Contacts
"CLOSING REMARKS"
for
SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
beginning with the
1860 Augustana Lutheran Synod
continuing with the
1962 Lutheran Church in America (LCA)
currently with the
1988 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
"CLOSING REMARKS"
for
SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
beginning with the
1860 Augustana Lutheran Synod
continuing with the
1962 Lutheran Church in America (LCA)
currently with the
1988 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
< The major writing of SWEDES was finished in December of 2023 >
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FOR PARTICIPANTS AND VIEWERS
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FOR PARTICIPANTS AND VIEWERS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, to those who have participated in the development of Swedes: TheWayTheyWere (SWEDES), no matter how small it may have been, I want to thank you very much, for your part in growing this historical website. Like myself, many of you are last-living-link descendants to this history. Also, for those who have provided helpful feedback to me during this time, I am most grateful to all of you! SWEDES would not have developed like it has, if not for your participation! As well, the sections on your relatives or friends certainly would not have been so numerous had they not been supported by you. Tusen tack!
LOOKING BACK
>>>>> The Work
Looking back on the development of SWEDES, the idea stage began in 2005, during the yearlong celebration of Bethany College's 125th Anniversary, when a select group of 21 matted and framed black and white enlarged images of one hundred-year-old Bethany College photographs by artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1874-1943) were being shown at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.
From events following that showing, with the saddening realization that our foundational community and college history was being forgotten, in spite of the efforts to keep it alive, by college professors, individuals, and members of historical organizations and the McPherson County Old Mill Museum, was a "wakeup call." Additionally, personal concerns from some Lindsborg Swedish American last-living-links on what to do with their inheritances along with other historical and cultural heritage preservation issues coupled with the ongoing lingering concern that we might lose Bethany College was the impetus to start SWEDES. The embryo stage of this website began in 2011 which led to its birth stage in 2015 when it was first published.
>>>>> The Lindsborg Estate, and Emil and Lydia
Yet, if it had not been for the last part of the 1996 distribution from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, a Swedish and Kansas Smoky Valley Lindsborg estate, containing a wealth of historical information, art, photographs, artifacts, and farmland with the ruins of what remained of a Swedish-built stone farmhouse, Swede House, there would have been no foundation for a website. This belonged to my American-born Swedish great-granduncle Dr. Emil O. Deere (1877-1966) whose family roots where from Madelplana Västergötland and Drängsered, Halland and my great-grandaunt Mrs. Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1873-1943) whose family roots were from Jönköping, Kosta, and Stockholm.
Emil was already a student at Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan in 1899 when he transferred to Bethany College in that same year at the invitation of the college founder, Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. For more than 60 some years, his role was to become the science professor who would keep the fires burning for the College with the many top-level administrative duties to which he was appointed. For 58 of those years, he was the curator of the very fine 1882 Bethany College Museum, the collections of which were moved to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum in 1966.
Lydia, a young woman with a fresh Commerce Degree from neighboring McPherson College, arrived in Lindsborg in 1900 to open up a Millinery Shop, that led to her interest in photography. Her role at Bethany College was to become the Dean of Women and Matron of the Ladies Dormitory, Lane Hart Hall, from 1906-1913, while teaching needlepoint, and when receiving the fine arts degree there in 1923, she would be found teaching art courses in the summer occasionally. Her lasting contribution to Bethany College was the Class of 1917 gift, the Gateway to Bethany College at Olsson and North First Streets, that was made possible as a result of her founding the Bethany College Association in 1912, for the beautification of the campus grounds. Yet, her main role was to be a support to her husband Emil for the rest of her life after their 1916 marriage.
>>>>> The Written Works on the Swedish Smoky Valley Lindsborg, Freemount and Salemsborg
SWEDES began naturally without a plan in providing some information and photographs on the earliest history of the 1869 Swedish Lutheran Lindsborg and her 1881 Swedish Lutheran Bethany College. This was during the era of my relatives and their contemporaries. Unknowingly, SWEDES, this online historical "narrative" as I referred to it in the Home section, was to expand exponentially to the archival size that it has become today. This was as a result of the Covid 19 Pandemic of 2020 preventing my return to work and providing four more years for researching and highlighting some of the Smoky Valley Writers' "works" on "The Other Swedes" which was to enlarge and enriched the contents of this website immensely, while crediting them and documenting their facts, names, places, and dates in their writings in SWEDES.
