NEWSLETTER # 15 JUNE 2007

THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

It looks like 2007 will be a really exciting year for SRIO. Already, we have published two more booklets, one entitled “Portland’s Swedish-American Community after World War II,” and the other “Swedish Emigration to America and Oregon after World War II.” These new publications, number eleven and twelve in our series, will make up the concluding chapters of our work-in-progress, Glimpses from the Swedish History of Oregon. As this Newsletter goes to print, the manuscript is being edited, compiled and introduced. In the fall, we will actively start looking for a publisher.

With the completion of this book, the first major undertaking of SRIO will have been accomplished. But as the preliminary title suggests, this books is by no means a complete or definitive study of the Swedes of Oregon. Many aspects of Swedish life in the state remain unexplored and much work still needs to be done. It is our hope that this first step will inspire other historians to do more research in the years to come.

Swedish Roots in Oregon also carries on many other interesting activities, and has had a busy spring. Our chief genealogist, Barry Peterson, has helped several individuals who had turned to us for genealogical assistance. This has helped us cultivate a growing network of contacts in the United States and Sweden. Ross Fogelquist’s work of building an archive of Swedish-American oral histories has also continued, as has the gathering of Swedish-American historical material. Our website has steadily grown too, due to the untiring work of our webmaster Herje Wikegård. If you haven’t visited us lately, please take a minute a check it out.

SRIO has many exciting ideas and plans for the future, but more of them in winter Newsletter.

Trevlig sommar!

SRIO SECRETARY ELECTED TO SWEDISH COUNCIL OF AMERICA

Barry Peterson, SRIO Secretary, was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Swedish Council of America (SCA) at its April meeting in Minneapolis. It is the vision of SCA to be the pre-eminent organization that exists to assist affiliated organizations, such as SRIO, in preserving and enriching the Swedish heritage in North America. It does that through program funding, communication and activities in partnership with all Swedish Americans promoting a continued strong relationship between North America and Sweden. SCA has arranged a number of conferences – usually every other year – in its effort to strengthen ties among Swedes and Swedish Americans. Barry and Laurel Peterson (our VP) have, at their own expense, attended the last two conferences in St. Paul, Minnesota and Karlstad, Sweden as representatives of SRIO.

Benefits of SRIO’s membership include:

§ Discount subscription rate to genline - Swedish Church Records Online. Genline's archive contains church records from the 16th-20th century for research in Swedish genealogy.

§ Listings, by state, of organizations and activities of about 350 Swedish American organizations.

§ Opportunities to attend the biennial conferences.

SRIO was aided in getting its startup costs provided by a grant from SCA in 1999.

If you wish to learn more about SCA, its programs or awards, contact Barry at ePeterson.net.

SRIO OUTREACH

At the end of April SRIO President Lars Nordström gave a well-attended talk to members of New Sweden Cultural Heritage Society and Harmoni Lodge. The subject of his talk was that of SRIOs latest publication, “Swedish Emigration to America and Oregon after World War II.” The presentation included information on the size and nature of the postwar immigration from Sweden, the forces behind it, as well as some personal observation on the contemporary immigrant experience. The talk was followed by a very lively question and answer session.

For anyone interested in learning more about this subject, please visit our website where you can read an excerpt from the new booklet (as well as from all our booklets).

PUBLICATIONS

Besides the publication mentioned above, SRIO has also recently published another booklet entitled “Portland’s Swedish-American Community after World War II,” written by Lars Nordström. Based on the personal archives of Ms. Judy Peek, daughter of Oregon’s long-time Swedish Consul Malcolm B. Frykman, and the historical archive of Ross Fogelquist, this material describes the many events and changes that the Swedish-American community has gone through during the second half of the 20^th century.

SRIO would like to express its gratitude to the individuals and organizations that sponsored these new booklets. Tack så mycket!

SRIO has now published twelve booklets on the Swedish experience in the state of Oregon, and they all belong on the “Required Reading List” of anyone interested in the Swedish history of the state. All are available from Swedish Roots at the nominal cost of $2 per copy. Please check our website for details.

SWEDISH LOGGERS IN OREGON

SRIO is currently researching Swedes in the logging industry in Oregon, and if you have any information on this subject, we would love to hear from you. We are interested in old photographs, newspaper articles, letters, postcards, diaries, drawings … in short, anything that pertains to the early days of logging.

TALKS

If you belong to a group or organization that would like to schedule a Swedish Roots in Oregon presentation, please contact Lars Nordström for further details. You can reach him through the SRIO website, his personal website www.larsnordstrom.com, or at the mailing address below. SRIO offers these talks for free.

PLEASE SUPPORT SRIO!

There are many ways you can support the study and the dissemination of the Swedish history in the state of Oregon. Buying our booklets is one obvious way to support our work, but you can also make a donation. SRIO is a registered, non-profit organization, any donation is fully tax-deductible. Any financial assistance is greatly appreciated.

Tack så mycket!

AN OPEN INVITATION

Are you interested in the Swedish history of the state of Oregon? Would you like to be part of a small, friendly and dedicated research group? Would you be able to attend meetings about once a month in the Portland metropolitan area? If so, we would love to hear from you.

SWEDISH ROOTS IN OREGON

An Immigration Research Project

8740 SW Oleson Rd

Portland, OR 97223