Swante Palm

Ney, Elisabet, 1833-1907, “Sir Swante Palm (1815-1899), plaster, 1898-1899,” Elisabet Ney Museum Digital Collections, accessed April 19, 2022, https://elisabetneymuseum.omeka.net/items/show/196

Swante was born in Basthult, Sweden on January 31, 1815. His parents were farmers, but they saw to it he was tutored privately by the parish clerk. From 1830 to 1844 Palm moved around, holding jobs as a clerk, sheriff’s officer, and part-time journalist. In 1844 his nephew, S. M. Swenson, one year Palm’s junior, persuaded him to come to America. Palm came to La Grange, Texas working in Swenson's mercantile store and was postmaster there. He then served from 1853 to 1854 as diplomatic secretary to the American consul in Panama, but the hot weather forced Palm back to Austin.

Through his endeavors with S.M. Swenson, Swante Palm did participate in chattel slavery before the Civil War in Texas. He was against secession of the South from the Union, and was understood to be against slavery as a practice. However, his business endeavors prospered through labor by enslaved people, and instead of emancipating the people he enslaved, he sold them. In a letter printed in 1855 in T.N. Hasselquist's Swedish newspaper Hemlandet, published out of Illinois, Palm defends slavery, which was not the view of all Swedish immigrants. In La Grange in March, 1854 he married Agnes Alm, also from Sweden. He had proposed to her through the mail and sent her the money to come to Texas. When the couple arrived in Austin, S.M. Swenson held a banquet in their honor, attended by Governor Pease and other prominent citizens. They lived at 109 W. 9th St. There is a plaque in his honor between 8th & 9th on the West side of Congress. The Palms had a son, Agnes Palm, who died during infancy in 1881. Palm served on the City Council, School Board and was Austin’s first Postmaster. He was an insurance agent, chief clerk at the State Treasury, and the meteorologist for the Texas Geological and Agricultural Survey, read at least five languages, and was an amateur archaeologist. He worked to set up Austin’s public water system and helped found the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church (now Gethsemane Lutheran Church) in Austin. When Austin started forming public schools back in the early 1900s,  Palm School was named for him.  Palm was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree by Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas in 1891. The Sir Swante Palm Neighborhood Park is just north of the Palm School, and used to house a neighborhood pool.

Palm operated a Swedish consulate out of his home on Ninth Street, where the ubiquitous O. Henry was a boarder, and worked as the Texas Vice-Consul for Sweden and Norway from 1866 to 1899. He encouraged immigration from Scandinavia to Texas, loaned new settlers money, and even served as a marriage broker. He revisited his homeland for three months in 1873 and for a year in 1883. During the latter visit, King Oscar II of Sweden decorated Palm with the Order of Vasa for his diplomatic efforts and scholarly achievements. When Palm returned to Austin everyone started referring to him as “Sir Swante,” even though the title was not technically correct. In 1897, Palm donated the bulk of his library to the University of Texas. Less than one-third of the volumes were in Swedish, the rest being in English, Latin, German, and French. Many of the items in the Palm collection are now counted as rarities. Palm was given a position as Assistant Librarian at the University, and provided with a small room and meals until the end of his days. In this way, Swante Palm and five assistants worked processing and cataloguing the books he had spent his long and busy life collecting. He died on June 22, 1899 in Austin, Texas and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Section 1, lot 72, where a historic marker was placed for him.

Condensed from a longer article submitted in 1991 to the Texas Historical Commission as part of a nomination for a Texas Historical Marker at the site of the original house and Swedish Consulate 

The home that housed the famous library and was the site of the Swedish consulate was located at 107 Ash Street (now West 9th Street) in downtown Austin. The exact date of the construction of the frame structure is not known but some place the date as 1851 or 1853. ¹  

Austin's first City Directory in 1872 lists Swante Palm as "res. Ash Street, between Congress Avenue and Colorado Street." In the 1885-1886 directory he is listed as "Swedish and Norwegian Consul, office and residence 107 West Ash." All of these references and addresses would put the property at lots 5 and 6 in Block 98. All subsequent city directories until his death in 1899, listed his home and office as the Ash street address.

A two story brick addition to the frame house was constructed in 1879. During the summer and fall of 1879, the Austin Statesman newspaper commented several times regarding the construction. On July 2, 1879, the newspaper wrote:

"Mr. Swante Palm is having the old shanties on the corner of the Avenue and Ash Street removed and a nice two story brick building will take their place. Work commenced yesterday." ² 

Other reference to the construction included: 

"Work on the second story of Mr. Palm's new brick building at the corner of the Avenue and Ash Street has commenced. It will be a very neat building when finished. (August 15 , 1879) ³ 

"Swante Palm, the excellent President of the Archeological Society of Texas and owner of the most singular and extensive collection of old and modern books in the South is about to construct a depository for them. He has almost finished a very tasteful block of buildings opposite the Statesman office, and his library building will be the chief attraction of the Capital." (September 10, 1879) ⁴ 

