Welcome to the Scandinavian Cultural Center's Online Collections Database!
Thanks to Thomas O. Carlson for funding the Online Collection Database
About the Scandinavian Cultural Center's Collection
The Collections and Collection Records
The Scandinavian Cultural Center, its Director, Council, and Membership are excited to share our collection of Nordic and Nordic American artifacts with you! The Scandinavian Cultural Center's Collections includes about 3000+ artifacts from Nordic and Nordic American cultures. Our online collection records are a work in progress. We will concentrate first on getting all our records online with the most correct information and then on fine-tuning the collection records. If you see something you think we need to know about a particular artifact, we encourage you to click on the feedback button found on the artifact's page. For more general inquiries or comments, please contact our office at "scancenter[at]plu.edu" (replace [at] with @ to email us).
Tips for Searching
Keyword Search
The Keyword Search button allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields for any catalog records online. Keyword searches use OR as the default connector between words (e.g. a search for Daughters Norway will return records associated with Daughters OR Norway). If you want to find records where both keywords are found, type in AND between the two words. To search for a specific phrase, be sure to put the phrase within quotes (e.g. "Daughters of Norway"). You can also use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard (e.g. a search for histor* would come up with records containing history, histories, historical, etc.). Searches are not case sensitive.
Advanced Search
The Advanced Search button can help you be more specific with your search. You can search for a word or phrase within a particular search category or use multiple categories to further narrow down your search results. For example, searching Hinderlie in the People field will bring up any records associated with a member of the Hinderlie family, without having to sift through black & white photographs. You can also search People and Creator records through Advanced Search. Phrase searching with quotes and use of wildcards (*) are available in Advanced Search.
Random Images
The Random Images button is a great way to just browse the collection. Each Random Images page displays a random assortment of images from the records online. If something piques your interest, click the thumbnail to view a larger version of the image.
Catalog Searches (Libraries / Artifacts)
The catalog buttons can also help narrow down your search, by only searching with a selected catalog. If you only want to search for Libraries, click the Libraries button and type in your keyword(s) or phrase. You can also browse records within that catalog without performing a search. Phrase searching, wildcards (*) as well as AND/OR statements are available when performing catalog searches.
For Students: Suggested Citations
Different citation systems (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc) have different ways to cite artifacts. MLA suggests Name of object, Catalog number, Organization, and the year. The date of retrieval and a link should be included as well. For example:
"Fishing Net Needle." 1983.001.001. Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University, 2020. Retrieved Jan. 30, 2020. (link).
Be sure to check the citation system guide your professor requires for details on artifact citation.