Contacts
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Dear Viewers,
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere (SWEDES) was in its idea stage in 2005 during Bethany College's 125th Anniversary when a select group of 27 matted and framed black and white enlarged images of one hundred-year-old Bethany College photographs taken by my great grandaunt, photographer and artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere, were being shown at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. From events following that showing, with the saddening realization that our foundational College history was being forgotten, coupled with shared ongoing quiet concerns that many have regarding Lindsborg Swedish cultural heritage and historical preservation issues, an embryo stage of SWEDES began in 2011, leading to its birth stage in 2015 when it was first published.
SWEDES developed concurrently with the last part of the distribution of historical items from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, a Swedish and Kansas Smoky Valley Swedish American Lindsborg estate belonging to my great granduncle and great grandaunt, the late Dr. Emil O. Deere (1877-1966) and Mrs. Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1873-1943), which was inherited in 1996. In retrospect, SWEDES occurred naturally, initially touching lightly on the earliest history of Lindsborg and Bethany College during the era of my relatives and their contemporaries. Unknowingly, SWEDES was to expand exponentially to the historical document that it is today. This was as a result of the Covid 19 Pandemic of 2020 preventing my return to work, yet on-the-other-hand providing three additional years for researching and highlighting some of the Smoky Valley Writers "works" on the "The Other Swedes" which enlarged and enriched the contents of this website immensely.
Thus, through the reviewing and reading of their books and writings and of those from the inheritance and from items from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, SWEDES has attempted to provide one with an overall view of this most unique rural well-preserved Swedish and Swedish American Lutheran Lindsborg, "Little Sweden," and Bethany College. It has highlighted the Smoky Valley Värmland Sweden Colony and leader Rev. Olof Olsson and other leaders, the earliest years of the Swedish Lutheran Augustana Synod and its Smoky Valley churches and their pastors; the College, its museum, leaders and professors; the arts and the artists; some of the nationally and internationally known Lindsborg Messiah Chorus performances, conductors, singers and musicians; the more important cultural and historical events as well as the legacy listing of these Swedish, non-Swedish, and Swedish American persons in the "The Other Swedes" section.
These were the pioneers and those that followed, the developers, who were responsible for the thriving community that Lindsborg was, in that era. Yet, it continues to be so, due to their descendants, the "caretakers," the "last-living-links" connected or associated to these Swedes, many of whom that are also recognized in "The Other Swedes" legacy listing. For they have been carefully and lovingly restoring, preserving, promoting and carrying-on aspects of the Swedish cultural heritage, the handcrafts and traditions that so reflect the earliest years of Lindsborg and her neighboring Swedish communities.
SWEDES has touched lightly on Lindsborg's neighboring Swedes and the Swedish Augustana Lutheran impact that these Swedes had on the Smoky Valley and Lindsborg. This information came from Smolan, Kansas, author Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 classic Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs. This book, the "first" of its kind, memorializes those Swedes who established the communities of Salemsborg and Freemount and their namesake churches. See HERE the 1941 Memorial Cross. It is quite evident that Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross is as ever important to those settlements as Dr. Emory Lindquist's Smoky Valley People is to that of the Lindsborg settlement, as these classics together point to the "Cross" which led these Lutheran Swedes to emigrate to the Kansas Smoky Valley in the first place.
In the Preface, last paragraph of the Smoky Valley People on page viii, Dr. Emory K. Lindquist writes:
"The central factor in writing this volume is my genuine conviction that Bethany College and Lindsborg present distinctive values that are truly meaningful for individuals and society. I do not believe that this unique combination of cultural and spiritual values in a friendly small-town setting can be readily duplicated."
This "is" the way they were, and SWEDES has attempted to highlight "the way they were."
As a nearly finished online historical document, with only a few sections to complete, SWEDES has become another "memorial," one that is virtual, for the pioneers, the settlers and descendants of the Smoky Valley of Lindsborg and neighboring communities beginning in the 1860s.
SWEDES is now an online resource for educational reference and research purposes, to benefit Smoky Valley leaders and citizens, children and students, teachers, professors and pastors, and advocates concerned with Swedish Lutheran Smoky Valley historical and cultural heritage preservation, restoration and promotion. Likewise, SWEDES is to benefit scholars in the United States, Sweden, and around the world interested in Swedish America and Swedish immigration, and especially in that of the Central Plains of Kansas.