Thus, through the reviewing and reading of their books and writings and of those books and other 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, U.S.A.," and Bethany College. It has highlighted the Smoky Valley Värmland Sweden Colony and Bethany Lutheran Church leader Rev. Olof Olsson, founder of Lindsborg, and other leaders, as well as the earliest years of the 1860 Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod and their Smoky Valley Lutheran churches and pastors. As for Bethany College beginnings, SWEDES has highlighted its exceptional leadership starting with the dynamic institution's founder and president Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson and its growing superb faculty with strong links to Yale University. Furthermore, are highlighted the Swedish-born curator science professors responsible for the College's impressive Natural History and Pioneer Swedish History Museum, the Swedish-born professor artists, including the renown artist Dr. Sven Birger Sandzén, as well as the College's Swedish-born professor musicians and renowned conductors such as Mr. Samuel Thorstenberg and Dr. Hagbard Brase and their nationally and internationally known Bethany College Oratorio Society performances that were also graced by another conductor of excellence and commitment who was Dr. Elmer Copley. Finally highlighted are some of the more important cultural and historical events of this Swedish founded community, along with some of their historical persons that also include 14 who were honored by 4 Swedish kings over a period from 1901 to 2014.
SWEDES has touched lightly on Lindsborg's neighboring Swedes who settled Freemount and Salemsborg and on the Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod impact that these Swedes from the Illinois Galesburg Colonization Company and leaders such as Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten and lay pastor Rev. C. J. Brodin had on the Smoky Valley and Lindsborg. It is important to note here that Rev. Wilhelm and Lindsborg's Värmland Colony leader Rev. Olsson were Lutheran theology classmates in Sweden. This was discovered late when I read Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 classic, Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs. This book, the "first" of its kind, memorializes those devout Swedes of the Cross who established the two aforementioned communities and their namesake churches, and whose first 1869 Smoky Valley Christmas was celebrated in an earthen dugout church with the warmth and light of the candled Swedish ljuskröna, "the Swedish symbol of the light of Jesus Christ coming into the world,"* their Light, that led them to the end of their journey.
It is very clear, now, to realize that there is so much more to write about and know about these fine two Swedish communities in addition to their even smaller populated Swedish neighbors of Smolan, Falun, Assaria, Marquette, New Gottland and several others. Thus, it can certainly be concluded that Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross is as ever important to the Freemount and Salemsborg Swedish descendants as Dr. Emory Lindquist's Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas is to Lindsborg Swedish descendants! It is significant to note that both these classics point to the "Cross" which led these Lutheran Swedes to emigrate to the Kansas Smoky Valley in the first place.
Hence, a great European cultural tradition of "sacred music" and "altar art" by Artists Olof Grafström, Birger Sandzén, and G. N. Malm was to reflect the Smoky Valley people's devotion to the Cross and to the spreading of the Gospel. From this would come an unstoppable art movement and the renown-to-be George Frideric Handel Messiah performances beginning in 1882 with the founding of the Bethany College Oratorio Society in that same year. It was Lindsborg founder, Rev. Dr. Olof Olsson, first pastor and founder of Bethany Lutheran Church, a musician himself, who gave birth to the idea after seeing it performed in London. These performances were first held in Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod churches throughout the Swedish Smoky Valley. It must be mentioned that the God-loving, God-fearing, Bible-believing dynamic, "can-do," couple responsible for establishing the "Lindsborg Messiah Tradition" were the Swenssons, Bethany College founder and second president Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, second pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, and his lovely wife Alma Christina Lind Swensson. In their day, they would be numbered among Swedish America's most important leaders, as this is written by author Ms. Karen A. Humphrey in her fabulous, hard-to-put-down, book on Mrs. Swensson. These Messiah performances were the beginning of what was to turn out to be, for a long "Camelot" season, one of the most desired cultural experiences to attend in America. With a chorus growth, at one time, of more than 500, and the hosting of renown European opera soloist and musicians and those from USA metropolitan cities to perform, the draw of thousands of patrons by the train loads to the Smoky Valley's Lindsborg, was nothing short of a phenomenon. This was something to behold and to talk about and write about for generations to come.
Looking back on the development of SWEDES, the idea stage began in 2005, during the yearlong celebration of Bethany College's 125th Anniversary, when a select group of 21 matted and framed black and white enlarged images of one hundred-year-old Bethany College photographs by artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1874-1943) were being shown at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.
