Life is an American magazine originally launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972 it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978, until 2000. Since 2000 Life has transitioned to irregularly publishing "special" issues.
111-521: Axel Erlandson (December 15, 1884 – April 28, 1964) was a Swedish American farmer who shaped trees as a hobby, and opened a horticultural attraction in 1947 called "The Tree Circus", advertised with the slogan "See the World's Strangest Trees Here". The trees appeared in the column of Robert Ripley's Believe It or Not! twelve times. Erlandson sold his attraction shortly before his death. The trees were moved to Gilroy Gardens in 1985. Erlandson
222-426: A limestone kiln , producing quicklime for mortar , plaster , and whitewash . Limestone rocks were collected from the surrounding fields and the men and boys kept the kiln fires going 24 hours a day during the processing time. As a young boy, Axel produced a working model of a threshing machine , but was disappointed when told by his parents that he could not take it along when they moved to California. In 1902,
333-585: A campaign to push the U.S. into the war. Gibson drew the Kaiser as a bloody madman, insulting Uncle Sam , sneering at crippled soldiers, and shooting Red Cross nurses. Following Mitchell's death in 1918, Gibson bought the magazine for $ 1 million. A little more than three years after purchasing Life , Gibson quit and turned the property over to publisher Clair Maxwell and treasurer Henry Richter. In 1920, Gibson had selected former Vanity Fair staffer Robert E. Sherwood as editor. A WWI veteran and member of
444-455: A distracted world that does not know which way to turn nor what will happen to it next. A wonderful time for a new voice to make a noise that needs to be heard! In 1936, publisher Henry Luce purchased Life magazine for US$ 92,000 ($ 2.02 million in 2023) because he wanted the name for his company, Time Inc. , to use. Time Inc. sold Life 's subscription list, features, and goodwill to Judge . Convinced that pictures could tell
555-401: A few remain solvent as of 2008. Within the city's largest historic "Swedish" neighborhood—Quinsigamond Village—street signs read like a map of Sweden: Stockholm Street, Halmstad Street, and Malmo Street among others. Worcester's Swedes were historically staunch Republicans and this political loyalty is behind why Worcester remained a Republican stronghold in an otherwise Democratic state well into
666-479: A matter-of-fact way, publishing Swedish American literature, and presenting articles on science, technology, and industry in the United States. The community produced numerous writers and journalists, of whom the most famous was poet-historian Carl Sandburg from Illinois. The harsh experiences of the frontier were subjects for novelists and story tellers, Of interest revealing the immigrant experience are
777-402: A minimum of promotion, these issues sold between 500,000 and 1 million copies at cover prices of up to $ 2. Beginning with an October 1978 issue, Life was published as a monthly, with a new, modified logo. Although it remained a familiar red rectangle with the white type, the new version was larger, the lettering was closer together and the box surrounding it was smaller. Life continued for
888-427: A natural inosculation in his own hedgerow , he began in 1925 to shape trees as a hobby to amuse himself and his family. Very few people other than his sister and a few close family friends knew of his early work shaping and grafting trees. He created designs on paper first and then planted small trees in the specified patterns; pruning , grafting and bending them according to his plans. Erlandson taught himself over
999-552: A period of decades how to train the growth of trees into shapes of his own design he considered his methods trade secrets. When children asked how he got his trees to grow like this, he would reply, "I talk to them." In 1945, Erlandson's daughter and his wife visited the ocean near Santa Cruz, California , where they saw people lined up to pay to see such oddities as tilted buildings at the Mystery Spot . They returned home and mentioned offhandedly to Axel that if his trees were on
1110-528: A story instead of just illustrating text, Luce launched the new Life on November 23, 1936, with John Shaw Billings and Daniel Longwell as founding editors. The third magazine published by Luce, after Time in 1923 and Fortune in 1930, Life developed as the definitive photo magazine in the U.S., giving as much space and importance to images as to words. The first issue of this version of Life , which sold for ten cents (worth $ 2.2 in 2023), had five pages of Alfred Eisenstaedt's photographs. In planning
1221-399: A stream, and prepared to expand the attraction to several times its original size. They named the whole park "The Lost World." They renamed the grove of Axel Erlandson's Tree Circus to "The Enchanted Forest". Larry Thompson died before The Lost World could open. Peggy Thompson, left to raise three small children, managed to open the park successfully for a few years. She then tried to sell and
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#17327763189041332-671: A tree nursery in Gilroy , California, bought the trees from Hogan and transplanted 24 of them to his new amusement park, Bonfante Gardens, now called Gilroy Gardens , in Gilroy. Two of Axel's most famous trees are The Basket Tree and the Needle and Thread Tree. Preserved dead trees from Erlandson's collection reside today in the Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz , California. One tree
1443-477: A tree, placed in a vase with colored feathers and decorative hanging eggs added. Swedish tradition also found in Swedish American homes has a traditional påskbord , a large meal that is eaten together by families with foods such as deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, meatballs, pickled herring and other fresh fish like salmon. Midsummer is celebrated at the summer solstice, recognizing the longest day of
1554-624: A well-traveled tourist route, they might draw people who would pay to see them. Axel jumped on the idea and bought a small parcel of land, on the main road between the Santa Clara Valley and the ocean, in Scotts Valley, California , where he started the process of transplanting the best of his trees to their new home. To create the "Basket Tree", Erlandson planted six sycamore trees in a circle, topped them all at one foot, then approach-grafted them together one to another to form
