American Swedish Historical Museum
Museum · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A museum founded in 1926, growing out of the Swedish-American committee of the Sesquicentennial Exposition. Crown Prince Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden laid the cornerstone on June 2, 1926, and the museum was formally dedicated on June 28, 1938, coinciding with the 300th anniversary of the New Sweden colony. Visit Philadelphia's tourism site describes 12 galleries of Swedish-American heritage exhibits and the museum's Midsummer festival in June and Lucia festival in December. The museum's own site gives public hours of Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and admission of $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, students and military, $5 for children aged 5 to 11, and free entry under 5 and for members.
History
The building was designed by the Swedish-American architect John Nydén, drawing on Ericsberg Castle, a 17th-century Swedish manor house, with exterior arcades modeled on those of Mount Vernon and a copper cupola replicating Stockholm City Hall's. The museum's own site and Visit Philadelphia both give the address as 1900 Pattison Avenue; the City of Philadelphia's business-license register carries "AMERICAN SWEDISH HIST FOUNDATION MUSEUM" at 1954 Pattison Avenue instead, a different house number on the same street, and no source fetched reconciles the two.
Visit
1900 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19145
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