From events following that showing, with the saddening realization that our foundational community and college history was being forgotten, in spite of the efforts to keep it alive, by college professors, individuals, and members of historical organizations and the McPherson County Old Mill Museum, was a "wakeup call." Additionally, personal concerns from some Lindsborg Swedish American last-living-links on what to do with their inheritances along with other historical and cultural heritage preservation issues coupled with the ongoing lingering concern that we might lose Bethany College was the impetus to start SWEDES. The embryo stage of this website began in 2011 which led to its birth stage in 2015 when it was first published.
>>>>> The Lindsborg Estate, and Emil and Lydia
Yet, if it had not been for the last part of the 1996 distribution from the Sohlberg Deere Estate, a Swedish and Kansas Smoky Valley Lindsborg estate, containing a wealth of historical information, art, photographs, artifacts, and farmland with the ruins of what remained of a Swedish-built stone farmhouse, Swede House, there would have been no foundation for a website. This belonged to my American-born Swedish great-granduncle Dr. Emil O. Deere (1877-1966) whose family roots where from Madelplana Västergötland and Drängsered, Halland and my great-grandaunt Mrs. Lydia Sohlberg Deere (1873-1943) whose family roots were from Jönköping, Kosta, and Stockholm.
Emil was already a student at Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan in 1899 when he transferred to Bethany College in that same year at the invitation of the college founder, Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. For more than 60 some years, his role was to become the science professor who would keep the fires burning for the College with the many top-level administrative duties to which he was appointed. For 58 of those years, he was the curator of the very fine 1882 Bethany College Museum, the collections of which were moved to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum in 1966.
Lydia, a young woman with a fresh Commerce Degree from neighboring McPherson College, arrived in Lindsborg in 1900 to open up a Millinery Shop, that led to her interest in photography. Her role at Bethany College was to become the Dean of Women and Matron of the Ladies Dormitory, Lane Hart Hall, from 1906-1913, while teaching needlepoint, and when receiving the fine arts degree there in 1923, she would be found teaching art courses in the summer occasionally. Her lasting contribution to Bethany College was the Class of 1917 gift, the Gateway to Bethany College at Olsson and North First Streets, that was made possible as a result of her founding the Bethany College Association in 1912, for the beautification of the campus grounds. Yet, her main role was to be a support to her husband Emil for the rest of her life after their 1916 marriage.
>>>>> The Written Works on the Swedish Smoky Valley Lindsborg, Freemount and Salemsborg
SWEDES began naturally without a plan in providing some information and photographs on the earliest history of the 1869 Swedish Lutheran Lindsborg and her 1881 Swedish Lutheran Bethany College. This was during the era of my relatives and their contemporaries. Unknowingly, SWEDES, this online historical "narrative" as I referred to it in the Home section, was to expand exponentially to the archival size that it has become today. This was as a result of the Covid 19 Pandemic of 2020 preventing my return to work and providing four more years for researching and highlighting some of the Smoky Valley Writers' "works" on "The Other Swedes" which was to enlarge and enriched the contents of this website immensely, while crediting them and documenting their facts, names, places, and dates in their writings in SWEDES.
Thus, through the reviewing and reading of their books and writings and of those books and other 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, U.S.A.," and Bethany College. It has highlighted the Smoky Valley Värmland Sweden Colony and Bethany Lutheran Church leader Rev. Olof Olsson, founder of Lindsborg, and other leaders, as well as the earliest years of the 1860 Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod and their Smoky Valley Lutheran churches and pastors. As for Bethany College beginnings, SWEDES has highlighted its exceptional leadership starting with the dynamic institution's founder and president Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson and its growing superb faculty with strong links to Yale University. Furthermore, are highlighted the Swedish-born curator science professors responsible for the College's impressive Natural History and Pioneer Swedish History Museum, the Swedish-born professor artists, including the renown artist Dr. Sven Birger Sandzén, as well as the College's Swedish-born professor musicians and renowned conductors such as Mr. Samuel Thorstenberg and Dr. Hagbard Brase and their nationally and internationally known Bethany College Oratorio Society performances that were also graced by another conductor of excellence and commitment who was Dr. Elmer Copley. Finally highlighted are some of the more important cultural and historical events of this Swedish founded community, along with some of their historical persons that also include 14 who were honored by 4 Swedish kings over a period from 1901 to 2014.