1665-508: A world still friendly." For Life 's final issue in its original format, 80-year-old Edward Sandford Martin was recalled from editorial retirement to compose its obituary. He wrote: That Life should be passing into the hands of new owners and directors is of the liveliest interest to the sole survivor of the little group that saw it born in January 1883 ... As for me, I wish it all good fortune; grace, mercy and peace and usefulness to
1776-577: Is a Swedish American community that continues to honor traditions of the old country. Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church was served by a native of Sweden as recently as 1979–1985 (The Rev. Hans Olof Andræ, born 1933 in Vimmerby, Sweden) who was known to occasionally conduct special worship services in Swedish. The largest settlement in New England was Worcester, Massachusetts . Here, Swedes were drawn to
1887-830: Is a lot of research waiting to be done on the more urban and working-class parts of the Swedish immigrant group, where some ended up in slums like Swede Hollow in St. Paul, Minnesota , which had a population of about roughly 1,000 squatters around 1890 (slightly less in 1900, according to the census carried out that year). Child mortality was high and diphtheria and pertussis common. Many also died in work-related accidents. Drunkenness and wife beatings were also common. Swedish housemaids were in high demand in America. Working conditions were far better than in Sweden, in terms of wages, hours of work, benefits, and ability to change positions. During
1998-421: Is celebrated in the United States. Traditionally, Swedes celebrate by dressing up children as little påskhäxor ( Easter witches ) and their then going door to door asking for candy, similarly to Hallowe'en in the U.S. More recently Swedes celebrate a typical American Easter with egg hunts and candy for the little ones to find. Swedish Americans often include påskris (an Easter bush) with twigs cut from
2109-422: Is not just an oddity. It demonstrates an intriguing option for improving our environment by creating an absolutely unique space of living sculpture ." Efforts to have the trees declared historical or a cultural resource failed and Cahill's window for moving the trees closed. Hogan's plan for development did not materialize. In 1985, Michael Bonfante, owner of Nob Hill Foods , a grocery store chain, and Tree Haven,
2220-524: Is rarely taught in high schools or colleges, and Swedish-language newspapers or magazines are rare. In 2020, Minnesota had the most Swedes, both by number (410,091) and by the percent of the state's population they make up (7.3%). Life (magazine) Originally published from 1883 to 1936 as a general-interest and humour publication, it featured contributions from many important writers, illustrators and cartoonists of its time including Charles Dana Gibson and Norman Rockwell . Henry Luce purchased
2331-723: The Algonquin Round Table , Sherwood tried to inject sophisticated humor onto the pages. Life published Ivy League jokes, cartoons, flapper sayings and all-burlesque issues. Beginning in 1920, Life undertook a crusade against Prohibition . It also tapped the humorous writings of Frank Sullivan , Robert Benchley , Dorothy Parker , Franklin Pierce Adams and Corey Ford . Among the illustrators and cartoonists were Ralph Barton , Percy Crosby , Don Herold , Ellison Hoover , H. T. Webster , Art Young and John Held, Jr. Life had 250,000 readers in 1920, but as
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#17327763189042442-943: The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis , the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia , Chicago's Swedish American Museum , and the Gammelgården Museum in Scandia, Minnesota . The first Swedish Americans were the settlers of New Sweden : a colony established by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1638. It centered around the Delaware Valley including parts of the present-day states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. New Sweden
2553-1003: The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church . Theologically, they were pietistic ; politically they often supported progressive causes and prohibition . In the year 1900, Chicago was the city with the second highest number of Swedes after Stockholm , the capital of Sweden. By then, Swedes in Chicago had founded the Evangelical Covenant Church and established such enduring institutions as Swedish Covenant Hospital and North Park University . Many others settled in Minnesota in particular, followed by Wisconsin ; as well as New York , Pennsylvania , Michigan , Iowa , Nebraska , Kansas and Illinois . Like their Norwegian American and Danish American brethren, many Swedes sought out
2664-537: The Fort Peck Dam in Montana , a Works Progress Administration project, photographed by Margaret Bourke-White . The format of Life in 1936 was a success: the text was condensed into captions for 50 pages of photographs. The magazine was printed on heavily coated paper and cost readers only a dime ($ 2.20 in 2023). The magazine's circulation was beyond the company's predictions, going from 380,000 copies of
2775-633: The Jazz Age rolled into the Great Depression , the magazine lost money and subscribers. By the time editor George Eggleston took over, Life had switched from publishing weekly to monthly. Maxwell and Eggleston went to work revamping its editorial style to meet the times, which resulted in improved readership. However, Life had passed its prime and was sliding toward financial ruin. The New Yorker , debuting in February 1925, copied many of
2886-546: The United States Army Art Program . Each week during World War II, the magazine brought photographs of the war to Americans; it had photographers from all theaters of war. The magazine was imitated in enemy propaganda using contrasting images of Life and Death . In August 1942, writing about labor and racial unrest in Detroit , Life warned that "the morale situation is perhaps the worst in
2997-477: The "grand old man of arborsculpture." In 1963, Erlandson sold the property for $ 12,000, to Larry and Peggy Thompson. They kept Erlandson as a hired caretaker. Erlandson died the following year in Capitola, California . Larry and Peggy Thompson had created and featured 25 to 30 enormous realistic life-sized models of many different species of dinosaurs, which attracted the attention of the passing traffic, installed
