To learn more about this collection please see the finding aid link found above, and/or visit the College and Lutheran Church Archives to use these primary sources.
​Magny, Jonas. Papers of Jonas Magny, 1863-1969. CAMC Collection 93. 1 Records Center Carton.
ABSTRACT:
The Jonas Magny (23 March 1842-1 June 1910) collection contains mostly correspondence, diaries, and notebooks from 1863-1914. Also included in this collection is a speech prepared by Magny for the 45th anniversary of Gustavus Adolphus College, along with a small book and some articles written about him by his sons after his death. Magny was the first student of what became Gustavus Adolphus College when it was started by Eric Norelius in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1862. The majority of the material is in Swedish.
Jonas Magny (formerly Magnuson) was born 23 March 1842 at Hoby, Blekinge, Sweden and moved to the United States in 1858. He was the first student of Eric Norelius in the fledgling Minnesota Elementary School in Red Wing, Minnesota during fall 1862. The school moved to East Union, Minnesota in the fall of 1863 and the name changed to St. Ansgar’s Academy. Magny attended for the first year there, 1863-64, and then began teaching Swedish parochial school and preaching. In 1866, Magny began attending Augustana College in Paxton, Illinois and graduated in 1870. He returned to preaching and missionary work. In 1875, he became a solicitor for his first school, which was now Gustavus Adolphus College, located in St. Peter, Minnesota. This involved visiting different congregations throughout the Midwest and raising money to help finish building Old Main, Gustavus’ first building. He married Hilda Christina Edholm on 12 November 1878, and they had 7 children: Edgar Theophilus, Clarence Reinhold, Gottlieb Renatus, Fredholf Herman, Edla Wilhelmina, Herbert Sigfrid and Lawrence Edward Benjamin. Magny spent the rest of his life as a pastor at many different parishes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He died of cancer on 1 June 1910.
*Taken from F.H. Magney’s book in collection.
This collection is organized alphabetically. There are large sections of correspondence, diaries, and notebooks.
