
          • Deere's Bethany College Classes in Old Main
        • Bethany College "Messiah Auditorium" / "Ling Auditorium" / "Ling Gymnasium" 1895 - 1946
        • Bethany College "Swedish Pavilion" 1904
        • Bethany College "​Carnegie Library" / "Bethany Library" 1908 - 1980
        • Bethany College "​Bethany Academy" 1882 -- Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings
    • Deere's 1959 Interview on Rev. Dr. Carl A. Swensson (On YouTube) >
      • Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1857-1904 >
        • Swensson's "Bethany Lutheran Church" and the "Augustana Lutheran Synod"
        • Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings: "The Bethany Academy of 1882"
        • Swensson's Musicians' and Singers' "Messiah", 1882 on ... >
          • Thure Olof Jaderborg
        • Swensson's Swedish Artists of the 1890s
        • Swensson's "Bethany College Museum," 1882 - 1966
      • In Memorium**Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1904
    • Deere's Rev. Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1873-1943 >
      • In Memoriam**Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1943
      • Rev. Dr. Pihlblad on Bethany College, 1904 - 1941
    • Deere's Swensson's "Bethany College Museum" 1882 - 1966 >
      • Bethany College Museum Collections' New Location,1966 >
        • Articles on the Bethany College Museum Collections Move of 1966
    • Deere's Bethany College Field Trips -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Deere's Swensson's Bethany College Museum Collections >
        • Cliff Dwellers' Pottery Collection
        • Fossils Collection, "The Find"
        • Taxidermy Collection
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on the "Bethany College Museum"
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on "Three Pioneer Scientists of Swedish Descent"
    • Deere's Smithsonian Institution's Souvenir, 1904
    • Deere's 1940 Presidential Address to the Kansas Academy of Science
    • Deere's 1955 Letter to President Eisenhower re Tuttle Creek
    • Deere's Service, 1901-1966 >
      • Deere's Education & Degrees
  • "The Other Swedes"
    • Honoring them and their works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \\\\/ >
      • Mrs. Alma Christina Lind Swensson ~ Remembering her as Mrs. Rev. Dr. Swensson, the First Lady of Lindsborg
      • Photographer B.G. Gröndal ~ Remembering him for visually documenting Lindsborg and Bethany College in their earliest days
      • Miss Alma Luise Olson ~ Remembering her as "First Honored American Woman by Sweden" by Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg >
        • Remembering Miss Alma Luise Olson and her most extraordinary life at home and abroad by Ms. Karen A. Humphrey
      • Artist Birger Sandzén ~ Remembering him for "sharing his art with the world," starting "first" at Lindsborg's Bethany College >
        • Dr. & Dr. Mrs. Charles Greenough III ~ Remembering them for their gift of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
      • Artist Lester Raymer ~ Remembering him as the renown virtuoso artist and "behind the scenes" community supporter
      • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn ​​~ Remembering him for saving Bethany College from going under!​ >
        • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn (1923-2017) ~ Remembering him handing me my Bethany College Diploma on Sunday, May 26,1968
      • Dr. ​Elmer Copley ~ Remembering Bethany College's Oratorio Society Conductor who carried on "that" "Messiah" traditional excellence for 26 years, taking it to new levels >
        • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the “Messiah” conductor for the Bethany College "Swedish King’s" performance, 1976 >
          • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the "Messiah" conductor for the Bethany College "Centennial Celebration” performance, 1981
      • Dr. William Holwerda ( MD) ~ Remembering him at the founder of "Svensk Hyllningsfest"
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg ~ Remembering her as the founder of the "Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers"
      • Mr. & Mrs. Hilding Jaderborg ~ Remembering them and their “Swedish Crafts Shop” – 65 years and 50 trips to Sweden
      • The Swedish Lindsborg Builders ~ Remembering them for the lovely homes they built
      • Dr. Greta Swenson and Mr. & Mrs. Mark Esping ~ Honoring them for founding Lindsborg's “first” "Swedish-American Folklife Institute of Central Kansas." 1986 >
        • Recognizing their Folklife Institute's "Swedish-American Heritage Center," 1996
      • Ms. Rebecca Copley ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” graduate to become an International Opera Singer
      • Mr. Bruce Karstadt ~ Honoring him as a Bethany College graduate for heading up a major national Swedish American institution
      • Mrs. Becky Larson-Anderson ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” woman graduate to become mayor of "Little Sweden" USA
      • Dr. Mark Lucas ~ Messiah conductor bringing the Lindsborg “Oberammergau of the Plains" to a "new" world stage
    • The Smoky Valley Writers on "The Other Swedes" ​ ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Collection >
      • Mr. Bror Carlsson and Mr. Alf Brorson from Sweden ~ Chronicling Founder Pastor Olof Olsson's missionary journey to Lindsborg from Värmland, Sweden
      • Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson ~ An author of countless Swedish & English publications, newspapers, articles and books ...
      • Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy ~ Providing the only known history on Lindsborg and Bethany College's earliest Swedish photographer, B.G. Gröndal
      • Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin ​~ Compiling foundational Swedish Smoky Valley Augustana Lutheran settlements' histories and more
      • Dr. Emory Lindquist ~ Chronicling Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg [Selma Lind] ​ ~ Chronicling the Lindsborg of her day, its early histories, and more
      • Dr. Leon Lungstrom ~ Chronicling college professors and providing the "only known written" account on the Bethany College Museum
      • Ms. Karen A. Humphrey ~ Chronicling highlights of Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College society and culture in the earliest years
      • Mr. A. John Pearson & Mr. Kenneth Sjogren ~ Chronicling the Bethany College Presidents
      • Mr. Bill Carlson ~ Chronicling Lindsborg's earliest and later histories with a personal connection
      • Mr. Chris Abercrombie ~ Remembering him as the "historian," the SVHA president and his body of work
      • Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist ~ Chronicling key Swedish Augustana Lutheran Smoky Valley settlements other than Lindsborg
      • Rev. Eugene K. Nelson and the Bethany Home Writers ~ Chronicling the "only known written" story on the beginnings of Bethany Home
      • Smoky Valley Historical Association Members ~ Researchers, compilers and writers of " Where Did They Live? "
    • ​Smoky Valley History Research Writers Website Designers ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Websites
    • Bethany College Swedish Knights and Honored Ladies ~ Their Royal Swedish Legacy Listings
    • His Majesty, Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden ~ Honoring him in Lindsborg and at Bethany College, 1976 >
      • Mr. Bill Carlson's Lindsborg's Bethany Home & the Swedish King's Visit
  • Contacts
    • For Lindsborg, 1869, CONTACT Today >
      • 2020 Christmas in Lindsborg ~ 'Welcome to Annandag Jul Worship from Sunnemo & Lindsborg"
      • 2020 Christmas in LIndsborg ~ the Ljuskröna and Apple Tree Exhibit" online presentation
    • ​For Bethany College, 1881, CONTACT Today
    • Closing Remarks & Traveling through SWEDES >
      • The Swedish American Legacy Photographs >
        • ​Lydia's Lindsborg's Photography​, ​1900 - 1925
        • Lydia's Bethany's Photography, ​1906 - 1925
Scientist Emil O. Deere
​​<>  Remembering the Bethany College Legacy Museum & Swedish Curators  <>
“After the move ..., you will find one of the finest museums of this kind in the mid-west...” -- County Museum Director Tib Anderson. -- 1966 *
5,000 Bethany College Museum items were added to the 500 McPherson County Old Mill Museum items in 1966**