3108-544: The 1850s. An early community of Swedish immigrants (1848) became established in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York stemming from the port of Buffalo connecting the Erie Canal with the Great Lakes. Jamestown, New York , became a principal Swedish American city during the peak of Swedish immigration. The Swedish American community in this area often served as a stepping stone for immigrants who settled in
3219-520: The 1860–1890 era, there was little assimilation into American society. The Swedish Americans attached relatively little significance to the American dimension of their ethnicity; instead they relied on an extant Swedish literature. There was a relatively weak Swedish American institutional structure before 1890, and Swedish Americans were somewhat insecure in their social-economic status in America. An increasingly large Swedish American community fostered
3330-770: The 1950s. Many Swedes also came to the Pacific Northwest during the turn of the 20th century, along with Norwegians and Finns , settling in Washington and Oregon . According to research by the Oregon Historical Society , Swedish immigrants "felt a kinship with the natural surroundings and economic opportunities in the Pacific Northwest," and the region experienced a significant influx of Swedish and Scandinavian immigrants between 1890 and 1910. Notable influence can be felt in
3441-625: The 1967 National Magazine Award , chosen by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism . Despite the industry's accolades and its coverage of the U.S. mission to the Moon in 1969, the magazine continued to lose circulation. Time Inc. announced in January 1971 its decision to reduce circulation from 8.5 million to 7 million, in an effort to offset shrinking advertising revenues. The following year, Life cut its circulation further, to 5.5 million beginning with
Axel Erlandson - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-624: The Catholic Columbus, Swedish America could use its culture to stress its position as loyal adherents to the larger Protestant American society. In 1896 the Vasa Order of America , a Swedish-American fraternal organization, was founded to provide ethnic identity and social services such as health insurance and death subsidies, operates numerous social and recreational opportunities, and maintains contact with fellow lodges in Sweden. Johannes and Helga Hoving were its leaders, calling for
3663-484: The January 14, 1972 issue. Life was reportedly not losing money, but its costs were rising faster than its profits. Life lost credibility with many readers when it supported author Clifford Irving , whose fraudulent autobiography of Howard Hughes was revealed as a hoax in January 1972. The magazine had purchased serialization rights to Irving's manuscript. Industry figures showed that some 96% of Life' s circulation went to mail subscribers, with only 4% coming from
3774-651: The Midwest, especially early communities in Illinois and Minnesota, as well as Massachusetts. In the east, New England became a destination for many skilled industrial workers and Swedish centers developed in areas such as Jamestown, New York ; Providence, Rhode Island , and Boston . A small Swedish settlement was also started in New Sweden, Maine . 51 Swedish settlers came to the wooded area, led by W. W. Thomas, who called them mina barn i skogen ('my children in
3885-458: The U.S. ... It is time for the rest of the country to sit up and take notice. For Detroit can either blow up Hitler or it can blow up the U.S." Mayor Edward Jeffries was outraged: "I'll match Detroit's patriotism against any other city's in the country. The whole story in Life is scurrilous ... I'd just call it a yellow magazine and let it go at that." The article was considered so dangerous to
3996-411: The U.S. entered World War II in 1941, Life covered the war closely. By 1944, of the 40 Time and Life war correspondents, seven were women: Americans Mary Welsh Hemingway , Margaret Bourke-White , Lael Tucker, Peggy Durdin, Shelley Smith Mydans , Annalee Jacoby, and Jacqueline Saix, an Englishwoman. (Saix's name is often omitted from the list, but she and Welsh are the only women listed as part of
4107-605: The U.S. have retained a few distinctive characteristics. For example Silverhill, Alabama ; Lindstrom, Minnesota ; Karlstad, Minnesota ; Gothenburg, Nebraska ; Andover, Illinois ; Kingsburg, California ; and Bishop Hill, Illinois . Lindsborg, Kansas , is representative. It was founded by Lutheran pietists in 1869 on land purchased from the Kansas Pacific Railroad; the First Swedish Agricultural Company of Chicago spearheaded
4218-489: The U.S. population is said to have Fennoscandinavian ancestry (which also includes Norwegian Americans , Danish Americans , Finnish Americans , and Icelandic Americans ). According to the 2005 American Community Survey, only 56,324 Americans continue to speak the Swedish language at home, down from 67,655 in 2000, most of whom are recent immigrants. Swedish American communities typically switched to English by 1920. Swedish
4329-582: The United States in pursuit of continued economic success. Swedish Americans formed their own social identity within the U.S. during the period through their memberships of social clubs and their deliberate membership or non-membership in different ethnically based institutions. The story of A. V. Swanson, who in 1911 left Bjuv at age 20 and settled in Ames, Iowa, eight years later is a case study in farming and business success. The Swedish group was, as many other emigrant groups, highly differentiated. There still
4440-428: The United States though somewhat differently, such as Påsk ( Easter ), Första Maj ( May Day / International Workers' Day / Labor Day ), Jul ( Christmas / Yule Eve and Day), and New Year's Eve . Swedish Americans can celebrate with various Swedish Heritage societies across the country who try to keep the Swedish traditions alive. Swedish Easter is celebrated around the first week of April, when Easter
4551-435: The United States, its circulation regularly reaching a quarter of the American population. Life was founded on January 4, 1883, in a New York City artist's studio at 1155 Broadway , as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller . Mitchell held a 75% interest in the magazine with the remaining 25% held by Miller. Both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Miller served as secretary-treasurer of