"Mr Swante Palm had several hands busily engaged in laying down a stone pavement in front of his residence on Ash Street yesterday. It adds much to the looks of the street." (October 11, 1879) ⁵ 

Palm enlarged his library and residence again in 1885. It was noted in the Austin Statesman: 

"Mr. Swante Palm, Swedish consul here raised an elegant Swedish flag yesterday from his residence on West Ash Street. The flag pole was 57 feet. Mr. Palm has just completed extensive additions to his residence, among other things enlarging his library room. He has one of the largest libraries in the South." (July 21, 1885)  ⁶ 

The frame house and two story brick addition continued to serve as the site of Palm's library, Swedish consulate, and home until his death in 1899. The frame structure was described by Miss Edna Palm and Mrs. Starkey Palm in an interview August 22, 1958 as “a tiny place.” The brick part “had beautiful windows.” Both structures survived until 1958, when they were demolished to make room for a parking lot. ⁷  First City Center presently occupies the site.

In his Master of Library Science thesis prepared in 1966, Alfred E. Rogers noted the duties Palm performed as Vice Consul: "He enjoyed the work: 'The pay is small, but it is Swedish work.' (letter to Ida Alum, October 7, 1869, Archives, The University of Texas). Palm performed wide-ranging duties as Vice-Consul. He helped the President of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College find two Swedish immigrants who would be 'good farm hands for the College farm... If they do not speak English, it will make no difference.' (letter to John James, President of State A&M College of Texas, November 4, 1880, Archives, University of Texas). Palm wrote families in Sweden who had turned to him for news of relatives in Texas. He kept the Swedish and Norwegian Consulate in New York informed about an epidemic of yellow fever which officials had heard was raging in Galveston and other places in Texas. Men wanting wives sometimes came to Palm for news of young women just arrived in Texas from Europe.”

To many inquiring Swedes, Palm sent descriptions of life in Texas: 

"All the political and social ideals in Texas give just as much promise for life and property as in other parts of the U.S. Consequently, emigrants do not risk in coming here." (letter to W.A. Henschen, October 29, 1869, Archives, University of Texas). 

"Man usually has to find his own work here and as he progresses and shows his ability he gets more pay and "grows up with land." (letter to John C. Chandler, July 17, 1869, Archives, University of Texas). 

"The price of land here is low. Here it costs $5. 00 to $10.00 per acre ... Young women find work in families for about ten to twelve dollars a month for as houseworkers, Swedish girls are much wanted." (letter to Erl. Anderson, September 20, 1869). 

"They (the Swedes) all get along nicely although they do often criticize each other - a thing which is easy to do and costs nothing." (letter to Andrew Ceder, August 5, 1869, Archives, The University of Texas). 

"All the Swedes are in good health and are increasing their wealth annually. They who have been here for five years now own land. They are better liked here than other nationalities; consequently, better work and better pay... The people are straight-forward and are perhaps more friendly than in the north, formerly called the U.S. Money means more here and the poor can soon become rich down here if they manage well and work. We have toleration in politics, religion, etc. Those who are here and have obtained homes are thriving well. The disturbers of peace are found here as well as elsewhere." (letter to N. Nelson, July 27, 1867, Archives, University of Texas).

Rogers elaborates, “Palm further encouraged immigration in his connection with the American Emigrant Company, an enterprise formed in the late 1860s to aid Scandinavians wanting to come to the United States. Palm accepted a Company agency in Austin and recommended Scandinavian immigrants to serve as agents in other Texas cities. Palm's nephews, Swen Swenson and August Palm, too, were interested in helping their countrymen, and with their uncle in Austin and another relative in Langasa, Sweden, they formed an efficient team." Its effectiveness is suggested in an 1870 news item: "The steamship Josephine brought yesterday 101 emigrants, all Swedes, and bound for Travis County." Dallas Herald, December 3, 1870. ⁸  

In November 1883, Palm was honored for his services as Vice Consul and for his scholarship by the Swedish King, Oscar II. ⁹  He was awarded Knighthood in the Order of Wasa, and was honored at dinners and balls. On his return visit to Austin he brought with him 4,000 books packed in iron bound chests furnished by the Swedish government. ¹⁰ 

This addition to his already existing library made his collection known throughout Texas. Although Palm is best known in the Swedish community as Vice Consul, he is better known in the Austin community for his library. He has been called Texas' first bibliographer.  ¹¹ 

"To Swante Palm, much of the pleasure of this companionship with books came in collecting them. Proof of this is his library, the largest private collection in nineteenth-century Texas. During his lifetime his library was sometime written up in admiring newspaper and magazine articles... On one aspect of Swante Palm's library, most descriptions concur: its variety. Palm was one of the 'miscellaneous collectors' of which he once wrote, and his library shows that there were few fields of knowledge which failed to interest him." ¹² 

The accession book of the University of Texas library catalogued the volumes at between 10,000 and 10,500 in number. The major categories included an estimated 22% in the social sciences, 28% in the language of the Scandinavian countries, 18% in English literature, 6% in science and technology, 8% in the fine arts and religion, 5% in biography, and 3% in American literature. 