SWEDES has touched lightly on Lindsborg's neighboring Swedes who settled Freemount and Salemsborg and on the Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod impact that these Swedes from the Illinois Galesburg Colonization Company and leaders such as Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten and lay pastor Rev. C. J. Brodin had on the Smoky Valley and Lindsborg. It is important to note here that Rev. Wilhelm and Lindsborg's Värmland Colony leader Rev. Olsson were Lutheran theology classmates in Sweden. This was discovered late when I read Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 classic, Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs. This book, the "first" of its kind, memorializes those devout Swedes of the Cross who established the two aforementioned communities and their namesake churches, and whose first 1869 Smoky Valley Christmas was celebrated in an earthen dugout church with the warmth and light of the candled Swedish ljuskröna, "the Swedish symbol of the light of Jesus Christ coming into the world,"* their Light, that led them to the end of their journey.
It is very clear, now, to realize that there is so much more to write about and know about these fine two Swedish communities in addition to their even smaller populated Swedish neighbors of Smolan, Falun, Assaria, Marquette, New Gottland and several others. Thus, it can certainly be concluded that Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross is as ever important to the Freemount and Salemsborg Swedish descendants as Dr. Emory Lindquist's Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas is to Lindsborg Swedish descendants! It is significant to note that both these classics point to the "Cross" which led these Lutheran Swedes to emigrate to the Kansas Smoky Valley in the first place.
Hence, a great European cultural tradition of "sacred music" and "altar art" by Artists Olof Grafström, Birger Sandzén, and G. N. Malm was to reflect the Smoky Valley people's devotion to the Cross and to the spreading of the Gospel. From this would come an unstoppable art movement and the renown-to-be George Frideric Handel Messiah performances beginning in 1882 with the founding of the Bethany College Oratorio Society in that same year. It was Lindsborg founder, Rev. Dr. Olof Olsson, first pastor and founder of Bethany Lutheran Church, a musician himself, who gave birth to the idea after seeing it performed in London. These performances were first held in Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod churches throughout the Swedish Smoky Valley. It must be mentioned that the God-loving, God-fearing, Bible-believing dynamic, "can-do," couple responsible for establishing the "Lindsborg Messiah Tradition" were the Swenssons, Bethany College founder and second president Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, second pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, and his lovely wife Alma Christina Lind Swensson. In their day, they would be numbered among Swedish America's most important leaders, as this is written by author Ms. Karen A. Humphrey in her fabulous, hard-to-put-down, book on Mrs. Swensson. These Messiah performances were the beginning of what was to turn out to be, for a long "Camelot" season, one of the most desired cultural experiences to attend in America. With a chorus growth, at one time, of more than 500, and the hosting of renown European opera soloist and musicians and those from USA metropolitan cities to perform, the draw of thousands of patrons by the train loads to the Smoky Valley's Lindsborg, was nothing short of a phenomenon. This was something to behold and to talk about and write about for generations to come.
Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin, third pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, was responsible for recording, compiling, and writing the first two history books on these Swedes. These were published in Swedish in 1909 and 1919, and were translated to English and published in 1965 and 1969 respectively, by his daughter Mrs. Ruth Bergin Billdt and Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg. These books would be used time and time again for the creation of the Smoky Valley Writers books.
Dr. Lindquist using those books, and his study elsewhere, of these Swedes of the Lutheran Augustana Synod era is summed up in the Preface of his 1953 Smoky Valley People - A History of Lindsborg, Kansas:
"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."
In "The Settlement Develops," chapter, he writes:
"These future men of Lindsborg were devout, loyal Christians, who knew the fear and the love of God, and whatever be the contribution of Lindsborg to individuals and to society, the secret is found here."
In short, what transpired during this moment-of-time from 1869 to 1953 were truly remarkable events with remarkable people of Swedish descent, true followers of the Christian Lutheran faith, of whom Dr. Lindquist was called to write his classic on them, for them, and for those generations to come who would call the Kansas Smoky Valley home.
To follow this would be the works of Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg beginning in 1962, Mr. A. John Pearson beginning in 1970, Dr. Leon G. Lungstrom in 1990, Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist in1994, Mr. Bill Carlson in 2011, Ms. Karen A. Humphrey in 2012, Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy in 2013 who authored the beautiful photography book, and finally Mr. Kenneth Sjogren in 2019.