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4662-561: The Year is awarded through Vasa Order of America District Lodges 19 and 20 in Sweden. Formal church membership in 1936 was reported as: The affiliated membership of a church is much larger than the formal membership. Other churches Until 2000, the Church of Sweden was the official state church of Sweden. The Nobel Conference is an academic conference held annually at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota . Founded in 1963,
4773-570: The activities and attractions used to enhance the Swedish image. The Lindsborg plan is representative of growing national interest in ethnic heritage, historic preservation, and small-town nostalgia in the late 20th century. Several holidays celebrated in Sweden have been brought to the United States by Swedish Americans. These include Trettondagen ( Epiphany ), Tjugondedag Knut ( Saint Canute's Day ), Fettisdagen ( Shrove Tuesday ), Valborg ( Walpurgis Night ), Midsummer and Lucia ( Saint Lucy's Day ). Some are already celebrated in
4884-405: The agrarian lifestyle they had left behind in Sweden, as many immigrants settled on farms throughout the Midwest. There are towns scattered throughout the Midwest, such as Lindsborg, Kansas and Lindström, Minnesota , that to this day continue to celebrate their Swedish heritage. The port of New York, imports of Swedish iron, and the prevalence of Swedish mariners factored in making New York City
4995-565: The best offer. Beginning in 1953, a Spanish-language edition was published, titled Life en español. It had a circulation of over 300,000 in Latin America. For his 1955 Museum of Modern Art traveling exhibition The Family of Man , which was to be seen by nine million visitors worldwide, curator Edward Steichen relied heavily on photographs from Life; 111 of the 503 pictures shown, constituting more than 20% as counted by Abigail Solomon-Godeau . His assistant Wayne Miller entered
5106-472: The captions that the photos were fuzzy because Capa's hands were shaking. He denied it, claiming that the darkroom had ruined his negatives. Later he poked fun at Life by titling his war memoir Slightly Out of Focus (1947). In 1954, Capa was killed after stepping on a land mine , while working for the magazine covering the First Indochina War . Life photographer Bob Landry also went in with
5217-414: The casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world...We shall have something to say about religion, about politics, fashion, society, literature, the stage, the stock exchange, and the police station, and we will speak out what is in our mind as fairly, as truthfully, and as decently as we know how. The magazine was a success and soon attracted the industry's leading contributors, of which
5328-740: The city's wire and abrasive industries. By the early 20th century numerous churches, organizations, businesses, and benevolent associations had been organized – among them, the Swedish Cemetery Corporation (1885), the Swedish Lutheran Old People's Home (1920), Fairlawn Hospital (1921), and the Scandinavian Athletic Club (1923). These institutions survive today, although some have mainstreamed their names. Numerous local lodges of national Swedish American organizations also flourished and
5439-649: The colonization. Known today as Little Sweden, Lindsborg is the economic and spiritual center of the Smoky Valley. The rise of agribusiness , the decline of the family farm, the arrival of nearby discount stores, and the "economic bypass" of the new interstate system wrought economic havoc on this community. By the 1970s Lindsborg residents pulled together a unique combination of musical, artistic, intellectual, and ethnic strengths to reinvent their town. The Sandzén Gallery, Runbeck Mill, Swedish Pavilion, historical museum at Bethany College, and Messiah Festival were among
5550-1078: The conference links a general audience with the world's foremost scholars and researchers in conversations centered on contemporary issues related to the natural and social sciences. It is the first ongoing academic conference in the United States to have the official authorization of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. A few small towns in the U.S. have retained a few visible Swedish characteristics. Some examples include Silverhill, Alabama ; Cambridge, Minnesota ; Lindstrom, Minnesota ; Karlstad, Minnesota ; Scandia, Minnesota ; Lindsborg, Kansas ; Gothenburg, Nebraska ; Oakland, Nebraska ; Andover, Illinois ; Kingsburg, California ; Bishop Hill, Illinois ; Jamestown, New York ; Mount Jewett, PA , Wilcox, PA , and Westby, Wisconsin , as well as significant areas of central Texas, including New Sweden and Georgetown, and areas in northern Maine: New Sweden, Stockholm, Jemptland, and Westmanland. Around 3.9% of
5661-489: The country. Life in the 1950s earned a measure of respect by commissioning work from top authors. After Life 's publication in 1952 of Ernest Hemingway 's The Old Man and the Sea , the magazine contracted with the author for a 4,000-word piece on bullfighting. Hemingway sent the editors a 10,000-word article, following his last visit to Spain in 1959 to cover a series of contests between two top matadors . The article
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#17327763189045772-536: The diamond patterns. For the first 8 feet (2.4 m) he left an opening at the top. This specimen today is featured as the centerpiece of Gilroy Gardens . His roadside attraction The Tree Circus opened in the spring of 1947. On June 4, 1947, Erlandson wrote to Robert Ripley sending him 2 photos of his trees and inviting him to visit. Over the years, Erlandson's trees appeared twelve times in Robert's column, Ripley's Believe It or Not! . Income from visitor admissions
5883-800: The dynamics of economic and cultural assimilation and the " American Dream " in one small city. Most Swedes in McKeesport, Pennsylvania , between 1880 and 1920 were permanent settlers rather than temporary migrants. Many ended up comfortably off and a few became prosperous. They judged their success against Swedes in Sweden, not McKeesporters of other nationalities. They had no illusions about American life but they chose to stay and confront difficult living and working conditions rather than move on or return to Sweden where good jobs were scarce and paid much less. Many of their children were upwardly socially mobile, and America offered girls in particular greater opportunities than Sweden did. The immigrants greatly valued
