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historical records is somewhat different. The family
will naturally follow his achievements or note his
failures, and when he is dead and gone, they are likely
to preserve at least some family records. When a
number of such strangers form a colony or settlement, the
conditions for historical records are vastly improved.
Instead of generalities, however, let us now consider
our own nationality as strangers in the United States.
It is, of course, outside of the scope of this paper to
review the history of the Swedes in this country, but
it appears to me that the present situation may be more
readily understood and appreciated by studying
conditions extending over a sufficiently large space of time
to enable us to draw conclusions, and thereby shape
our actions to accomplish the work we have set out
to do.
As we all know, an "official” Swedish colony was
founded on the Delaware in 1638. These strangers, if
you please, possessed the elements for a civilized
community, and although the historical data handed down to
us from that time are not so elaborate as we may wish,
yet they are quite sufficient, I think, to establish the
facts regarding the relations of the formative elements
which were of such importance in shaping the destinies
of this country.
The two agencies which have kept the early records
of the Swedes in the United States are the church and
the school, or as these were actually one in those days,
it is the church we are indebted to for most of what
we do know from that time. The government and the
court records add their quota as well as the records of
other nationalities in a similar situation in the same
localities as the Swedes, and all these records together
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