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Saturday, January 28
Life and Death: the thoughts of the Viking warrior on the afterlife (Programs)
10:00 am to 12:00 pm Annual meeting - Live Hybrid Webinar (Recorded)
What were the beliefs of the Viking-age people about what happened to them after their death?
William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson will discuss their beliefs, including: Valhöll (Valhalla) the realm of Óðinn; Freyja and her field for the slain at Fólksvangr; the walking dead roaming with their battle wounds; Orðstírr (word glory) the essence of a man that continued long after death.
In this presentation, these topics and many more will be discussed, based on the research they conducted for their most recent book, Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat. They will discuss what is known about the Viking belief in life after death based on mythological sources, along with archaeological, pictorial, and literary sources, such as law codes and runestones.
Dr. William R. Short was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from MIT and spent many years in research in fields related to acoustics and audio, receiving dozens of patents, and sharing the IPO Inventor of the Year award in 1987. After reading a few sagas and taking a summer course at the University of Iceland, Dr. Short pivoted to a full-time study of Viking-related topics, focusing on combat. He is the manager of the New England-based organization Hurstwic and leads their research. He was a research fellow at Higgins Armory Museum. He is the co-author (with Reynir) of Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat (Westholme 2021) and author of several other books on Viking topics.
Reynir A. Óskarson grew up in Iceland, a land steeped in Viking history where the sagas are required reading in school. Starting at an early age, Reynir received extensive martial arts training in many forms of combat. He holds instructor’s degrees in a number of combative arts, and he has been teaching, giving seminars, and competing both domestically and abroad. Reynir’s research in glíma, the Viking-age empty-hand combat that evolved into Iceland’s national sport has received accolades from current and past chairmen and champions at Glímusamband Íslands, the wrestling association of Iceland.
Location and Hybrid Participation Options
This will be our annual meeting, followed by a live virtual webinar, starting at 10am Central Standard Time. This will be a hybrid program, with the following options available for participating.
- In-person attendance - our programs are held at the Minnesota Genealogy Center, 1385 Mendota Heights Road Suite 100 in Mendota Heights, MN.
- Virtual – The Zoom link will be emailed to all members before the program.
- A recording will be available if you can’t attend in-person or virtually.
Members
No quarterly program fee and you don’t need to register in advance.
Non-members
The cost is $10 per person. If you attend in person, no need to register and pay in advance. Zoom participants can register online below, or if you prefer to mail your registration and check, print and mail this Registration Form. We must recieve your registration by Wednesday, January 25.
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Sunday, January 29
Monthly Member Offering - Fika! (Other Genealogical Events)
2:00 pm to 3:15 pm Live Virtual Discussion
You are invited to Fika! As a free benefit to members, SGSM is offering a monthly, hour-long virtual gathering called Fika. Grab a cup of coffee and logon to join your fellow Swedish family researchers for conversation, learning, and getting to know each other.
Fika is not a class or presentation, but an open discussion where Fika friends can ask questions and assist other researchers. We will kick off each meeting with a quick (10 minutes or so) introduction to Swedish place, document type, or research method, just to get the conversation rolling.
When: Sunday, January 29, 2022, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Zoom (Members will receive an email with a link to the Zoom meeting.)
Topic for November: Elizabeth Williams Gomoll, CG®, will give a brief presentation on "How can we preserve our artifacts from our Swedish families?"
BYOC: Bring Your Own Coffee (and snack)
No registration is required
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Saturday, March 25
Finding the Home Parish of Your Swedish Ancestor (Programs)
10:00 am to 12:00 pm Janet Johnson - Live Hybrid Webinar (recorded)
One of the most difficult pieces of information to find for American descendants of Swedes can be the home parish of their immigrant ancestor. We will review many tools that can help the family historian determine the home parish including databases, US church records, newspapers, and other resources. Once the home parish is determined the researcher typically has access to the wonderful Swedish Church records for advancing their research. We will discuss naming practices, and name changes as well. A discussion of jurisdictions, provinces, and mother parishes to help researchers find their home location in Sweden. Though knowing your ancestor is from Värmland (county and province) is helpful, knowing the parish will allow the researcher to expand their genealogical journey with greater precision.
Janet Johnson has been an avid genealogical researcher for more than 45 years. Her specific interests are Sweden, Finland, Nova Scotia and New England. She has completed ProGen 56, Boston University Genealogical Certification course, the SLIG session on Swedish and Finnish research. For more than 20 years she has led a group of researchers in the metro DC area with monthly meetings relating to their Swedish research, where we discuss problem solving and breaking through brick walls. A member of the Swedish Genealogy Conference, the NEGHS, NGS, Mainland Heritage Society, DIS, and Swedish Finns Society.
Location and Hybrid Participation Options
This will be a hybrid program, with the following options available for participating.
- In-person attendance - our programs are held at the Minnesota Genealogy Center, 1385 Mendota Heights Road Suite 100 in Mendota Heights, MN.
- Virtual – The Zoom link will be emailed to all members before the program.
- A recording will be available if you can’t attend in-person or virtually.
No registration is required for members.
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Saturday, April 22
SGSM 40th Anniversary Celebration (Programs)
11:00 am to 2:00 pm American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Save the date!
Remember back when you were 39 years old and on the verge of turning 40? That’s exactly where SGSM is, and we’re planning a celebration of our society’s history, what we’ve become, and also celebrating ourselves as members of SGSM. Please join us as we gather to share memories together over a smörgåsbord luncheon, with entertainment by Scandinavian musicians Ross Sutter and Art Bjorngjeld.
Watch for more details and registration info in the next Tidningen and here on our website.
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