5994-400: The early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arriving between 1865–1915. These immigrants settled predominantly in the Midwest, particularly in states like Minnesota , Illinois , and Wisconsin , in similarity with other Nordic and Scandinavian Americans . Populations also grew in the Pacific Northwest in
6105-614: The election. Dewey was expected to win the election, and this mistake was also made by the Chicago Tribune . On May 10, 1950, the council of ministers in Cairo banned Life from Egypt forever. All issues on sale were confiscated. No reason was given, but Egyptian officials expressed indignation over the April 10, 1950 story about King Farouk of Egypt, entitled the "Problem King of Egypt". The government considered it insulting to
6216-528: The family loaded their possessions into a rented box car and moved with a couple of other Swedish families to live at Hilmar , a new Evangelical Covenant Church colony in the Central Valley of California promising irrigated land for farming operations. He married his wife, Leona Bobbett (1896-1978), in 1914 and they had one daughter, Wilma. He farmed outside of Hilmar, near his parents, raising beans and other crops. There, inspired by having observed
6327-564: The features and styles of Life ; it recruited staff from its editorial and art departments. Another blow to Life 's circulation came from raunchy humor periodicals such as Ballyhoo and Hooey , which ran what can be termed " outhouse " gags. In 1933, Esquire joined Life 's competitors. In its final years, Life struggled to make a profit. Announcing the end of Life , Maxwell stated: "We cannot claim, like Mr. Gene Tunney , that we resigned our championship undefeated in our prime. But at least we hope to retire gracefully from
6438-494: The first issue to more than one million a week four months later. It soon challenged The Saturday Evening Post , then the largest-circulation weekly in the country. The magazine's success stimulated many imitators, such as Look , which was founded a year later in 1937 and ran until 1971. Luce moved Life into its own building at 19 West 31st Street, a Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1894. Later Life moved its editorial offices to 9 Rockefeller Plaza . A co-founder of
6549-454: The first wave at D-Day, "but all of Landry's film was lost, and his shoes to boot." In a notable mistake, in its final edition just before the 1948 U.S. presidential election , the magazine printed a large photo showing U.S. presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey and his staff riding across San Francisco , California harbor entitled "Our Next President Rides by Ferryboat over San Francisco Bay ". Incumbent President Harry S. Truman won
6660-466: The first waves of migration the Swedes were also subjected to certain stereotypes and prejudices. The expression "dumb Swede" was established as they had difficulty learning English. There were entertainment shows which used a character called "John Johnsson" when poking fun at Swedes. He was dumb, clumsy, drank too much and talked with a funny accent. Many also complained about the smell of the Swedes that
6771-452: The gestures of the proud; to see strange things—machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man's work—his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women that men love and many children; to see and take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed... Luce's first issue cover depicted
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#17327763189046882-468: The growth of an institutional structure—a Swedish-language press, churches and colleges, and ethnic organizations—that placed a premium on sponsoring a sense of Swedishness in the United States. Blanck (2006) argues that after 1890 there emerged a self-confident Americanized generation. At prestigious Augustana College , for example, American-born students began to predominate after 1890. The students mostly had white-collar or professional backgrounds; few were
6993-469: The history of the Russian Revolution. As the 1950s drew to a close and television became more popular, the magazine was losing readers. In May 1959 it announced plans to reduce its regular news-stand price from 25 cents a copy to 20. With the increase in television sales and viewership, interest in news magazines was waning. Life had to try to create a new form. In the 1960s, the magazine
7104-664: The lower Hudson Valley, was stabbed to death by Albert Cornelis Wantenaer. Present day reminders of the history of New Sweden are reflected in the presence of the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia, Fort Christina State Park in Wilmington, Delaware, Governor Printz Park , and the Printzhof in Essington, Pennsylvania. Swedish emigration to the United States had reached new heights in 1896, and it
7215-445: The magazine and managed the business side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year-old illustrator who used a $ 10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, served as its publisher. He also created the first Life name-plate with cupids as mascots and later on, drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Then he took advantage of a new printing process using zinc-coated plates, which improved
7326-427: The magazine in 1936 and with this the publication was relaunched, becoming the first all-photographic American news magazine. Its role in the history of photojournalism is considered one of its most important contributions to the world of publishing. From 1936 to the 1960s, Life was a wide-ranging general-interest magazine known for its photojournalism . During this period it was one of the most popular magazines in
7437-410: The magazine's archive in late 1953 and spent an estimated nine months there. He searched through 3.5 million images, most in the form of original negatives (only in the last years of the war did the picture department start to print contact sheets of all assignments) and submitted to Steichen for selection many that had not been published in the magazine. In November 1954, the actress Dorothy Dandridge
7548-532: The magazine's team in a Times 's publisher's letter, dated May 8, 1944.) Life backed the war effort each week. In July 1942, Life launched its first art contest for soldiers and drew more than 1,500 entries, submitted by all ranks. Judges sorted out the best and awarded $ 1,000 in prizes. Life picked 16 for reproduction in the magazine. The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. agreed to put 117 entries on exhibition that summer. Life , also supported
