PAUL S. SWENSSON:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For
details, please see restrictions.
| | |
| Creator: |
Swensson, Paul S. (Paul Sigfrid),
1907-2001, creator.
|
| Title: | Paul S. Swensson papers. |
| Dates: | 1940-2000. |
| Abstract: | Personal and business papers of a newspaperman who was
managing editor of the Minneapolis Tribune (1950-1955) and Minneapolis Star
(1956-1961) newspapers, a member of the Hopkins, Minnesota school board, and later
executive director of the Wall Street Journal's Newspaper Fund and a journalism
professor at Temple and Columbia universities. |
| Quantity: | 1.8 cubic feet (2 boxes), 1 master film
reel: 16mm., 1 user video file: MP4 (767.8 MB), 3 master audio files: WAV (589 MB),
and 3 user audio files: MP3 (95 MB). |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for
shelf locations. |
Paul Sigfrid Swensson was born November 11, 1907 at Woburn, Massachusetts. His
father, Gustav Sigfrid Swensson, was a Lutheran pastor. His mother, Minnie (Hamburg)
Swensson, was a teacher. He attended public schools in Aurora, Illinois, Detroit,
Michigan, and Mound, Minnesota.
Swensson was a graduate of Mound (Minn.) High School. He attended the Lutheran Bible
Institute, St. Paul, in 1924-1925. In 1928 he earned a bachelor's degree at Gustavus
Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, with majors in English and biology. He
apparently spent the next year in a theological seminary and then in graduate study
in history and philosophy at the University of Minnesota (two quarters, 1929-1930).
Swensson was on the Gustavus Adolphus College newspaper staff (1925-1928), serving as
editor his final year. His first professional position was at the Mitchell, South
Dakota Daily Republic newspaper (1930-1935), where he
began as a police news reporter and held a variety of other positions including
sports editor, state news editor, and city editor.
Swensson spent most of his newspaper career at the Cowles-owned Minneapolis daily
newspapers: at the morning Minneapolis Tribune as copy
editor and makeup editor (1936-1942) and at the evening Minneapolis Star as chief of the war news desk and assistant news
editor (1943-1944). He served in the United States Army in 1942 and 1943.
Swensson moved to the San Francisco News, where he
worked as copy editor, page one editor, and makeup editor (1944-1945). He then
returned to Minneapolis as the the Tribune's news
editor in charge of content for the morning and Sunday newspapers (1945-1946). He
next served as news editor for the Star (1947);
assistant managing editor for the Tribune (1948);
assistant managing editor for the Star (1949);
managing editor responsible for both content and staff at the Tribune (1950-1955); and finally as managing editor for the Star (1956-1961).
In 1961 Swensson left the Minneapolis papers to become executive director of the
Newspaper Fund, a foundation affiliated with the Wall Street
Journal to attract "bright young people" to careers in journalism.
Swensson left the Newspaper Fund in 1968 for Temple University, Philadelphia, where
he was a professor of communications. In 1971 he was appointed Associate Director of
the American Press Institute, Columbia University, a non-profit educational center
dedicated to the continuing development and training of newspaper men and women in
the United States and Canada. Swensson served as an associate director of the
Institute until he retired in 1975, after which he engaged in newspaper consulting
work. He eventually returned to the Minneapolis area, where he lived for the rest of
his life.
Swensson served on the Hopkins, Minnesota school board from 1951 to 1961, including
five years as its chairman (1956-1961). He served on a variety of church-related and
civic commissions and boards.
Swensson married Mildred G. Johnson in 1932. The couple had two children: J. Kenneth
Swensson and Paula Kay (Swensson) Cerkvenik. Swensson died in Minneapolis of
congestive heart failure on April 12, 2001. His wife preceded him in death.
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The collection consists of correspondence and miscellaneous papers, news clippings,
audio recordings, a 16mm movie, and biographical and genealogical information.
