The Immigrant Trunk: Swedish wall hangings and the Swedish-American heritage of Minnesota

A great migration

Between roughly 1850 and 1930 more than a million Swedes emigrated to North America — one of the largest emigrations, relative to population, in European history. Many settled in the Upper Midwest, and Minnesota became the heart of Swedish America.

Towns, churches, newspapers and societies grew up around the Swedish language. In Minneapolis, the American Swedish Institute, founded in 1929 in the mansion of newspaper publisher Swan Turnblad, still keeps that heritage alive.

What the emigrants left behind

The emigrants came from the same farms, cottages and small towns where bonader hung on the walls. Embroidered sayings over the kitchen table, painted biblical scenes in the farmhouse, Christmas hangings brought out each December.

Space in an emigrant trunk was precious, so most of these textiles stayed in Sweden. That is why an original bonad today is, for many Swedish-American families, a tangible piece of the world their great-grandparents knew.

Words to live by

Many bonader carry short sayings about home, hospitality, faith, coffee and contentment — for example “Egen härd är guld värd” (Your own hearth is worth gold). They are the everyday wisdom of the homes the emigrants grew up in.

Every BONAD we offer comes with the Swedish text and an English translation, so the words can be understood — and passed on — again.

Bringing one home

Each BONAD is an authentic Swedish original, sourced in Sweden, documented and shipped worldwide, including to the United States. Hang it above a dining table, in a hallway or a cabin by the lake — as a quiet link between two countries and many generations.