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Sweden and Swedish America in World War I

This guide is for anyone looking to conduct research on World War I using Swenson Center resources.

Archival Collections

The Swenson Center has some collections of documents about the First World War. See for example:

 

MSS P:25  Magdalena Persson Mårtensson letters

This collection contains letters written primarily to Magdalena Persson Mårtensson (nicknamed Malena) and her husband Nils between 1883 and 1929. The letters contain information about various people related to or known to Magdalena and about recent events in her home parish and nearby Skåne, Sweden. The bulk of the letters are written by her uncle Lars and sisters Maria and Christina regarding issues of financial matters, such as whether the land inherited from their uncle Nils should be leased instead of sold due to harsh economic conditions in Sweden. The letters also contain vivid information about ordinary life in the countryside of southern Sweden during the early 20th century, the impact of industrialization of the Swedish economy, the First World War and the following social and economic crises of the 1920s.

 

MSS P:260  Alphonse Hvalgren and Hulda Gustafson papers

The papers contain a variety of original documents such as passenger contracts, passports, receipts from steamships, Declaration of Intention, World War I draft cards, and correspondence between Hulda Gustafson in Sweden an Alphonse Hvalgren in the United States, some of which were opened by the mail censor during World War I. Also includes information on Emanuel Hvalgren (1827-1908), Alphonse Hvalgren's maternal grandfather, who was a Swedish philosopher and schoolteacher.

 

See also: MSS P:10 O 21   Birger Swenson papers

A World War I Victory Medal.  The medal hangs from rainbow colored ribbon.  There is a bronze clasp on the ribbon that states, "FRANCE".  This clasp may be an Army Service Clasp.  For non-combat service with the army during the First World War, the following service clasps were authorized to be worn with the World War I Victory Medal.