Lundberg, Emma O. (Emma Octavia)

Emma Octavia Lundberg, child welfare leader, was born in Västergötland, Sweden on October 8, 1881, to Frans Vilhelm Lundberg and Anna Kajsa Johanson. The family emigrated from Sweden in 1884, and Lundberg spent her childhood in Rockford, Illinois, graduating from Rockford High School in 1901. Two years later Lundberg entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison, earning her B.A. in 1907 and a master's degree in 1908.

From 1908 to 1913, Lundberg worked in several cities studying living-standards and immigrant households, and engaged in family welfare work. Among the organizations that Lundberg worked for were the United States Immigration Commission, the United Charities of Chicago, the Associated Charities in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Associated Charities in Milwaukee. In 1913, she became a deputy at the Wisconsin Industrial Commission and conducted surveys for the state's new minimum wage legislation.

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