Continuing our history of Sandburg’s relationship with the Swedish-American Historical Society, we are publishing a list of past honorees of the Society’s Carl Sandburg Medal
The Swedish-American Historical Society created the Carl Sandburg Medal in 1977 to honor service to the Society, service to Sweden and Swedish America, or service to the community at large. Author and poet Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) served as the first honorary chairman of the Society when it formed in 1948. Since 1978, the Society has honored twenty-five recipients.
1978 – Vilas Johnson, first president, Swedish Pioneer Historical Society (1948-54); Chicago chairman, 1948 Swedish Pioneer Centennial Association; accounting and manufacturing executive.
1978 – Conrad Bergendoff, first managing editor of the Society; third Society president (1962-65); president, Augustana College and Theological Seminary, Rock Island; national chairman, 1948 Swedish Pioneer Centennial Association.
1980 – Selma Jacobson, guiding spirit behind establishment of the Swedish Archives of Greater Chicago, North Park University.
1981 – Franklin Scott, fourth Society president (1965-67); editor, Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly (1967-74); professor of history, Northwestern University; leading scholar of Swedish America; prolific author, including Sweden: A Nation’s History.
1982 – Nils William Olsson, Society executive secretary (1949-50, 57-68), president (1986-88); scholar, diplomat, organization executive; executive director, 1948 Swedish Pioneer Centennial Celebration; executive director, American Swedish Institute (1967-73); executive director, Swedish Council of America (1973-84); founding editor, Swedish American Genealogist (1981-97).
1983 – Wesley Westerberg, fifth Society president (1967-73); Methodist clergyman; president, Kendall College (1954-73); directed project leading to Guide to Swedish American Archival and Manuscript Sources in the United States; executive director, American Swedish Institute (1973-77).
1984 – Sten Carlsson, chair, Society’s Swedish Committee; professor of history, Uppsala University; his “Sweden and America” seminar at Uppsala (1962-76) resulted in many papers, theses, and published doctoral dissertations on Swedish-America.
1986 – Emeroy Johnson, Minnesota Lutheran clergyman; scholar and archivist writing widely on Swedish America.
1987 – Emory Lindquist, Society board member; professor of history and political science; president, Bethany College and Wichita State University; prolific scholar.
1990 – Nils Hasselmo, Society president and board chair (1984-86); professor of Scandinavian languages and literature; president, University of Minnesota (1988-97); president, Association of American Universities (1998-2006).
1995 – H. Arnold Barton, editor, Swedish-American Historical Quarterly (1974-90); Society board and Publications Committee member; professor of history, Southern Illinois University; scholar, Scandinavian history and Scandinavian-American immigration history.
1998 – Eric R. Lund, Society president (1976-82), board chair (1994-96), editorial board chair (1982-86); journalist; assistant managing editor, Chicago Daily News; journalism educator, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and North Park University.
2002 – Ulf Beijbom, frequent contributor, Swedish-American Historical Quarterly; founding director, Emigrant Institute, Växjö, Sweden; author, including Swedes in Chicago, 1846-1880.
2003 – Philip J. Anderson, Society president since 1989; long-time Society Publications Committee chair; professor of church history, North Park Theological Seminary; author, editor, and presenter on a wide range of Swedish-American, American, and British historical topics.
2008 – Eloise Nelson, Society board and Program Committee chair; tour director since 1985.
2008 – LeRoy Nelson, Society board and Publications Committee member; tour director since 1985.
2009 – Ronald J. Johnson, Society board chair and Finance Committee chair.
2010 – Byron Nordstrom, Quarterly editor (1997-2015); Society board chair (1990-94); professor of history, Gustavus Adolphus College; author, editor, and presenter.
2012 – Bruce Karstadt, Society board and Finance Committee member (1992-2012); CEO, American Swedish Institute since 1990; honorary consul general of Sweden for Minnesota since 1994
2013 – Glen Brolander, Society president (1983-85); vice president for financial affairs, Augustana College, Rock Island; helped found the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center.
2013 – Kevin Proescholdt, Quarterly associate and book review editor (2008-15); Quarterly editor since 2015; Society board chair (1996-98, 2007-12, since 2014); frequent Quarterly author.
2014 – Kerstin Lane, long-time Society board member; executive director, Swedish American Museum, Chicago (1986-2006); honorary consul general of Sweden for Illinois (2003-12); active leader of local, national, and international Swedish-American and Swedish organizations.
2016 – Donald E. Olson, Society treasurer since 1998; board chair, Center for Scandinavian Studies, North Park University since 2002; long-time facilitator of student exchanges between North Park and Sweden.
2016 – Dag Blanck, Society board and Publications Committee member; Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center director, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, as well as professor, North American Studies and director, Swedish Institute for North American Studies, Uppsala University; author, editor, and presenter on Swedish-U.S. trans-national relations.
2018 – Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey, Society board and Membership Committee member; professor of theatre, San Diego State University; teacher, translator, dramaturg, and playwright; scholar and interpreter of Ibsen, Strindberg, and Swedish-American theater and popular music.
2019 – Harald Runblom, past chair of the Swedish Committee of the Society, professor emeritus of history, Uppsala University.
2023 – Joy Lintelman, Joy Lintelman, longtime board member, Professor of History at Concordia College in Moorhead, and author of Minnesota Historical Society-published book I Go to America: Swedish-American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson, a Minnesota Book Awards winner.