The numbers of these like-minded committed writers, preservationists and last-living-links to this history and culture have dwindled, as 6 of those mentioned above are no longer with us. Very soon there may be no "seasoned historians" connected to this Lindsborg and Bethany College history to answer those most important historical questions needing academically correct answers on this Swedish Lutheran Augustana period. These authors who left us recently, Mr. Sjogren in 2022 and Mr. Pearson in 2023, were looked to for those answers on Lindsborg and college history! Most generally, it was Bethany College, the academic institution of higher learning, to which these questions were addressed.
I am reminded of Bethany College graduate, historian, and educator Mr. Carlson's remarks in the Preface of his 2011 "Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now" where he writes:
"For a number of years, we have been waiting for someone to compile, research, and write about the early history of Lindsborg. Waiting, waiting! A good number of long-time residents of Lindsborg have left us, who were very capable of sharing their memories of this fine Scandinavian city."
13 years later in 2024, we are still waiting.
Just maybe, we have seen the last of these Lindsborg and Bethany College history writers who have lived through parts of the 1860 to 1962 Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod era and beyond it, in which they wrote about these Swedes "the way they were."
If this is true, then there is even more of an urgency to cherish, collect and study the Smoky Valley Writer's works now in order to promote and pass on the accuracy of this history to the next generation, Lindsborg residents and students at both high school and Bethany College. In short, we must celebrate them and celebrate all those about whom they wrote to keep this cultural history alive.
This will help the last-living-link descendants to Bethany College and Lindsborg significantly, in preserving, restoring and promoting the Smoky Valley Swedish heritage and traditions found in these entities, thus further strengthening these ties within the community and beyond to Swedish America elsewhere and to Sweden, itself.
Dr. Lindquist using those books, and his study elsewhere, of these Swedes of the Lutheran Augustana Synod era is summed up in the Preface of his 1953 Smoky Valley People - A History of Lindsborg, Kansas:
"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."
In "The Settlement Develops," chapter, he writes:
"These future men of Lindsborg were devout, loyal Christians, who knew the fear and the love of God, and whatever be the contribution of Lindsborg to individuals and to society, the secret is found here."
In short, what transpired during this moment-of-time from 1869 to 1953 were truly remarkable events with remarkable people of Swedish descent, true followers of the Christian Lutheran faith, of whom Dr. Lindquist was called to write his classic on them, for them, and for those generations to come who would call the Kansas Smoky Valley home.
To follow this would be the works of Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg beginning in 1962, Mr. A. John Pearson beginning in 1970, Dr. Leon G. Lungstrom in 1990, Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist in1994, Mr. Bill Carlson in 2011, Ms. Karen A. Humphrey in 2012, Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy in 2013 who authored the beautiful photography book, and finally Mr. Kenneth Sjogren in 2019.
The numbers of these like-minded committed writers, preservationists and last-living-links to this history and culture have dwindled, as 6 of those mentioned above are no longer with us. Very soon there may be no "seasoned historians" connected to this Lindsborg and Bethany College history to answer those most important historical questions needing academically correct answers on this Swedish Lutheran Augustana period. These authors who left us recently, Mr. Sjogren in 2022 and Mr. Pearson in 2023, were looked to for those answers on Lindsborg and college history! Most generally, it was Bethany College, the academic institution of higher learning, to which these questions were addressed.
I am reminded of Bethany College graduate, historian, and educator Mr. Carlson's remarks in the Preface of his 2011 "Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now" where he writes:
"For a number of years, we have been waiting for someone to compile, research, and write about the early history of Lindsborg. Waiting, waiting! A good number of long-time residents of Lindsborg have left us, who were very capable of sharing their memories of this fine Scandinavian city."
13 years later in 2024, we are still waiting.
Just maybe, we have seen the last of these Lindsborg and Bethany College history writers who have lived through parts of the 1860 to 1962 Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod era and beyond it, in which they wrote about these Swedes "the way they were."
If this is true, then there is even more of an urgency to cherish, collect and study the Smoky Valley Writer's works now in order to promote and pass on the accuracy of this history to the next generation, Lindsborg residents and students at both high school and Bethany College. In short, we must celebrate them and celebrate all those about whom they wrote to keep this cultural history alive.
This will help the last-living-link descendants to Bethany College and Lindsborg significantly, in preserving, restoring and promoting the Smoky Valley Swedish heritage and traditions found in these entities, thus further strengthening these ties within the community and beyond to Swedish America elsewhere and to Sweden, itself.