“A more sophisticated collector in later years, Palm corresponded with book dealers in the United States and abroad. To one, for example, he wrote for catalogues of secondhand books; to another he wrote about the possibility of buying books more cheaply in New York than in San Antonio.”

“From time to time he wrote to various sources for information about books already in his library. In a letter to the British Museum, for instance, he asked for confirmation of a word printed in red on the title page of one of his books. When the Keeper of the British Museum answered offering to buy the volume, Palm replied that he had asked for an opinion about the spelling of the rubrio, and not the possibility of sale." ¹³ 

His correspondence reveals what his wife thought about his book collecting. In a letter to his sister-in-law he commented, "Agnes reads books like I do but she is a bit afraid that there are too many of them." (Letter to Ida Alum, October 7, 1869, Archives, University of Texas). A niece recalled that when Palm received new books, he would open the cases in the living room and just leave a path through. Mrs. Palm, who always found the house cluttered with boxes and cartons, would say that books took up all the room. ¹⁴ 

Palm enlarged his small frame house several times in order to accommodate more books. Finally, he added a two-story brick library, an oak-beamed room with a ceiling decorated in gold-leaf, and a deep bay-window of stained glass. "The decoration," he explained, "was not intended to delight his own eye or to startle the eye of visitors, but to pay respect to learning...” ¹⁵ 

Although Palm wanted to donate his library to a Swedish college in Texas, ¹⁶  none was in existence at the end of his life. He considered donating his library to Bethany College in Lindsberg, Kansas. However, through the efforts of Clarence Miller, a close friend of Palm and a former student of the University of Texas, Palm was persuaded to give his books to the University of Texas. On February 22, 1897, the donation was announced and the gift increased the size of the library by almost sixty percent. ¹⁷ 

Fifty years after Palm's death in 1950, Dr. Harry Ransom wrote about the life of Swante Palm and his famous library calling him "a Renaissance Gentleman in Texas." ¹⁸  Swante Palm may be gone, but his contribution to Swedish immigration to Texas and his large and famous library will not be forgotten. 

1. American Statesman, September 17, 1958. Also interview with Miss Edna Palm and Mrs. Starkey Palm, August 22, 1985, Travis County Collection. See also Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin (Austin, 1963), p. 297

2. Austin Statesman, July 2, 1879, p. 4

3. Austin Statesman, August 15, 1879, p. 4

4. Austin Statesman, September 10, 1879, p. 4

5. Austin Statesman, October 11, 1879, p. 4

6. Austin Statesman, July 21, 1885, p. 4

7. American Statesman, September 17, 1958

8. Alfred Ellis Rogers, "Swante Palm: With Notes on the Library of a Nineteenth Century Texas Book Collector," (M.A. Thesis), University of Texas, 1966, p. 12-13

9. Oscar II served as King of Sweden and Norway from 1872 to 1907

10. Ibid, p. 1

11. Harry Ransom, “The Booklore of Swante Palm,” Texas Libraries, Vol. 45 (Spring 1984), p. 2

12. Rogers, p. 34

13. Harry Ransom, 'Sir Swante Palm,' Essay read before the meeting of the Texas State Historical Association, May 6, 1949, Librarian Office, University of Texas.

14. Notes of an interview with Edna Palm and Mrs. Starkey Duncan, August 22, 1958, Travis County Collection, Austin Public Library.

15. Ibid, p.31

16. Ibid, p. 21

17. Harry Ransom, "A Renaissance Gentleman 1.n Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. L III, January 1950, p. 225

18. Ibid

Books

Anderson, August. Hyphenated: Life Story of S.M. Swenson. Austin: Printed by E.L. Steck, 1916.

Barkley, Mary Starr. History of Travis County and Austin. Austin: Austin Printing; 1963.

Severin, Ernest. Swedes of Texas in Words and Pictures. Austin: Steck Co.; 1918.

Magazines and Newspapers

American Statesman, July 2, 1879, p. 4.

American Statesman, August 15, 1879, p. 4.

American Statesman, October 11, 1879, p. 4.

"Old Swedish Embassy Will be Parking Lot," American Statesman, September 17, 1958.

Ransom, Harry. "The Book lore of Swante Palm," Texas Libraries, Vol. 45 (Spring 1984), p. 28-32.

Ransom, Harry. "A Renaissance Gentleman in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. L III (January 1950), p. 225-30.

Encyclopedias

"Sweden." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1941, XXI, p. 636-652.

Unpublished Dissertations

Rogers, Alfred Ellis. "Swante Palm: With Notes on the Library of a Nineteenth Century Texas Book Collector," SM.A. Thesis, University of Texas, 1966.