There is information about Swensson's journalism career, including his years at the
Minneapolis Star and Tribune
newspapers and at the Newspaper Fund; his involvement in professional and
trade organizations; and about his years of service on the Hopkins (Minn.) school
board. There are programs from concerts given by the Minneapolis-based Frederick
Hilary Chorale. Of particular interest is a collection of transcribed and bound
letters written home by Paul and Mildred Swensson while on a trip to Scandinavia in
1939, and a letter from acquaintances in Germany about the construction of the
Berlin Wall. There is little if any information about Swenssson's time at the San Francisco News, or his years at Temple or Columbia
universities.
Correspondents include friends and relatives, people in the newspaper industry,
Hopkins school district officials, Joyce Hilary, and one-time Minneapolis newspaper
colleague Paul Veblen.
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Access Restrictions:
The audio recordings in copyright in this collection are not available online,
but can be accessed upon request for use in the Gale Family Library reading
room. Please consult reference staff for more information.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Paul
S. Swensson Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional
examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 15,807
Location of Master Files:
Digital masters of the audiovisual material are maintained on the Society's
secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in
accordance with archival best practices.
The original audio reels were disposed after the material was digitally
reformatted into wav files.
Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, May 2004
Digitization and encoding by April Rodriguez, May 25, 2023.
Digital audiovisual transferred from the master film and audio materials by the
Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (May 2023).
Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the
vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.
Catalog ID number: 990029048170104294
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Location | Box |
147.B.14.6F | 1 | American Press Institute, etc., undated and
1961-1977. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Articles, clippings, and notes, undated and
1957-1979. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Articles, talks, and outlines, undated and
1962-1984. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Berlin Wall, undated [circa 1961?]. |
| | | This file contains a letter in English on Besuchenbüro
Berlin stationery (signature illegible), a newsprint map of East
and West Berlin, and three 5 x 7 black-and-white photographs. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Biographical information, undated and 1961-1975. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Career and professional information, undated and 1948-1986. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Correspondence and miscellaneous papers, 1949-1983. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Cowles newspaper management, 1982-1983. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Diamond, Frank, undated and 1941-1947. |
| | | Diamond was a sportswriter at the Minneapolis newspapers. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Frederic Hilary Chorale, 1977-1992. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Gustavus Adolphus College: Nobel Conferences, 1963-1994. 2 folders. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | High school journalism clinic readership poll, 1957. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Hilary, Fred and Joyce: Christmas letters, 1959-1995, 2000. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Hopkins (Minn.) School Board: |
| | | Audit report, 1961. |
| | | Clippings, undated and 1952-1959. |
| | | Correspondence, 1950-1959. 2 folders. |
| | | Hopkins Education Association: News
Letter,
undated. |
| | | In-service training for teachers, 1959-1961. |
| | | Minneapolis Area School Study Council reports, 1961. |
| | | Minnesota School Board Association, undated and 1961-[circa
1962]. |
| | | Minnetonka, 1959-1960. |
| | | Potential superintendents, undated. |
| | | Proposed school budget for 1961-1962, [circa 1961?]. |
| | | School appreciation notes, 1959-1961. |
| | | Miscellany, 1967-1971. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Insights into Swensson's Minneapolis years, undated and 1941-1967. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Job overtures, undated and 1961-1975. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Johnson, Hilma Rosina (1884-1987), 1984-1987. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions Board, 1955-1961. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Minneapolis Tribune: |
| | | Early 1940s, undated and 1940-1942. |
| | | Swensson as news editor, 1947-1949. |
| | | | This file contains some biographical information. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Newspaper research: Star and Tribune (1949-1961), undated. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Nilsson family: The Ljus Krona,
[circa 1981]. |
| | | The Ljus Krona, literally a "crown of lights,"
was a kind of chandelier made of oak in Sweden by Swensson ancestor Sven
Nilsson, probably between 1865 and 1870. It held 12 candles and was hung
from the ceiling and lighted at Christmas time. It was brought to America by
Nilsson's descendants. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | On the Road to Our Past: Eleven Letters Home
(1939), undated. |
| | | These are collected, transcribed, and bound letters written home by Paul and
Mildred Swensson while on a trip to Scandinavia in 1939. Includes some
biographical information. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Location | Box |
147.B.14.7B | 2 | Personal miscellany, 1944-1945. |
| | | This file includes gasoline ration coupons and a purchase agreement for the
Swenssons' house at Glen Lake Park, Minnesota. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Personnel tests and studies, undated and 1950-1975. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Physical fitness programs, 1948-1961. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Pulitzer Prize jury, 1961. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Sound and visual materials: |
Location | |
Shelf Q-10-D (Room B-105.7) | | | Journalistic writing exercise, Syracuse University, 1966. 1 master film reel (10 minutes): opt sound, b&w; 16mm.
