Swedish Research

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center - In-depth info on their collection

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The Regional History Center, NIU DeKalb, IL, has some Swedish-American Church and ethnic organization records.

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Swedish-American Archives

Located at:

North Park College - Archival Research Collections
5100 North Spaulding Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625

Phone: (312) 583-5722

• Covenant Archives and Historical Library in Nyvall Hall
• Swedish-American Archives of Greater Chicago in Caroline Hall

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Swedish Historical Society of Rockford - If you want any Swedish information in Winnebago County, this is the place to contact.

Located at:

Erlander Home Museum
404 S. Third St.
Rockford, IL 61104

Phone: (815) 963-5559 - The Museum is open 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. on Sundays.

The Society publishes the Swedish Heritage Magazine annually. This publication includes:

• Biographies of selected Swedish immigrants and⁄or their families
• Useful information for the genealogist and historian such as:
• Swedish Churches
• Swedish language newspapers

Note to the Swedish researcher: The article briefly outlined below goes into some detail on the synods and⁄or religious regional organizations under which each of these churches was organized. Research questions regarding church records should first be directed to the individual churches before contacting the regional church archives. See Winnebago County homepage under Other Related Items for Church phone numbers.

From the 1994 issue of the Swedish Heritage -

Rockford Churches of Swedish Origin...

• First Lutheran Church - organized in 1854 - originally named The Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation - 225 S. Third St., Rockford, IL (815) 962-6691
• Emmanuel Lutheran Church - organized in 1882 - 920 Third Ave., Rockford, IL (815)963-4815
• Zion Lutheran Church - organized in 1883 - was an outgrowth of First Lutheran
• 925 Fifth Ave., Rockford, IL (815) 964-4609 Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church - organized in 1907 - 1629 S. Sixth St., Rockford, IL (815)965-5131
• Tabor Lutheran Church - organized in 1925 - 2233 - 12th Ave., Rockford, IL
• (815) 397-2605 The Mission Tabernacle Church - organized in 1875 - originally named The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society
• The Bethesda Evangelical Covenant Church - organized in 1926 - 118 Washington St., Rockford, IL (815) 397-4212
• First Evangelical Free Church - organized in 1884 - originally named The Swedish Free Church - 2223 N. Mulford Rd, Rockford, IL (815) 877-7046
• Bethany Methodist Church - organized in 1861 - originally named The First Swedish Methodist Church - 410 - 8th St., Rockford, IL (815) 963-0320
• Temple Baptist Church - organized in 1880 - formerly named the Scandinavian Baptist Church and later First Swedish Baptist Church - 3215 E. State. St., Rockford, IL
• (815) 399-2665 Elim Baptist Church - organized in 1917 - originally named Second Swedish Baptist Church - 5500 E. Newburg Rd., Rockford, IL (815) 399-1388
• Swedish Salvation Army - organized in 1891 - continues to hold services in the Swedish language in 1997. - 500 S. Rockford Ave., Rockford, IL (815) 226-4400

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From the 1996 issue of the Swedish Heritage

Rockford's Swedish language Newspapers

• Svenska Posten, a weekly paper, originally published under the name Rockford Posten and founded on January 4, 1889, last issue on September 27, 1918, when it merged with the Chicago paper, Svenska Kuriren.
• Nya Sverige was published for six months in 1872.
• Rockford Allehanda started publication in 1884, later the name was changed to Svenska Fria-Pressen. This paper was published for four years.
• Very short runs of the Jultomten (1888), the Rockford Harald (one issue in 1902), the Folkets Ross (1895), and the Folkets Nyheter (1913) were published.
• The Framtiden was published from 1892 to 1896, and the Forskaren from 1893 to 1894.

Note to the Swedish researcher: Most issues of the Svenska Posten are available for viewing in the Rockford Public Library.

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Other Swedish Internet Research Links

Swedish Genealogy Homepage

Scandinavian Genealogy Homepage

Cyndi's Swedish Genealogy Links

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Return to Top of Page

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[Winnebago County Homepage] [USGenWeb] [ILGenWeb]

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Katy Hestand

County Coordinator

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This page created by Cecelia Yeruski for the ILGenWeb Project.
Last updated: Monday, 18-Apr-2005 10:04:34 MDT