The relationship between Lindsborg and Bethany College was always very strong due to the Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod churches in Lindsborg, Freemount, and Salemsborg, all of which were founded in 1869 along with their respective settlements. Through their faith and prayers, these Swedish pioneers and the settlers that followed were responsible for the thriving community that Lindsborg was, during and beyond the Augustana era, that still continues with their descendants, the "last-living-links" connected to these Swedes. Corporately or individually, they have been carefully and lovingly restoring, preserving, promoting and carrying-on aspects of this Swedish cultural heritage, the handcrafts and traditions that so reflect the earliest years of these communities.
Thus, they have been able to maintain many of those pieces of Lindsborg's and Bethany College's truest Swedish cultural identity. To display their Swedishness fully from the beginning, Swedish dance groups of various ages emerged early on, that still dance today. 1908 marked the first Swedish festival in Lindsborg. 1941 marked the first Svensk Hyllningsfest, a Swedish Pioneer October festival that continues on, during odd numbered years. Lindsborg and Bethany were destination points for renown European opera stars and artists, and Swedish Royalty and scholars. In 1976, the King of Sweden visited Lindsborg, followed by the 1977 visit of the Swedish Emigrant Institute staff from Växjö, Småland for collecting emigration stories. In 1978 a Swedish documentary film crew from Stockholm visited Lindsborg. The year 1986 was of a most important year that notes last-living-links Swedish descendants establishing in Lindsborg the first and only Swedish-American Folklife Institute of Central Kansas which for a successful decade was "in the business of preserving all forms of folklife." This found the back-and-forth travel of Swedish scholars traveling to Lindsborg and to Bethany College, and in return the Institute leaders Mark and Mardel Esping traveling throughout Sweden, sharing the Swedish American culture and traditions of the community.
Thus, they have been able to maintain many of those pieces of Lindsborg's and Bethany College's truest Swedish cultural identity. To display their Swedishness fully from the beginning, Swedish dance groups of various ages emerged early on, that still dance today. 1908 marked the first Swedish festival in Lindsborg. 1941 marked the first Svensk Hyllningsfest, a Swedish Pioneer October festival that continues on, during odd numbered years. Lindsborg and Bethany were destination points for renown European opera stars and artists, and Swedish Royalty and scholars. In 1976, the King of Sweden visited Lindsborg, followed by the 1977 visit of the Swedish Emigrant Institute staff from Växjö, Småland for collecting emigration stories. In 1978 a Swedish documentary film crew from Stockholm visited Lindsborg. The year 1986 was of a most important year that notes last-living-links Swedish descendants establishing in Lindsborg the first and only Swedish-American Folklife Institute of Central Kansas which for a successful decade was "in the business of preserving all forms of folklife." This found the back-and-forth travel of Swedish scholars traveling to Lindsborg and to Bethany College, and in return the Institute leaders Mark and Mardel Esping traveling throughout Sweden, sharing the Swedish American culture and traditions of the community.
CLOSING REMARKS finishes
HERE with The 1941 Smoky Valley "Pioneer Cross Memorial" ~ By Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
and
HERE with S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H P E O P L E' S V I R T U A L M E M O R I A L
"Dedicated to the Memory of the Smoky Valley Swedish Settlements"
For MOVING FORWARD, Vägen Framåt, - for Swedes the way they are,
go HERE.
HERE with The 1941 Smoky Valley "Pioneer Cross Memorial" ~ By Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
and
HERE with S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H P E O P L E' S V I R T U A L M E M O R I A L
"Dedicated to the Memory of the Smoky Valley Swedish Settlements"
For MOVING FORWARD, Vägen Framåt, - for Swedes the way they are,
go HERE.
As of August 2021, the McPherson County Old Mill Museum came under new ownership with a new name, The Lindsborg Old Mill and Swedish Heritage Museum, and with a stronger, fresh and vibrant commitment to the mission of "Preserving the Old Mill and Swedish Heritage of the Smoky Valley." This is growth and "good news" for local Swedish American restorers, preservers and promoters of this unique local history and culture.
Moving forward with our Swedish heritage and history secure we can look to the future as confident Swedish Americans, who have lived in Lindsborg all of our lives or just for a while or who are students, alumni and friends of Bethany College, when we eventually see on the horizon the workings of two exciting and unique celebrations for this community. These will be in 7 and 8 years -- the 150th founding anniversaries of Bethany College in 2031 and of the Messiah performances in 2032.
