This year the Swenson Center is fortunate to award two visiting scholars for the annual Dagmar & Nils William Olsson Visiting Scholar Award.
Gregory C. Gaines is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Maine, studying the development of Scandinavian Studies as an academic field in the United States. He is particularly interested in the discipline’s influence on Swedish-American cultural identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the Swenson Center, Gregory will access the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (SASS) Papers (I/O:70) to explore documents relating to the founding of the society in 1911, and how the members of the society established themselves in the growing communities of Scandinavian America. While on campus, Gregory will also visit Augustana's Special Collections in the Tredway Library to access the personal collections of Jules G.O. Mauritzson (Professor of Swedish, 1904-1930), O. Fritiof Ander (Professor of History, 1930-1968), and Gustav Andreen (President of Augustana College, 1901-1935), to examine their impact during the early years of SASS.
Saniya Lee Ghanoui is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Texas at El Paso. She is currently writing a book on the transnational history of twentieth century sex education in the United States and Sweden. Saniya’s current research explores young people’s engagement with educational programs, particularly by examining media intended for young mid-century Swedish Americans, including magazines, journals, films, books, pamphlets, and other printed medical information. At the Swenson Center, Saniya will engage with three publications from the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church–Our Young People, The Young People, and Teen Talk–which featured regular advice columns that often included questions related to sex and sexual health.
Join us in congratulating Gregory Gaines and Saniya Ghanoui! We are looking forward to their visits to the Swenson Center!