The relationship between Lindsborg and Bethany College was very strong due to the Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod churches in Lindsborg, Freemount, and Salemsborg. It may be that this most important work has continued because of their last-living-link Lutheran Swedish descendants. Other individuals and groups no doubt have shared in the work to ensure the restoration, preservation and promotion of this dearly cherished Swedish and Swedish American history and cultural heritage that gives Lindsborg and Bethany College their true identity, their true brand.
A scenario could be that a majority of the ongoing work for the years ahead might most likely be accomplished through Americans with no connection at all to this identity who call this Swedish founded Smoky Valley home. Further, target years for such work to be completed might even be 2031 and 2032, marking the 150th founding year of Bethany College and the Bethany College Oratorio Society, respectively.
From Dr. Lindquist's Bethany in Kansas, page 284, we read: "The founders often use the familiar Swedish word, "Framåt!" "Forward!" to express their belief about the College in the world of tomorrow. This imperative, "Forward!" is still valid. Faith in God and in the Bethany idea will enable succeeding generations to write additional glorious chapters in Bethany's history." To that, I add, Lindsborg's history as well!
Signing off in remembrance of them with the words of Bethany College's first official seal of 1906,
"Domini, Domino," "Of the Lord, for the Lord,"
Fran Cochran -- March 21, 2023
Bethany College Graduate, 1968
A research writer website designer of 2011 Swedes: TheWayTheyWere (SWEDES)
A compiler of history from Smoky Valley Writers and other sources for SWEDES
A research writer website designer of 2015 SwedishAmericana
A list compiler, with LINKS, for Swedish America of Swedish American institutions, organizations and establishments
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere (SWEDES) was in its idea stage in 2005 during Bethany College's 125th Anniversary when a select group of 27 matted and framed black and white enlarged images of one hundred-year-old Bethany College photographs taken by my great grandaunt, photographer and artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere, were being shown at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. From events following that showing, with the saddening realization that our foundational College history was being forgotten, coupled with shared ongoing quiet concerns that many have regarding Lindsborg Swedish cultural heritage and historical preservation issues, an embryo stage of SWEDES began in 2011, leading to its birth stage in 2015 when it was first published.
SWEDES developed concurrently with the last part of the distribution of historical items from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, a Swedish and Kansas Smoky Valley Swedish American Lindsborg estate belonging to my great granduncle and great grandaunt, the late Dr. Emil O. Deere (1877-1966) and Mrs. Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1873-1943), which was inherited in 1996. In retrospect, SWEDES occurred naturally, initially touching lightly on the earliest history of Lindsborg and Bethany College during the era of my relatives and their contemporaries. Unknowingly, SWEDES was to expand exponentially to the historical document that it is today. This was as a result of the Covid 19 Pandemic of 2020 preventing my return to work, yet on-the-other-hand providing three additional years for researching and highlighting some of the Smoky Valley Writers "works" on the "The Other Swedes" which enlarged and enriched the contents of this website immensely.
Thus, through the reviewing and reading of their books and writings and of those from the inheritance and from items from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, SWEDES has attempted to provide one with an overall view of this most unique rural well-preserved Swedish and Swedish American Lutheran Lindsborg, "Little Sweden," and Bethany College. It has highlighted the Smoky Valley Värmland Sweden Colony and leader Rev. Olof Olsson and other leaders, the earliest years of the Swedish Lutheran Augustana Synod and its Smoky Valley churches and their pastors; the College, its museum, leaders and professors; the arts and the artists; some of the nationally and internationally known Lindsborg Messiah Chorus performances, conductors, singers and musicians; the more important cultural and historical events as well as the legacy listing of these Swedish, non-Swedish, and Swedish American persons in the "The Other Swedes" section.
These were the pioneers and those that followed, the developers, who were responsible for the thriving community that Lindsborg was, in that era. Yet, it continues to be so, due to their descendants, the "caretakers," the "last-living-links" connected or associated to these Swedes, many of whom that are also recognized in "The Other Swedes" legacy listing. For they have been carefully and lovingly restoring, preserving, promoting and carrying-on aspects of the Swedish cultural heritage, the handcrafts and traditions that so reflect the earliest years of Lindsborg and her neighboring Swedish communities.
SWEDES has touched lightly on Lindsborg's neighboring Swedes and the Swedish Augustana Lutheran impact that these Swedes had on the Smoky Valley and Lindsborg. This information came from Smolan, Kansas, author Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 classic Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs. This book, the "first" of its kind, memorializes those Swedes who established the communities of Salemsborg and Freemount and their namesake churches. See HERE the 1941 Memorial Cross. It is quite evident that Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross is as ever important to those settlements as Dr. Emory Lindquist's Smoky Valley People is to that of the Lindsborg settlement, as these classics together point to the "Cross" which led these Lutheran Swedes to emigrate to the Kansas Smoky Valley in the first place.
