Friends of Olin and Emma Swenson (Eau Claire, Wis.)

Olin and Emma Swenson were prominent activists in the fight for socialist causes in the Chippewa Falls, Wis. area. Beginning in his youth, Olin Swenson organized lectures and debates concerning issues such as women's suffrage and prohibition. In the early 1920s he founded a cooperative creamery on his farm. In 1924, he married Emma Bartz, his lifelong companion and partner in political activism. he supported the formation of the Group Health Cooperative and was involved with Northern Thunder to protest the construction of a nuclear plant in Durand. Olin Swenson was also the mastermind behind the formation of the Surplus Food program in Chippewa Falls in the 1960s. Olin Swenson died in October 1980. The Friends of Olin and Emma Swenson was formed in 1980 by University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire faculty and staff. The organization aimed to honor the Swensons' lives and accomplishments by collecting documents and ultimately writing a book about them. It appears that the book was never written.