7659-412: The maintenance of the Swedish language and culture among Swedish Americans, especially the younger generation. However, they returned to Sweden in 1934 and Vasa itself became Americanized. As a highly literate population, their output of print media was even more remarkable, and cultural leadership was exerted by numerous magazine and newspaper editors more so than by churchmen. The Swedish American press
7770-567: The military's efforts to use artists to document the war. When Congress forbade the armed forces from using government money to fund artists in the field, Life privatized the programs, hiring many of the artists being let go by the Department of War (which would later become the Department of Defense ). On December 7, 1960, Life managers later donated many of the works by such artists to the Department of War and its art programs, such as
7881-494: The more profitable newsstand sales. Gary Valk was publisher when, on December 8, 1972, the magazine announced it would cease publication by the end of the year and lay off hundreds of staff. The weekly Life magazine published its last issue on December 29, 1972. From 1972 to 1978, Time Inc. published ten Life Special Reports on such themes as "The Spirit of Israel", "Remarkable American Women" and "The Year in Pictures". With
7992-616: The most important was Charles Dana Gibson . Three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native first sold Life a drawing for $ 4: a dog outside his kennel howling at the Moon. Encouraged by a publisher, also an artist, Gibson was joined at Life by illustrators Palmer Cox , creator of the Brownie , A. B. Frost , Oliver Herford , and E. W. Kemble . Life ' s literary roster included John Kendrick Bangs , James Whitcomb Riley , and Brander Matthews . Mitchell
8103-403: The mural of life-size leathermen in the bar, which had been painted by Chuck Arnett in 1962. The article described San Francisco as "The Gay Capital of America" and inspired many gay leathermen to move there. On March 25, 1966, Life featured the drug LSD as its cover story. The drug had attracted attention among the counterculture and was not yet criminalized. In March 1967, Life won
8214-425: The mushrooms, which were used in traditional religious rituals. Life ' s motto became "To see Life; to see the world." The magazine produced many popular science serials, such as The World We Live In and The Epic of Man in the early 1950s. The magazine continued to showcase the work of notable illustrators, such as Alton S. Tobey , whose contributions included the cover for a 1958 series of articles on
8325-595: The neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle , Washington, and by the Swedish Medical Center , a major hospital also in Seattle. In Oregon, Swedish immigrant populations were concentrated in the rural areas east of Portland , and a significant Swedish community was also established in the coastal city of Astoria along with Finnish and Norwegian settlers who worked in the timber and fishing industries. In
8436-410: The new Life magazine, Longwell served as managing editor from 1944 to 1946 and chairman of the board of editors until his retirement in 1954. He was credited for publishing Winston Churchill 's The Second World War and Ernest Hemingway 's The Old Man and the Sea . Luce also selected Edward Kramer Thompson , a stringer for Time , as assistant picture editor in 1937. From 1949 to 1961 he
8547-407: The new owners defaulted. Subsequent lease owners went in and out of business. In 1977 the property was purchased for commercial development by Robert Hogan and the trees were scheduled to be bulldozed. Mark Primack, a young architect, began documenting the trees and their story and received an art grant to draw and record them as they were. Joseph Cahill, a landscape designer, paid Hogan $ 12,000 for
8658-473: The next 22 years as general-interest, news features magazine. In 1986, it marked its 50th anniversary under the Time Inc. umbrella with a special issue showing every Life cover starting from 1936, which included the issues published during the six-year hiatus in the 1970s. The circulation in this era hovered around 1.5 million. The cover price in 1986 was $ 2.50 (equivalent to $ 6.95 in 2023). The publisher
8769-431: The novels of Lillian Budd (1897–1989), especially April Snow (1951), Land of Strangers (1953), and April Harvest (1959). Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg wrote a series of four books about a group of Swedish-American emigrants, starting with The Emigrants (1949), which were translated in the 1950s and 1960s. They were also filmed by Jan Troell as The Emigrants and The New Land . Baigent (2000) explores
8880-534: The people," he said. A June 1964 Paul Welch Life article, "Homosexuality In America", was the first time a national mainstream publication reported on gay issues. Life 's photographer was referred to the gay leather bar in San Francisco called the Tool Box for the article by Hal Call , who had long worked to dispel the myth that all gay men were effeminate. The article opened with a two-page spread of
8991-611: The principal port of entry for Swedish immigrants. Swedes have been persistent during the long history of New York City, but have never been a major immigrant group in the metropolitan region. The place name for the Bronx has its origins in the early settler Jonas Bronck , who was part of the New Netherland colony in 1639 and likely of Swedish origin. A Swedish neighborhood along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn developed beginning in
9102-508: The religious freedom that America offered, but their political freedoms were heavily circumscribed by McKeesport's "booze interest" and iron and steel bosses. Swedes dominated the prohibition movement in the town, but this did not open the door to a wider political stage. The dreams of many individual Swedes came true, but the dream of creating a permanent Swedish community in McKeesport was not realized, since individual Swedes moved on within
9213-690: The reproduction of his illustrations and artwork. This edge helped because Life faced stiff competition from the best-selling humor magazines Judge and Puck , which were already established and successful. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as Life ' s first literary editor; the recent Harvard University graduate was a founder of the Harvard Lampoon . The motto of the first issue of Life was: "While there's Life, there's hope." The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers: We wish to have some fun in this paper...We shall try to domesticate as much as possible of