In the Preface, last paragraph of the Smoky Valley People on page viii, Dr. Emory K. Lindquist writes:
"The central factor in writing this volume is my genuine conviction that Bethany College and Lindsborg present distinctive values that are truly meaningful for individuals and society. I do not believe that this unique combination of cultural and spiritual values in a friendly small-town setting can be readily duplicated."
This "is" the way they were, and SWEDES has attempted to highlight "the way they were."
As a nearly finished online historical document, with only a few sections to complete, SWEDES has become another "memorial," one that is virtual, for the pioneers, the settlers and descendants of the Smoky Valley of Lindsborg and neighboring communities beginning in the 1860s.
SWEDES is now an online resource for educational reference and research purposes, to benefit Smoky Valley leaders and citizens, children and students, teachers, professors and pastors, and advocates concerned with Swedish Lutheran Smoky Valley historical and cultural heritage preservation, restoration and promotion. Likewise, SWEDES is to benefit scholars in the United States, Sweden, and around the world interested in Swedish America and Swedish immigration, and especially in that of the Central Plains of Kansas.
The relationship between Lindsborg and Bethany College was very strong due to the Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod churches in Lindsborg, Freemount, and Salemsborg. It may be that this most important work has continued because of their last-living-link Lutheran Swedish descendants. Other individuals and groups no doubt have shared in the work to ensure the restoration, preservation and promotion of this dearly cherished Swedish and Swedish American history and cultural heritage that gives Lindsborg and Bethany College their true identity, their true brand.
A scenario could be that a majority of the ongoing work for the years ahead might most likely be accomplished through Americans with no connection at all to this identity who call this Swedish founded Smoky Valley home. Further, target years for such work to be completed might even be 2031 and 2032, marking the 150th founding year of Bethany College and the Bethany College Oratorio Society, respectively.
From Dr. Lindquist's Bethany in Kansas, page 284, we read: "The founders often use the familiar Swedish word, "Framåt!" "Forward!" to express their belief about the College in the world of tomorrow. This imperative, "Forward!" is still valid. Faith in God and in the Bethany idea will enable succeeding generations to write additional glorious chapters in Bethany's history." To that, I add, Lindsborg's history as well!
Signing off in remembrance of them with the words of Bethany College's first official seal of 1906,
"Domini, Domino," "Of the Lord, for the Lord,"
Fran Cochran -- March 21, 2023
Bethany College Graduate, 1968
A research writer website designer of 2011 Swedes: TheWayTheyWere (SWEDES)
A compiler of history from Smoky Valley Writers and other sources for SWEDES
A research writer website designer of 2015 SwedishAmericana
A list compiler, with LINKS, for Swedish America of Swedish American institutions, organizations and establishments
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For Traveling through SWEDES: "The Outline Online" ("Table of Contents"), go HERE.
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For Traveling through SWEDES: "The Outline Online" ("Table of Contents"), go HERE.
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<< The First Official Seal of Bethany College >>
"Domini, Domino" - Latin for "Of the Lord, for the Lord"
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Bethany College's Official Seal was decided upon in 1906 due to the far-reaching influence of its founder Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. The sacred and powerful symbols of the Seal are "the Lamb" and behind it "the slanted Cross." These identify "the most intimate aspects of Christian faith and life" as written by Dr. Emory Lindquist in his 1953 Smoky Valley People, page 248. Beneath the Lamb and Cross symbols is written "Domini, Domino" - Latin for "Of the Lord, for the Lord." Lindquist continues, "The College Seal furnishes its own eloquent testimony as to the purposes and aims of Bethany College."
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Bethany College's Official Seal was decided upon in 1906 due to the far-reaching influence of its founder Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. The sacred and powerful symbols of the Seal are "the Lamb" and behind it "the slanted Cross." These identify "the most intimate aspects of Christian faith and life" as written by Dr. Emory Lindquist in his 1953 Smoky Valley People, page 248. Beneath the Lamb and Cross symbols is written "Domini, Domino" - Latin for "Of the Lord, for the Lord." Lindquist continues, "The College Seal furnishes its own eloquent testimony as to the purposes and aims of Bethany College."
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"Let Us Remember Them"
T H E S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H P E O P L E
T H E S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H P E O P L E
go HERE.
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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
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All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