Bethany College Museum Collections' New Location,1966

The final chapter for this fine museum would come with the College plan to raze its Old Main home in 1968 for the building of the new Wallerstedt Learning Center.  In the Museum's eighty-two (82) years of college history, Deere would be its last curator, and, by his side, Swedish American professor of biology Dr. Leon Lungstrom would be destined to play a major role in the disbursement of its collections, and, thus, transferring his service to them, for a while, at their new home, the McPherson County Old Mill Museum (the County Museum).  Add to that, Lungstrom would become the sole, unofficial, first and last historian of the Bethany College Museum.

- The New Location - 
- McPherson County Old Mill Museum -

- Overlooking the Smoky River -
Picture
In his chapter on the Museum, Dr. Leon Lungstrom writes that Deere, at eighty-nine (89), was preparing for the Museum's final College end, for the distribution of its two major collections, the Natural History Collection which would include the Taxidermy Specimens; and the Pioneer Collection which would include  museum founder Udden's American Indian Cliff Dweller Pottery Collection of 300 items and Emil O. Deere's Pioneer Life Collection of 900 items.  There would be a total of about 5,000 Bethany College Museum items added to the 500 items at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum.

For the move to take place in  the summer of 1966, with well planned out directives by Deere, he worked diligently with colleagues and friends: Swedish American Bethany College seventh president Dr. Kenneth Andeen; professors of biology Dr. Leon Lungstrom and Dr. Glenn Bellah; professor of history Jerry Shannon; professor of Physics Emeritus Christian Swenson; and Bethany graduate Sandzén Memorial  Gallery Co-director artist Carl Peterson.

