Gustav Andreen and family papers

Gustav Andreen was the fourth president of Augustana College, serving from 1901 to 1935. Andreen was born in Baileytown, Indiana, 13 March 1864, making him the first Augustana College president to be born in the United States. His parents were Rev. A. Andreen and Hilda Esping Andreen. Gustav Andreen entered Augustana College at a very young age (11 years) and graduated at the top of his class in 1881, having just turned 18. He began teaching at the college in 1882, then studied at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, and Yale University, receiving his Ph.D. in Scandinavian languages and literature in 1898. He was called to the presidency after the death of Augustana's third president, Olof Olsson, in 1900. As a graduate of Augustana and of Yale University, Andreen was the first president to be an alumnus and to have earned his university degree in America. Andreen was also the first President to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the first to serve more than 30 years.

Andreen was known for his affable personality (students affectionately referred to him as "Prexy") and his fundraising abilities. He was the first president to mount an organized fundraising campaign to establish a college endowment. By 1935, the endowment amounted to well over $1 million. Under Andreen, a formal geology department was created in 1929 and, with financial support from Marie Wallberg, the building of Wallberg Hall was initiated. Andreen also facilitated the creation of the Woman's Building (now Evald Hall) with the Women's Missionary Society and Emmy Evald in the 1920s. Andreen resigned the presidency in 1935 and died in 1940.

Andreen married Maria Augusta Strand (1870-1948) of Junction City, Kansas, 7 August 1890. The couple had seven children: Paul Harold (1891-1936), Marion Albert (1894-1941), Esther Miriam (1896-2001), Gustav Strand (1901-1963), Margaret Dorothy (1903-1906), Signe Marie (1904-1906), and Carl Oscar (1906-1978). In 1935, the Andreen family was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not! for its educational attainments; four members of the family received doctorates in different fields (Gustav in Swedish language and literature, Paul in theology, Marion in medicine, and Carl in dentistry).