Swedish exhibit open at museum

By Nancy Royden

Many items made by Swedish immigrants, including eyeglasses, intricately carved pipes, cooking items and clothing, are now on display at the Williamson County Historical Museum in Georgetown.

The exhibition, displaying items from Smaland, Sweden to Big Land, Texas, opened last winter and will continue indefinitely, Chris Dyer, director of the non-profit museum, said.

Mickie Ross, an educator at the museum, said she enjoys teaching people of all ages about the Swedish settlers who came to Central Texas several decades ago.

Ross has a trunk full of items at the museum she uses to teach school children and others about what life was like for Swedish settlers in the mid-1800s. She even takes her show on the road by using a smaller version of the trunk with several teaching items inside so students can receive some “hands on” learning.

The museum is also working to offer informative displays about Texan-Swede heritage to schools around the county. Dyer said the displays will be funded by grants and will be offered to schools free of charge.

Curator Lisa Worley said each item on display is handled with great care and when she holds a carved pipe, on loan from Jonah’s Carl Lidell, she displays it with gloved hands. The pipe features a hunter and the date “1856” prominently displayed on its lower portion.

Another one of the items on display in the museum is a Swedish Bible from 1893. It was donated by Rod Johnson, formerly of Jonah who now lives in Austin, Worley said.

Some of the items in the exhibition include wooden boxes, books, textiles, a knife, a copper tea kettle and other cookware, a homemade auger and a copy of a photograph of the old Swedish school in Hutto. The photo was donated by Hutto’s Mike Fowler. There are other copies of photos on display as well.

Visitors can also see the handiwork of immigrant boys and girls including knitting work made and used for clothing.

Ross said it took those who made the trip from Sweden to the U.S. approximately six weeks to arrive.

She explained that the space was extremely sparse on boats coming from Sweden to the U.S. in the mid-1800s and most immigrants slept in small 6-foot by 6-foot rooms.

The museum also has letters and receipts the immigrants had once they came to Williamson County on display. Dyer said the letters are very popular with students who see them.

Dyer said a memorial program is available for those who would like to participate. Several names of those living and dead, along with dates and places where they lived, are displayed along with the exhibition items. For $25, an individual may be memorialized.

Some of those who are remembered in the program include Myrtle Marie Wegstrom Lidell, 1899 to 1970, of Jonah, Hutto and Taylor; Hulda Almquist Rydell, 1871 to 1955, of Hutto; Carl Emil Rydell, 1859 to 1951, of Hutto; and Myrtle Violette Lidell Hundley Slagle, 1924 to 2002, of Taylor, Jonah and Hutto.

Many of the families whose members have been honored or memorialized have photographs of their family members on the museum’s Web site. Dyer said the museum would like to include more photographs of Swedish immigrants and descendants on its Web site.

More information about the exhibition may be found on the museum’s Web site at www.wchm-tx.org.

The museum, 716 S. Austin Ave. in downtown Georgetown, is open Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 5 p.m., Friday from 12 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is open the first Friday of each month from 12 to 8 p.m. and other times by appointment. For more information call (512) 943-1670.

By Nancy Royden