A slice of humble pie
Inhibition: The museum will be boring.
Betty’s response: You’re boring.
Experience: Thursday Betty and I set out to the Andersonville, a historically Swedish neighborhood, to check out the American Swedish Museum and explore the area a little. About 3 miles into the ride a snowy and VERY windy (short-lived) blizzard came at us like a vengeance and we were almost impaled by a wind launched traffic sign. So it was the bus for Betty and me.
The Swedish American Museum, 5211 N Clark, wwww.SwedishAmericanMuseum.org
On the first floor of the museum is the current (and temporary) exhibition, Dressing Swedish, that runs January 10-February 23. Curated by Lizette Graden, Nordic Heritage Museum, and Charlotte Hylten-Cavallius, Multicultural Center Sweden and described by the curators as a gathering, “of costumes that speak to the rich diversity of the Swedish people-past and present.”
Today this type of dress labeled, Folk Dress is worn for formal dress to special occasions like weddings, festivals, and official opening celebrations.
An invitation to be part of the family.
Contemporary designers respond to their experience, after studying a Swedish Province of their choice, and created current day costumes.
The top floor is dedicated to the museum’s permanent collection and recreates scenes of immigration to America, the hardships the travel created, exterior Swedish store-front facades, and interior home-life settings.
What I didn’t know:
–that the historically Swedish neighborhood was established after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and in general encompasses Broadway Avenue on the east to Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and from Foster Avenue on the South to Bryn Mawr Avenue on the north.
-that the museum was originally a hardware store, designed by Swedish architect A.E. Norman and built around 1920. Aside from the museum’s temporary exhibits and permanent exhibit, they also have a library, an interactive program for children, and a museum store.
-that I would enjoy myself so much and how touching it was when viewing the recreated scenes of immigrants dipicting the struggle to live a better life.
So for now Betty and I are out and extending the invitation to all…SHOW ME WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW!!!
*reference material from Swedish Andersonville: A Neighborhood Waling Tour
My Bike Betty 