Six years later, in 2038, will be the Swedish American nationwide event celebrating the 400th founding year of New Sweden. Lindsborg and Bethany College have already participated in the 300th founding anniversary in 1938. "Where is New Sweden?" - you might wonder. It is an area of land located in the lower reaches of the Delaware River that included portions of the States of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, that Sweden claimed as her own in 1638.
Moving forward with direction and inspiration Closing Remarks will end appropriately with the last words from the Swedish American Kansan historian, author and Bethany College's fourth president, Dr. Emory K. Lindquist, found in his 1975 book Bethany in Kansas: the history of a college:
"Legend has it that when Indians long ago viewed the Smoky Valley from the range of hills [Coronado Heights] northwest of Lindsborg and saw the mystic haze on spring and autumn days, they believed that the valley was endowed with some unusual quality. Later, the Swedish residents described not the legendary but the real when they wrote to relatives and friends in the homeland that America and this area was indeed “framtidslandet,” “the land of the future.” Legend and history, although so different, may join to describe and inspire. There is much inspiration in Bethany’s history and there is great reason for confidence in the college’s future.
"The founders often used 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 assist with Dr. Lindquist's inspirational words that "those glorious chapters" will be written of Bethany history, SWEDES is adding a new section with subsections for more easy access to some of these most important Bethany and Lindsborg stories study. That section can be found HERE and is titled Swedish American Smoky Valley Studies.
Moving forward with our Swedish heritage and history secure we can look to the future as confident Swedish Americans, who have lived in Lindsborg all of our lives or just for a while or who are students, alumni and friends of Bethany College, when we eventually see on the horizon the workings of two exciting and unique celebrations for this community. These will be in 7 and 8 years -- the 150th founding anniversaries of Bethany College in 2031 and of the Messiah performances in 2032.
Six years later, in 2038, will be the Swedish American nationwide event celebrating the 400th founding year of New Sweden. Lindsborg and Bethany College have already participated in the 300th founding anniversary in 1938. "Where is New Sweden?" - you might wonder. It is an area of land located in the lower reaches of the Delaware River that included portions of the States of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, that Sweden claimed as her own in 1638.
Moving forward with direction and inspiration Closing Remarks will end appropriately with the last words from the Swedish American Kansan historian, author and Bethany College's fourth president, Dr. Emory K. Lindquist, found in his 1975 book Bethany in Kansas: the history of a college:
"Legend has it that when Indians long ago viewed the Smoky Valley from the range of hills [Coronado Heights] northwest of Lindsborg and saw the mystic haze on spring and autumn days, they believed that the valley was endowed with some unusual quality. Later, the Swedish residents described not the legendary but the real when they wrote to relatives and friends in the homeland that America and this area was indeed “framtidslandet,” “the land of the future.” Legend and history, although so different, may join to describe and inspire. There is much inspiration in Bethany’s history and there is great reason for confidence in the college’s future.
"The founders often used 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 assist with Dr. Lindquist's inspirational words that "those glorious chapters" will be written of Bethany history, SWEDES is adding a new section with subsections for more easy access to some of these most important Bethany and Lindsborg stories study. That section can be found HERE and is titled Swedish American Smoky Valley Studies.
Vägen framåt, med lyckönskningar till ALLA,
[Moving forward, with good wishes to ALL,]
Fran Cochran
August 30, 2024
Go to CONTACTS, for more information.
[Moving forward, with good wishes to ALL,]
Fran Cochran
August 30, 2024
Go to CONTACTS, for more information.
For the "Table of Contents," go below to Traveling through SWEDES, the Outline Online
| table_of_contents_~_traveling_through_swedes_~_7_6_24.docx |
* Mr. Thomas Holmquist's 1994 Pioneer Cross, page 98
** Mr. Alf Brorson's 2001 "He Gave God Glory" "The Story of Olof Olsson"
** Mr. Alf Brorson's 2001 "He Gave God Glory" "The Story of Olof Olsson"
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T H E S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H & S W E D I S H A M E R I C A N P E O P L E
MEMORIAL
T H E S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H & S W E D I S H A M E R I C A N P E O P L E
MEMORIAL
Virtually, go HERE.
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"Let Us Celebrate Them"
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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.
