PAUL S. SWENSSON:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society

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BIOGRAPHY OF PAUL S. SWENSSON

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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SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION

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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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note both the location and box numbers shown below.

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