To ensure the safekeeping of the Collections, it was made very clear between both parties that should the County Museum be closed or moved out of Lindsborg, the College Collections would go back to Bethany College, i.e.:

  ".... Bethany College Board of Directors .... donated the items to the county museum with the stipulation in the contract that if the museum is ever discontinued or moved out of Lindsborg, ownership of the items donated will revert back to Bethany College." ***


Deere would not live to see his planned summer move take place, for he died in January of 1966.  Thus, this responsibility would fall to the one closest to Deere and with the most vested interest in the project, Dr. Leon Lungstrom, with the help of two professors in charge of the inventory list, Dr. Glenn Bellah and Carl Swenson.
After the move, ten years later,  in September 1976, a "glowing report," was found in Wichita's Antique & Collectors Mart, by Lindsborg's Betty Hanson, on the popularity of the County Museum which reads as follows:

  "....Although  the shops on Main and Lincoln Streets intrigue the tourist, it seems many travelers make their first and long stop at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum Complex by the scenic Smoky Hill River on the southern edge of town.  Paid admission figures for the first seven months of this year show that 7,666 people have streamed into this historical attraction.  An all time high attendance of 1,499 was recorded for the month of July.
 
    "The museum began as a small collection housed on the first floor of the Smoky Valley Roller Mill.  The present rustic building, built in 1968, now houses 11,000 items in realistic displays.  In addition to local private donations of family heirlooms, the museum has received the 300 item Udden Indian Collection, the 900 item Emil O. Deere Pioneer Collection, and the Bethany College Natural History Collection, giving a record of the untamed — present and
prehistoric. 
Besides the pioneer rooms: parlor, dining room, kitchen, post office, and general store one can view a collection of over 200 pieces of Barbwire, quilt blocks, and other handicrafts, a children's toy display, a Svensk Stuga (cottage) with authentic Swedish costumes on mannequins, and other fascinating relics."
​
Four years later, in 1980, Director Tib Anderson would retire from his post as the McPherson County Old Mill Museum director, and Bethany College professors Leon Lungstrom and Christian Swenson and Lindsborg resident Howard Patrick would then become co-directors temporarily.  In 1984, Jeanne Mogenson, a Lindsborg resident since 1967, who had been working at the County Museum for a time would become a very capable director until 1986 when Dorman Lehman, former director of the Grand Rapids Minnesota Central School Museum, took over.  He would be assisted by Lindsborg resident Lenora Lynam who had been with the museum for several years in an administrative position, while Lungstrom and Swenson would then become board members.  In the 1990s, McPherson resident Lorna Batterson Nelson would become the director with Lenora Lynam playing the added roles of archivist and curator.  They continue to operate the County Museum today.
*   *   *
McPherson County Old Mill Museum's Taxidermy Exhibit
 from the
 " Bethany College Museum Natural History Collection "
(Photographs of November 1, 1999)

These early taxidermy exhibits were created by professor Dr. Deere and his students, most all from the classroom in Old Main which was Deere's for over four  (4) decades.  Here he is, as shown below, with some of those same exhibits shown above in the McPherson County Museum, preparing them with his students.

- Deere's Old Main Classroom Taxidermy Class
-

Picture
Photograph by Lydia Sohlberg Deere
Picture
Photograph by Lydia Sohlberg Deere

- Deere's class with students working on a science assignment with taxidermy exhibits in the background -
Picture
Photograph by Lydia Sohlberg Deere
In 2007, through director Mrs. Lorna Batterson Nelson, I was able to arrange a private visit of the College collections for the new Bethany College President Dr. Edward Leonard III, retired Biology Professor Dr. Glenn Bellah (a key person, with the late Dr. Leon Lungstrom, who saw to the fulfillment of the Deere 1966 plan to move the Bethany College Museum Collections), his wife Mrs. Bellah, current Bethany College Biology Professor Dr. Mark McDonald, and very interested persons: Harry L. Ylander, Karmon Almquist and another gentleman. 

We were then also given the rare opportunity to go into Bethany College's "first" building, the "Bethany Academy" of 1882, historically Lindsborg's "first" school house of 1879.  Closed
to the public but opened to us, we saw some of the earliest Swedish College memorabilia and artifacts.   We learned that the College's initial collection of 5,000 items given to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum in 1966 had become part of its growing collection adding some 20,000 items.

Around 2013, the  "Bethany Academy" sign was removed and the College's early memorabilia and artifacts were returned to the Bethany College Archives,  to showcase this building exclusively as "Lindsborg's First School House."
for more information on this
 
"first significant Swedish American educational building"
for
Lindsborg and the College,
"click" on it


-  The Bethany Academy building was at the very heart of the Bethany College beginnings. -
*     *     * 
To read two Articles on the Bethany College Museum Collections Move, 1966 to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum, go HERE.

For Dr. Lungstrom's Museum chapter click below:
dr._leon_lungstrom_on_the_bethany_college_museum.pdf
File Size: 4816 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Picture

To learn more about the McPherson County Old Mill Museum today, click HERE.

*     *     * 
* The McPherson County Old Mill Museum Director quote from Wichita's Antique & Collectors Mart, text by Lindsborg's Betty Hanson, September 1976
**
1966 Bethany Magazine, 
Old Dobbin Moves
*** Page 31 on The Museum chapter found in Dr. Leon Lungstrom 1990 book, History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas.

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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~

reconnecting past to present
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All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
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