Item: i84072

 Authentic Medal of:

United States of America
American Union of Swedish Singers (AUSS) Medal
1900’s Medal 43mm x 26mm (8.81 grams)
AMERICAN UNION OF SWEDISH SINGERS, Eagle above wreathed harp, American shield below, Swedish shields on sides.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity. 

The American Union of Swedish Singers (AUSS) was organized over 125 years ago at the height of the immigration years. Swedes formed choruses here in America to sing the songs that they remembered and loved from their homeland. These individual choruses came together in 1892 to form the AUSS. Their first public appearance was at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Over the years the Union has performed for kings and presidents, and sung in the major opera houses of New York, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as Carnegie Hall, New York, Orchestra Hall and Auditorium, Chicago and the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Today, there are about 500 members in 22 choruses from coast to coast.

In the early years, most songs were sung in Swedish. Today, the repertoire of most choruses is about half Swedish and half English.

An AUSS chorus must have at least four members, all men, all women, or mixed. A chorus first applies for membership in the appropriate regional division (Eastern, Central or Western). Then, they may apply for membership in the national organization.
 

Wonderful Swedish choral music is a joy to learn and share with others and is probably the best way to embrace your Swedish heritage. The AUSS national music librarian has an extensive list of music – Swedish as well as English, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, et al. A folder containing popular AUSS music is available as a starter packet.

By the way, singing Swedish is an excellent way to learn the language!

Choruses of the AUSS keep in touch with each other through Musiktidning (Music News). Every individual receives a copy of the monthly newsletter, containing articles and pictures of choruses, upcoming events and ideas.

Members participate in singing tours of Sweden and Scandinavia. The most recent trip was in 2017, when we traveled from southern Sweden to Stockholm, to Oslo, the Sogne Fjord, and Bergen.

In 2005, we traveled from Gothenburg to Stockholm, with detours to Dalarna (the most traditional of the provinces), beautiful Värmland, Hälsingland, and a flight to Piteå to renew acquaintances with local choruses. In 1999, we went to Katrinaholm, when the Swedish choral organization, Svenska Sångerförbundet, celebrated its 90th anniversary. We traveled most of the east coast, from Kalmar to Luleå, including Gotland.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km²), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km²). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

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