Christina
Nilsson was born in Sweden in
1861. When she was fifteen her family emigrated to the United States
and settled in Worthington, Minnesota. Christina became a waitress
and in 1882 met another Swedish immigrant, Swan
Turnblad. The couple married in 1883 and the following year Christina
gave birth to her only child.
Swan Turnblad worked for the Svenska
Amerikanska Posten and eventually became the sole owner
of the newspaper. Turnblad was very interested in new technology and
was the first publisher of a Swedish language newspaper to use a Linotype
machine. After acquiring a duplex rotary colour printing press in
1903 Turnblad also became the first to include colour illustrations.
Under Turnblad's management circulation increased from 1,400 to 40,000.
The success of Svenska Amerikanska Posten
made Turnblad a wealthy man. In 1903 he commissioned the building
of a mansion in Park Avenue in Minneapolis. The 33 room building was
completed five years later.
In 1929 the Turnblad mansion became the home of the American Swedish
Institute. The mission of the museum is to "preserve and share
with the public its collections of Swedish Americana; to interpret
the history of the emigrant era; to share Swedish cultural and aesthetic
traditions with the community; and to enhance cultural relationships
with modern Sweden".
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