Skip to main content
Home
View My Favorites

Search the middle of everything...

Shedd Aquarium

Things To Do

Places To Go in Illinois

Plan Your Trip

Accessible Travel in Illinois

Swedish American Museum

5211 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640

Museums

You don?t have to be Swedish to visit Chicago?s Swedish-American Museum! The Museum has something for everyone?an art gallery, immigration exhibit, children?s museum, genealogy center, and a gift shop featuring a beautiful selection of handcrafted Scandinavian gifts. Established in 1976, the Swedish American Museum is a bustling center of Swedish art, history, and culture. A full program of exhibits, programs, and events keeps the building humming with activity seven days a week. The Museum is located in Andersonville, Chicago?s historically Swedish neighborhood, which is now a mosaic of multiethnic shops and restaurants. The Museum?s main exhibit, The Dream of America: Swedish Immigration to Chicago, displays hundreds of artifacts, pictures, and descriptions of the mass immigration of Swedes to the Chicago area beginning in the late 1800s. Visitors learn about the struggles of these early immigrants and see how they forged new lives in their new land. Youngsters will love the Brunk Children?s Museum of Immigration, a hands-on, interactive journey through history for ages 3 to 12. Donning costumes, children churn butter, milk a cow, and gather eggs on the 19th century Swedish farm. Then they pack an immigrant?s trunk and board a steamer for the New World. On arriving in America, they move into a pioneer log cabin home and begin their life in the new country. At the Nordic Family Genealogy Center, visitors can trace their roots and research their Swedish ancestry with the assistance of trained volunteers. The Museum?s first-floor gallery features special exhibits of folk art, paintings, sculpture, textiles, and glassware created by contemporary Swedish and Swedish-American artists and craftsmen. Before leaving the Museum, visitors will want to stop in the Kerstin Andersson Museum Store where they?ll find linens, jewelry, kitchen utensils, glassware, and a wide selection of fiction, biographies, cookbooks, and children?s books and toys.

Images

DSCN1264-300x225

How to find us?

Back to Listings

What's happening nearby...

Chicago Latino Film Festival

Apr 16 – Apr 27

The 42nd annual Chicago Latino Film Festival represents the great diversity of themes and genres of Latino filmmaking from around the world.

Read more about Chicago Latino Film Festival

Chicago Cabaret Week

Citywide •  May 08 – May 16

Join us for an unforgettable week of music and performances that celebrate the spirit of Chicago!

Read more about Chicago Cabaret Week

Sueños Music Festival

Grant Park  •  May 23 – May 24

We invite you to Grant Park this May to experience all-new multi-day Latin music festival, Sueños. World-class production and a curated experience that will leave you…

Read more about Sueños Music Festival

You might also be interested...

Medieval Torture Museum

Chicago

The emotions inspired by the "Medieval Torture Collection" will transport you back in time hundreds of years to some of the most miserable moments in human…

Read more about Medieval Torture Museum

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Chicago

Read more about Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

National Museum of Mexican Art

Chicago

Promoting knowledge and appreciation of Mexican art and culture across borders through its permanent collection, vibrant visual and performing arts, quality education programs, and artist development.

Read more about National Museum of Mexican Art

Share your Moments

#EnjoyIllinois

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get inspired by top travel stories, gain access to exclusive promotions and contests, and discover even more reasons to #EnjoyIllinois.