Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper Scandinavian American (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

About Scandinavian American (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

The Scandinavian American was a publication “dedicated to the interests of the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic population of the Great Northwest.” The first issue came off the presses at 2228 First Avenue, Seattle Washington, in January 1945. It had the look and feel of a magazine, which was the publisher’s intention. It was a monthly publication for about the first five years; beginning in August 1949 it was issued twice a month. It went back to being published once a month in July of 1952 and then began being published once a quarter, or about every other month, in 1954. The purpose of the Scandinavian American was explained in an editorial piece in the first issue. The publishers felt that there were Scandinavian Americans that were not being served by the Svenska Posten (Swedish Post) and the Washington Posten, due to the fact that these papers were primarily written in Swedish and Norwegian. They decided a publication was needed that all people of Scandinavian heritage in the Northwest could read andthat would unite them.

The paper included a myriad of sections covering many topics. It included “News from Norway” as well as sections of news from Sweden and Denmark. It also had a section called “Through A Woman’s Eyes” written by Anny Kristina Mattson and later a section called “The Wartime Housewife.” Another section, entitled “Our Scandinavian-American Servicemen,” listed the names of servicemen who were Scandinavian American and from the Northwest, including those who had been killed in action or wounded. It also reported promotions or achievements. The publisher and editors also made an effort to include news about Finnish and Icelandic interests in order to accomplish their goal of being inclusive of all Scandinavian Americans. Although this paper never officially endorsed any specific political party and encouraged support of all political candidates or leaders of Scandinavian heritage, many of the paper’s preferred candidates represented the democratic party. This is likely due to the publisher, Knut Einar Carlson, being a strong supporter of the democratic party.

Carlson was an immigrant from Sweden who came to the United States via Canada in 1913. He moved to Seattle in 1918 and lived there the rest of his life. He was a prominent printer and publisher in the state of Washington and in Seattle. He owned the Consolidated Press, Publications Press, and the Svenska Posten and aided in the founding of the Central Printing Company of Seattle. In 1945, he was appointed to be the state printer by Governor Monrad C. Wallgren, who also possessed Scandinavian ancestry, and held that position until 1947. Carlson was very involved in Scandinavian American heritage organizations such as the Vasa Order of America and the American Swedish Historical Foundation. He was even knighted in 1951 by the King of Sweden for “furthering Swedish-American relations.” He was also a 50-year member of the International Typographical Union.

Carlson died at the age of 80 in 1974. After a good run of 14 years the Scandinavian American ceased publication in 1958. However, the Svenska Posten, Carlson’s other publication, continued to circulate until 1967.

Provided By: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Scandinavian American (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

Dates of Publication

  • 1945-1958

Created / Published

  • Seattle, Wash. : E.K. Carlson

Headings

  • -  Scandinavian Americans--Northwest, Pacific--Newspapers
  • -  Seattle (Wash.)--Newspapers
  • -  Scandinavian Americans
  • -  Pacific Northwest
  • -  Washington (State)--Seattle
  • -  United States--Washington--King--Seattle

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Jan. 1945-
  • -  Ceased in 1958.
  • -  Dedicated to the interests of the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic population of the Great Northwest.
  • -  Suspended May-Oct. 1953.

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87093436

OCLC Number

  • 1641936

ISSN Number

  • 2831-624x

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Scandinavian American Seattle, Wash. -1958. (Seattle, WA), Jan. 1 1945. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87093436/.

APA citation style:

(1945, January 1) Scandinavian American Seattle, Wash. -1958. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87093436/.

MLA citation style:

Scandinavian American Seattle, Wash. -1958. (Seattle, WA) 1 Jan. 1945. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn87093436/.