Nordic Heritage Museum: Seattle captures the midnight sun
Seattle was founded by hearty, creative immigrants from the five Nordic countries. By 1910, one-third of the city's population was born in Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Iceland.
Although the ethnic makeup of the city has changed since then, you can find evidence of these Nordic founders in names around town (Nordstrom and Magnuson Park are just two examples) and within Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, which hosts annual Nordic themed festivals (like Viking Days) and the Nordic Heritage Museum.
The museum focuses on the experiences and contributions of Nordic immigrants to the area, with the first floor dedicated to the immigration experience, the second floor on the logging and fishing industries within which most immigrants found themselves employed, and the third floor divided into sections specific to each country, highlighting the often-subtle differences in culture and language, as well as profiles of immigrants from each area that made a particular contribution to Seattle history. The museum is also home to the Gordon Ekvall Tracie Music Library, which contains over 40 years of curated Nordic traditional music, with thousands of audio and video recordings of concerts and dance performances, as well as a large collection of vinyl records.
The museum is a quick trip and worthwhile if you have interest in, or a connection to, Scandinavian history. By far, the most interesting part of the museum, however, is found in its educational programs—try and combine registration in a program along with your visit, if possible (calendar and registration information is available on the website). These programs include story time (with tales from different countries), crafting classes (chainmaille and knitting) and music programs. A popular offering is the Viking Cooking Class, in which parent-child teams prepare an entire meal using period ingredients and cooking methods—grinding their own grain for flat bread, cooking stew over an open fire and preparing a grain porridge dessert—and then get to eat the meal while learning more about Viking life (be aware that these types of education programs cost extra: price for this workshop, for example, is $35 for the parent/child team).
Posted by Caren Gussoff Sumption