9324-404: The scarlet woman because of my rather puritanical upbringing and beliefs. I couldn't just have a romance. It had to be a marriage." In the 1960s, the magazine printed photographs by Gordon Parks . "The camera is my weapon against the things I dislike about the universe and how I show the beautiful things about the universe," Parks recalled in 2000. "I didn't care about Life magazine. I cared about
9435-522: The screen star. "I'm not a 'sex queen' or a 'sex symbol,' " Taylor said. "I don't think I want to be one. Sex symbol kind of suggests bathrooms in hotels or something. I do know I'm a movie star and I like being a woman, and I think sex is absolutely gorgeous. But as far as a sex goddess, I don't worry myself that way... Richard is a very sexy man. He's got that sort of jungle essence that one can sense... When we look at each other, it's like our eyes have fingers and they grab ahold.... I think I ended up being
9546-697: The sea to the Big Country in the west. Swedes, moreover, were among the first founders of America with their New Sweden colony in Delaware. Swedish America was present in Congress under the Articles of Confederation period, and its role was momentous in fighting the war against slavery. As a paragon of freedom and the struggle against unfreedom, and as an exemplar of the courage of the Vikings in contrast to
9657-463: The sons and daughters of farmers and laborers. These students developed an idealized view of Sweden, characterized by romanticism, patriotism, and idealism, just like their counterparts across the Atlantic. The new generation was especially proud of the Swedish contributions to American democracy and the creation of a republic that promised liberty and destroyed the menace of slavery. A key spokesman
9768-408: The states of Oregon and Washington at the turn of the twentieth century. As a community, Swedish Americans have contributed to various aspects of American life, including politics, the arts, sciences, and business. They brought with them distinct cultural traditions like unique culinary practices, language, and celebrations such as Midsummer . These traditions are preserved by institutions such as
9879-494: The summer of 1865 by a farmer in the Swedish lands of the Midwest to relatives in his home country, tells how they were at work out on the farm, when the news of President Lincoln 's death reached them. In words which clearly speak of how this notice chilled them to the core, we're told of how their chores came to a halt, how their tools fell from the hands of the men, how these Swedish settlers felt as if their whole faith in life suddenly had been displaced, had collapsed. Their pain
9990-554: The trees and was given two and a half years to move them. Cahill cleaned up the site, and "Suddenly the good citizens of Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley were upset." A committee called the Friends of Scotts Valley Tree Circus was formed by Joe Cucchiara to keep the old trees put. At times Primack and his friends risked arrest for trespassing in order to water and feed the trees. Primack was quoted as saying "I know of no other single person who has taken ornamental grafting to such an extreme, it
10101-643: The war effort that it was censored from copies of the magazine sold outside North America. The magazine hired war photographer Robert Capa in July 1943 to cover the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. A veteran of Collier's magazine, Capa accompanied the first wave of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France , on June 6, 1944, and returned with only a handful of images, many of them out of focus. The magazine wrote in
10212-400: The weekly news magazine, Luce circulated a confidential prospectus within Time Inc. in 1936, which described his vision for the new Life magazine, and what he viewed as its unique purpose. Life magazine was to be the first publication, with a focus on photographs, that enabled the American public, To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and
10323-417: The whole pole is covered. The men then lift it upright while the women follow in a line behind singing as they walk around with the maypole. At the end of the song, the men place the maypole in a hole in the ground raising it to its final position. The celebrations in Sweden often last all day and night with food and alcoholic beverage accompanied with songs and snapsvisor . Annually a Swedish American of
10434-409: The woods'). Upon arrival, they knelt in prayer and gave thanks to God. This area soon expanded and other settlements were named Stockholm , Jemtland , and Westmanland , in honor of their Swedish heritage. ( Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, while Jämtland and Västmanland are Swedish provinces.) The town of New Sweden, Maine , celebrates St. Lucia , Midsummer , and Founders Day (July 23). It
10545-401: The year. Many Swedes dress in traditional folk costumes , often with girls and women wearing flowered head garlands, and gather together to eat, sing traditional songs with bands playing, and dance around a maypole . Festivities begin with decorating the horizontal maypole as people gather to affix greenery first, then after thus covering most of the pole, they add various types of flowers until
10656-509: Was Johan Alfred Enander, longtime editor of Hemlandet (Swedish for 'The Homeland'), the Swedish newspaper in Chicago. Enander argued that the Vikings were instrumental in enabling the "freedom" that spread not only throughout the British Isles, but America as well. Adolph B. Benson in ending the book Vår svenska stam på utländsk mark i västerled, USA och Kanada , Stockholm 1952 (pages 428–429): An old emigrant letter, written in
10767-767: Was accused of anti-Semitism at a time of high rates of immigration to New York of Eastern European Jews . When the magazine blamed the theatrical team of Klaw & Erlanger for Chicago 's Iroquois Theater Fire in 1903, many people complained. Life 's drama critic, James Stetson Metcalfe , was barred from the 47 Manhattan theatres controlled by the Theatrical Syndicate . Life published caricatures of Jews with large noses. Several individuals would publish their first major works in Life . In 1908 Robert Ripley published his first cartoon in Life , 20 years before his Believe It or Not! fame. Norman Rockwell 's first cover for Life magazine, Tain't You ,
