THE NEW SWEDEN COLONY AI,F_fi( NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM THE NEW SWEDEN COLONY Map of the New Swedencolons/in the DelawareValley drawn by Per Lindestrom, ca. 1655 Courtesyof t• Rilcsarkiuet,Stocld•lm THE NEW SWEDEN COLONY February6-May 15, 1988 .J]'GERS DEC5 1988 NJ. DEPOSITORY NEW JERSEYSTATE MUSEUM TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 1988 NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF STATE Partiallyfunded by theNew Sweden Commemorative Commission of NewJersey, the governmentof Sweden, the Swedish National Committeefor New Sweden'88, the New JerseyCommittee for the Humanitiesand the PennsylvaniaHumanities Council with cosponsorshipfrom the Pennsylvania State Museum and the New JerseyHistorical Commission Copyright,¸ 1988,New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey Libraryof CongressCatalogue Card Number 88-620581 ISBN 0-938766-07-4 Edited by Lorraine E. Williams Designedby JohnCrank & Associates,Inc. Photographsby Tony Masso,Courtesy of LendingInstitutions Typesetand producedby the New JerseyState Museum Printedby White EaglePrinting Co., Inc. Cover: Detail of New Sweden colonists tradingwith the Indiansfrom Thomas CampaniusHolm Descriptionolc New Sweden,1702, published in Stockholm. CONTENTS 7 FOREWORD Leah P. Sloshberg 9 AC KN O WLED GE MENTS Lorraine E. Williams 11 INTRODUCTION 15 CHRONOLOGY 19 THE NEW SWEDEN COLONY Catalogueof Exhibition 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY FOREWORD Leah P. Sloshberg The New JerseyState Museumis pleasedto participatein the Director commemorativecelebration of the 350th anniversaryof the founding of the New SwedenColony in the DelawareValley. The presentation of this exhibition documentsand visualizesthis brief but very influentialpart of our regionaland statehistory; brief, in that the actual life of the colony was only seventeenyears, but influential in its many culturalcontributions such as placenames, music and religioustraditions, architectural influences, and foodwaysthat are still strongand vibrant. In the developmentof the exhibition,the Museumstaff has had the pleasureof workingwith the New JerseySwedish community, with a national academiccommunity having specialinterest in SwedishAmerican cultural history, and with cultural, academic,and governmentalorganizations in Sweden.We appreciatethe assistance and guidanceof theselegions. We are especiallygrateful to our funders: The New Sweden Commemorative Commission of New Jersey,the governmentof Sweden,the SwedishNational Committee for New Sweden'88, the New JerseyCommittee for the Humanities and the PennsylvaniaHumanities Council. Without their financial supportand the loansfrom the many institutionswho have entrusted us with their treasures,this exhibitionwould not have been possible. Our appreciationand gratitudeto all of you. AC KN OWLED GEMENTS Lorraine E. Williams The recordof the New SwedenColony presentedin this exhibitionis Curatorof Archaeology/Ethnologythe outcomeof three yearsof cooperationamong scholars on both sidesof the Atlantic Ocean. We have benefitedfrom the generous sharingof expertiseby the staffof our cosponsorsand lending museums.Barry Kent and StephenWarfel of the State Museumof Pennsylvaniashared their detailedknowledge of the Susquehannock Indians. Richard Waldron of the New JerseyHistorical Commission researchedthe history of the colony both in Swedenand in the DelawareValley and helpedlocate documents and objects. The exhibitionwould not have been possiblewithout the unstintingcooperation of Swedishmuseums. The supportof director Sune Zachrissonand curatorsElizabeth Hidemark, Ingrid Bergman and JonasBerg at the NordiskaMuseet in Stockholmenabled us to presenta comprehensivevisual record of the New SwedenColony which would otherwisehave been impossible.Elizabeth Hidemark provideduntiring support and contributedthroughout the exhibition'sdevelopment. Specialappreciation is owed to Bo Karlsonof the JonkopingLans Museum for his researchon Johan Printz and the loan of associated objectsand graphicmaterial. We are extremelygrateful to Arne Losman,director of SkoklostersSlott, Balsta,and Ulla Wagner,director, and Staffan Brunius,Curator of the Americas,at the EtnografiskaMuseet, Stockholm,for their generosityin loaningus Middle Atlantic Indian objectsfrom their collections.These fragile objects, fashioned from organicmaterials, provide us with a rare opportunityto see 17th-centuryartifacts that have not survivedin North America. We would like to expressour appreciationfor the assistanceof Jon Lindroth of the Riksarkivet,Pontus Grate of the Nationalmuseumand Bjore Westlundof the KungligaBiblioteket in Stockholm. On this sideof the Atlantic we are gratefulfor the assistance of Paul Needhamand David Wright of the J. PierpontMorgan Library; Caterina Cherny and Zoriana Siokalo of the American SwedishHistorical