positive print, and 1 user video file: MP4 (767.8 MB). |
| | | | 1966 Newspaper Fund Teachers Press Institute Syracuse. Legman re-write
exercise. Legman is the reporter on scene calling in facts to the
rewrite man who writes the story for the editor. In this exercise, the
legman goes by the name of Arnold Pilot [might be actual name of
instructor]. |
| | | | Container note: Title: Arnold Pilot. |
| | | |
Digital version
|
Location | |
Internet | | | Harrison Salisbury at the Sigma Delta Chi convention,
Minneapolis, undated. 1 master audio file (17 minutes, 5 seconds): WAV (671 MB) and 1
user audio file: MP3 (18.4 MB). |
| | | | In copyright. |
| | | | Annual convention of the Society of Professional Journalist. Incomplete
recording. |
| | | | Container note: WCCO Radio Recording. |
| | | Martha Swensson piano music, undated. 1 master audio file (23 minutes, 28 seconds): WAV (118 MB) and 1
user audio file: MP3 (22.3 MB). |
| | | | Container note: Sonata Opus II Andante Moderato, Sonata in F Minor Opus
I, Allegro Adante Molto Finale. Chorale Fantasia. |
| | | |
Digital audio
|
| | | Vice President Hubert Humphrey at the Sigma Delta Chi convention,
St. Paul, November 17, 1967. 1 master audio file (57 minutes, 18 seconds): WAV (289 MB) and 1
user audio file: MP3 (54.3 MB). |
| | | | In copyright. |
| | | | Annual convention of the Society of Professional Journalist. Not complete
recording of Vice President's Humphrey's remarks. |
| | | | Note: can be difficult to hear the questions from the audience, volume
has been raised. |
| | | | Container note: WCCO Radio Recording. |
| | | | Related material: transcript of convention is separately cataloged in the
Hubert H. Humphrey speech text files in the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscript collection. |
| | | | The audio recording matches the transcript starting on page 8. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Location | Box |
147.B.14.7B | 2 | Star and Tribune: |
| | | Newsroom salaries, 1955-1961. |
| | | Staff memorabilia, undated and 1944-1981. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Star-Tribune staffer mail, 1982-1993. 3 folders. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Swensson, Gustav Sigfrid (1869-1948), undated. |
| | | Gustav Sigfrid Swensson was the father of Paul Swensson. He was a Lutheran
pastor and a missionary to Puerto Rico. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Twin City Regional Hospital Council, 1959. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Veblen, Paul: Correspondence with Paul Swensson, 1985-1996. 4 folders. |
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989.
- Journalism.
- Newspaper editors.
- Newspaper employees.
- Pulitzer Prizes.
- Swedish Americans -- Minnesota.
- Places:
- Europe -- Description and travel.
- Hopkins (Minn.).
- Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Newspapers.
- Scandinavia--Description and travel.
- Persons:
- Hilary, Frederic, [ca.1909]-1994.
- Hilary, Joyce, [ca.1919]-.
- Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978.
- Johnson, Hilma Rosina, 1884-1987.
- Salisbury, Harrison Evans, 1908-.
- Swensson, Gustav Sigfrid, 1869-1948.
- Swensson, Mildred, d.1996.
- Veblen, Paul.
- Organizations:
- American Press Institute.
- Frederick Hilary Chorale (Minneapolis, Minn.).
- Gustavus Adolphus College.
- Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company.
- Minnesota. Independent School District No. 274 (Hopkins).
- Newspaper Fund (U.S.).
- Wall Street Journal (Firm).
- Types of Documents:
- Motion pictures (visual works).
- Photographs.
- Sound recordings.
- Occupations:
- Journalists.
- School board members -- Minnesota -- Hopkins.
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