10878-475: Was bilingual by now and the youth could hardly understand the old language. Swedish language newspapers lost circulation. Most communities typically switched to English by 1920. By the 1930s, assimilation into American life styles was almost complete, with few experiences of hostility or discrimination. After 1940, the Swedish language was rarely taught in high schools or colleges, and Swedish-language newspapers or magazines nearly all closed. A few small towns in
10989-552: Was born in 1884, in Halland , Sweden, to Alfred Erlandson (1850–1915) and Kristina Larsson (1844–1922). He had two older brothers, Ludwig (1879–1957) and Anthon (1881–1970), and one younger sister, Emma Swanson (1886–1969). The family emigrated to the United States in early 1886, settling in New Folden Township, Marshall County, Minnesota , where his father farmed and built barns, homes, and churches. His family also ran
11100-436: Was considered to smell fishy like herrings. In 1901 Horace Glenn wrote, "Walking behind a string of Swedes is impossible to a person with delicate nose. It's an odor which could only come from generations of unwashed ancestors." Swedish Americans opposed entry into World War I, in which Sweden was neutral. Political pressures during the war encouraged a rapid switch from Swedish to English in church services—the older generation
11211-529: Was filled with color photos of movie stars, President John F. Kennedy and his family, the war in Vietnam , and the Apollo program . Typical of the magazine's editorial focus was a long 1964 feature on actress Elizabeth Taylor and her relationship with actor Richard Burton . Journalist Richard Meryman traveled with Taylor to New York , California , and Paris . Life ran a 6,000-word first-person article on
11322-400: Was great and gripping. This is a concrete image, taken directly from life. Lincoln, who'd brought the civil war to an end in victory, and thus put an end to slavery, to these people had become a symbol, an ideal, of freedom, of right, of law. And all this was what they valued the most in life. To a significant extent, it was also the pursuit of that ideal that had brought them the long way across
11433-486: Was in this year that the Vasa Order of America , a Swedish American fraternal organization, was founded to help immigrants, who often lacked an adequate network of social services. Swedish Americans usually came through New York City and subsequently settled in the upper Midwest . Most were Lutheran and belonged to synods now associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , including
11544-595: Was incorporated into New Netherland in 1655, and ceased to be an official territory of the Realm of Sweden . However, many Swedish and Finnish colonists remained and were allowed some political and cultural autonomy. A victim of one of the earliest recorded murders in North America was an immigrant from Sweden. In 1665, in Brooklyn, New York, Barent Jansen Blom, progenitor of the Blom/Bloom family of Brooklyn and
11655-598: Was loaned to the World Expo 2005 , Aichi, Japan for display in the Growing Village pavilion. Erlandson's "Telephone Booth Tree" is on permanent display at the Baltimore , Maryland American Visionary Art Museum . Swedish American 768,809 (0.2%) Swedish alone Swedish Americans ( Swedish : Svenskamerikaner ) are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to
11766-453: Was published May 10, 1917. His paintings were featured on Life 's cover 28 times between 1917 and 1924. Rea Irvin , the first art director of The New Yorker and creator of the character " Eustace Tilley ", began his career by drawing covers for Life . This version of Life took sides in politics and international affairs, and published pro-American editorials. After Germany attacked Belgium in 1914, Mitchell and Gibson undertook
11877-500: Was republished in 1985 as the novella, The Dangerous Summer . In February 1953, just a few weeks after leaving office, President Harry S. Truman announced that Life magazine would handle all rights to his memoirs. Truman said it was his belief that by 1954 he would be able to speak more fully on subjects pertaining to the role his administration played in world affairs. Truman observed that Life editors had presented other memoirs with great dignity; he added that Life had also made
11988-561: Was scant, however, as the 1940 opening of Highway 17 had gradually routed tourist traffic away from the old stage route. In 1955, a relatively good year, the Tree Circus brought in $ 321.20. Life Magazine ran a pictorial in its January 14, 1957, issue, improving attendance. The ecosystem ecologist, Nalini M. Nadkarni has written about the circus trees, and arborsculpture and many other tree arts in her book, Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees ; she calls Erlandson
12099-516: Was the first African-American woman to be featured on the cover of the magazine. In 1957, R. Gordon Wasson , a vice president at J. P. Morgan , published an article in Life extolling the virtues of magic mushrooms . This prompted Albert Hofmann to isolate psilocybin in 1958 for distribution by Sandoz alongside LSD in the U.S., further raising interest in LSD in the mass media. Following Wasson's report, Timothy Leary visited Mexico to try out
12210-441: Was the managing editor, and served as editor-in-chief for nearly a decade, until his retirement in 1970. His influence was significant during the magazine's heyday, which was roughly from 1936 until the mid-1960s. Thompson was known for the free rein he gave his editors, particularly a "trio of formidable and colorful women: Sally Kirkland , fashion editor; Mary Letherbee, movie editor; and Mary Hamman , modern living editor." When
12321-567: Was the second largest foreign-language press in the United States (after German language imprints) in 1910. By 1910 about 1200 Swedish periodicals had been started in several states. Valkyrian , a magazine based in New York City, helped fashion a distinct Swedish American culture between 1897 and 1909. Valkyrian helped strengthen ethnicity by drawing on collective memory and religion, mythicizing Swedish and Swedish American history, describing American history, politics, and current events in
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