Museum; Roger Allen of the Philadelphia Maritime Museum; Donald Winer of the State Museum of Pennsylvania;Stephen Ferguson of FirestoneLibrary, Princeton University; and Ruth Simmonsof SpecialCollections and Archives, RutgersUniversity Libraries.William Sturtevant, Richard Hulan, PeterWacker, CharlesGehring, and Marshall Beckershared the resultsof their many yearsof work on Indians and Europeansof the middleAtlantic area.Thorsten Karlsson, president of the ScandinavianAmerican Heritage Society of New Jerseyand the New SwedenCompany, Inc., John Jacobson,assistant to the Secretaryof State, and Beth Linnerson•Daly,program director of the New Sweden CommemorativeCommission of New Jersey,helped throughout our Such a complexproject would have beenimpossible without the continuingsupport of Secretaryof StateJane Burgio, Assistant Secretaryof State Alvin Felzenberg,and State MuseumDirector Leah Sloshberg.Magnus Faxen, Consul Generalof Swedenhas also providedunwavering support. Lars Georgsonof the Swedish Consulatein New York, and Gunnel Myhrbergof the Swedish Information Service Office in New York have assisted in countless ways. First Ulf Lundin and then BeateSydhoff as Cultural Counselor for the Embassyof Swedensupported the projectin Swedenand here in the States.In Sweden,Anders Clasomand BirgittaLonnell of the SwedishInstitute have providedvital coordinationbetween two continents. The staffof the New JerseyState Museumresponded admirably to the challengesof an internationalexhibition. The Archaeology Bureau staff, Karen Flinn, Gina Giambrone, Fran Mollett, and Marcia Sternbergcoped wonderfully with the extra work entailed with internationalshipments, catalogue entries from two continents for text and label copy in the exhibitionand catalogue,and developmentof educationalprogramming for schoolclasses. Karen Cummins,Suzanne Crilley and SusanFinkel developedadult educationalprogramming to enhancevisitors' enjoyment of the exhibition. The staff of the Exhibits Bureauworked creativelyand tirelesslyto installthe exhibitionaccording to the creativedesign preparedby John Crank Associates. Finally, it is appropriatethat the New SwedenColony exhibition be a joint Swedishand Americancontribution to the celebrationof the 350th anniversaryof the beginningof New Swedenin the DelawareValley. The SwedishNational Committeefor New Sweden '88 and the New SwedenCommemorative Commission of New Jersey have providedfunding to make the exhibitiona reality. Grants from the New JerseyCommittee for the Humanitiesand the Pennsylvania HumanitiesCouncil have supportedresearch for the exhibition. 10 INTRODUCTION The 17th centurywas an ageof discoveryand expansion--inthe arts, science,industry, and globalexploration. European countries tried to spreadtheir commercialand politicalinfluence throughout the world. Inspiredby the richesthat Spain and Portugalgained through their overseascolonies, Sweden, England and the Netherlandscompeted for control of the middle Atlantic seaboard of North America throughoutthe first half of the century. While we generallythink of the Englishand the Dutch as 17th-centurycolonial powers, we do not associateSweden with early Europeancolonialism. Yet from 1620 to 1720, Swedenwas a EuropeanGreat Power.Her continentalpossessions made of the Baltic Sea a Swedishlake. Finland was then a part of Sweden.At varioustimes, so were portionsof modern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, and the Soviet Union. By mid-century,the Swedescontrolled trade in the Baltic and were one of the major military and politicalcombatants in Germanyduring the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). But Swedenlacked the moneyand manpowerto maintain her military and economicposition in Europe,especially since she was at war throughoutmost of the 17th century.By the 1630sthe English and the Dutch were beginningto realizeprofits from their colonial and commericalventures, and suchexamples probably led the Swedes to found New Sweden. In 1637, Swedish,Dutch and German stockholdersformed the New SwedenCompany to trade for furs and tobaccoin North America. Under the commandof PeterMinuit, the company'sfirst expeditionsailed from Swedenlate in 1637in two ships,Kalmar Nyckeland FogelGrip. Minuit had been the governorof the Dutch colony, New Netherland, centeredon Manhattan Island, from 1626 to 1631. The shipsreached Delaware Bay in March 1638, and the settlersbegan to build a fort at the siteof modernWilmington, Delaware.They namedit Fort Christina, after Sweden'stwelve-year- old queen.It was the first permanentEuropean settlement in the Delaware Valley. In time, the colony consistedof farms and small settlements scatteredalong both banks of the DelawareRiver into modern Delaware,New Jerseyand Pennsylvania.In the next seventeenyears, elevenSwedish expeditions followed the first one, eachbringing suppliesand smallnumbers