Providing full accessibility at a protected landmark: the American Swedish Institute
ASI preserves history while helping new visitors break accessibility barriers and bring heritage home.
At a glance
- Institution: American Swedish Institute
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
- Segment: Cultural center and art gallery
- Exhibitions: Karin Larsson: Let the Hand be Seen, Christine Novotny, Tomte: the Gnome, the Myth, the Legend, Ann Wolff: The Art of Living, Salad Hilowle: Inscriptions, Tomte Tales: Legends of Winter, Handwoven: Between Chaos and Order, Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art, Eyes as Big as Plates, the Turnblad Mansion itself
- Audiences: Seniors, non-English or -Swedish speaking, visually-impaired, mobility-challenged, learning-impaired, socially-anxious, recordkeepers, crowd-avoidant
- Features: Scalable accessibility, multilingual text, visual accessibility, screenreader support, content acquisition, exhibit history
Overcoming barriers
| Challenge | Resolution |
|---|---|
| Cannot disturb historic layer | Total reversibility with NFC tags—no wires or construction needed |
| Unpredictable audience access needs | Frictionless BYOD accessibility (no app iOS, instant download Android) |
| Translation costs and language selection | Instant translation into 136 languages |
| Reduce stress on seniors | Hyperlegible text, content history |
| Reading labels through crowds in tight spaces | Tap-to-acquire, read in peace |
A hidden gem, a second home, a happy place
Cruise down Park Avenue in Minneapolis' Phillips neighborhood and you'll spot an unexpected island of Minnesotan heritage: a modern understated Scandinavian building framing the fairytale castle-like Turnblad Mansion.
Equal parts historic site, museum, cultural center, (and restaurant!) the American Swedish Institute is where Minnesotans gather to celebrate and examine heritage, growth, and change over time. Two structures, 100 years apart—bookends signifying the start and continuation of one unifying story of migration, belonging, and identity in the heart of Minnesota's most diverse square mile.
As stewards of such a powerful and strikingly-relevant message today, ASI walks a tightrope: how can ASI deliver context and meaning as diversely and accessibly as possible while preserving the mansion's historic layer?
Modern assistive tech in a historic landmark
Like many service-forward cultural institutions, ASI tried everything over the decades to provide guests accessible, multilingual, and take-away exhibit knowledge:
- QR codes everyone loathes
- Webpages nobody uses
- Audio guides outdated as exhibits rotate
- Printed translations that stack expenses, then wind up in the trash
- Infrequent, pre-scheduled, language- and need-specific group tours with sparse attendance
Despite past disappointments, ASI's visitors' needs remained real enough to keep trying.
ASI recognized Capption as an ideal sympathetic addition to the Turnblad Mansion—a non-disruptive layer that ensured their core story reached every visitor equally. We participated directly in ASI's first installation: planning, installing, encoding, testing, and fixing. We learned firsthand that exhibit panels and objects don't always match their installation plan, making dozens of on-the-ground content corrections via Capption's mobile admin interface. The whole first install took about 2.5 hours with our then-immature early 2024 process.
Since then, we've made substantial product improvements as ASI integrated Capption into their exhibit installation workflow. Today's installations quite literally happen on a casual 30–45 minute stroll through the mansion.
Lagom: accessibility done just right
During the holidays, residents and travelers alike seek refuge inside ASI, trading early winter's damp cold and long darkness for an unmissably festive Christmastime atmosphere. Kids laugh in the playroom and diners devour thousands of Swedish meatballs, all while curious eyes search the mansion for Tomte—and tap Capptions—to nourish their yuletide wonderment.
"There is no on-call interpreter for every language. There's no assistant for every impairment. Now I don't have to say 'I can't help you'. Without Capption, we had nothing."
Statistics from holiday 2024–2025:
- Unique visitors: 168
- Unique views: 886
- Engagement depth: 5.27 views/user
- Top alternative languages: Russian, Chinese, Spanish, German, Latvian, Somali (plus 8 more!)
- Accessibility use: 17%
ASI trusts Capption to deliver their story without disrupting their history.
Connecting to progress past and future
"Since ASI's founding in 1929 by Swan Turnblad, a Swedish immigrant who became publisher of the largest Swedish American newspaper in the country, ASI has been a place that brings people together."
ASI will soon make their 10th exhibition fully accessible.
ASI was Capption's research and development host facility—home to warm people, hard lessons, and exquisite cuisine. ASI even A/B tested Capption's indicator design with live visitors in their Osher Gallery, finding the "C" logo you see today.
Capption's proud to be a fixture at ASI since 2024. If ever you have a hankering for smörgåsar, we'll find you there!
Tack så mycket to everyone at ASI for your support since Capption's inception.
Go further
- Exhibit Capptions: Examples from ASI: Who were the Turnblads?, Visby Window, and of course Tomte: the Gnome, the Myth, the Legend.
- Learn more: Upcoming Exhibitions at ASI