Click here for a short video of the 2012 Colonists' Day celebration.
Coming events
"The Landing of the Swedes" by Stanley M. Arthurs
depicts the first contact in 1638 between the Swedish settlers and Native Americans.
The meeting took place along the Christina River in present-day Wilmington.
The image is made possible through the generosity of the Permanent Collection of the University of Delaware
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New Sweden Centre
TEL
302-429-0464
FAX 302-746-6755
Email:
info@colonialnewsweden.org
Mail-Business Address:
New Sweden Centre
PO Box 12001
Wilmington, DE 19850
Tours/visits by appointment:
Please call 302-429-0464
to schedule a visit
Welcome
The New Sweden Centre, headquartered in Wilmington, De., offers educational outreach programs and historic reenactors. Browse the website and email us to learn more.
Centre in transition
Museum without walls
Dear Friends,2013 has been a year of transition for the New Sweden Centre. While we may no longer enjoy the use of our own space at the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard, we are making a smooth transition into a Museum Without Walls. We have already established partnerships with several local museums.
• Our Captain Mannequin set is now located in the Bowers' Beach Maritime Museum in Bowers, Beach, DE.
• Our Swedish Lady and child, plus many of our kitchen items, are now located in the Hendrickson House in Wilmington, DE.
• Our Lenape Mannequin is now located at the Prehistoric Museum in Greenwich, NJ.
• Our "Explore New Sweden" panels are now located in the Swedesboro-Woolwich History Museum in Swedesboro, NJ.
• Our Cabin corner and fireplace, Black Anthony, Fort Christina Model, and our educational materials are on loan through November 1st to the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
• We are also serving as the "Non Profit Brand" in JA Finance Park, utilizing the Colony to Community panels as a temporary exhibit until we can create a new, youth focused exhibit at the Junior Achievement Center (JA) in Wilmington DE. This facility serves Salem County, NJ and New Castle County, DE and reaches approximately 10,000 students yearly.
• We are actively marketing the book, Africans in New Sweden by Abdullah Mohammed.
• We have a nice collection of colonial tools, old but not period historical, we would like to loan to another museum. We will have some of the miniature Historical figures to loan out. Some of these will be used at JA.
This is an overwhelming task, but promises to expand our area of influence to promote New Sweden Heritage to new audiences. Our focus will be on outreach through our Settlers' Trunks and presentations to schools and organizations. We also plan to expand our re-enactor base of volunteers.
We are continuing to work with Old Swedes Foundation and the Delaware Swedish Colonial Society in the annual celebration of the landing of the Swedes and planning for Colonists' Day 2014, tentatively scheduled for April 5th.
Anyone interested in assisting us please get in touch. 302-420-0464 or e-mail us at info@colonialnewsweden.org. Feel free to call Education Director Aleasa Hogate at 856-678-5511
Regards,
Jeffrey R Gudzune,
Membership Chair, New Sweden Centre
Royal visit
Royal visit highlight of 375th celebrations
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden visited Wilmington May 11 to mark the 375th anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers. The king and queen were joined by Finland's Speaker of the Parliament Eero Heinäluoma. Keep an eye on the calendar at right as we continue to clebrate this anniversary year.Click here for the Newsworks/WHYY report on this historic event.
Click on the logo for updates on anniversary plans by The New Sweden Alliance.
375th Anniversary Conference presentations now online
Lu Ann De Cunzo of the University of Delaware talks about the struggles the early settlers faced in the Delaware Valley in this online view. Her presentation is one of many from the 375th New Sweden Anniversary Conference now available here. The conference was held Nov. 8-10 at the university. The above link will bring up a web page listing the available talks with links to the recordings.
Peter Minuit, founder of New Sweden,
named to Junior Achievement Hall of Fame
Colonists' Day 2012
Enjoy this five-minute video of the 2012 celebration and day's activities.
The hand of friendship extended at the ceremony celebrating the 374th Anniversary of the landing of the Swedes and Finns at "The Rocks" in Fort Christina Park at Colonists' Day, April 14th, 2012. Bill Hutchinison, left, in the persona of Peter Minuit, greets Dennis Cokerchief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, Inc.
The story of New Sweden
This seven-minute video quickly tells the story of the founding of New Sweden. It is a condensed version of a 26-minute video that is available in our web store for anyone who would like to make it part of their education or interpretive program.
The story of Black Anthony
Click here to learn about Antoni Swart, the African who lived in New Sweden. This 10-page slide show is a synopsis by Abdullah Muhammad of his recently published book: Africans in New Sweden, The Untold Story. The book is now available for order in our store. Click here for ordering information.New brochure
We're excited that we have a new brochure of New Sweden sites throughout Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. There’s a map to show the locations and contact details for each location/organization are listed on the reverse side. Feel free to print off your own copy!Traveling exhibit
One of our recent ventures was to support the current traveling exhibit called “Colony to Community: The Story of New Sweden” This display, developed by the American Swedish Historical Museum, is now available for your conference or special event highlighting local history. Send us an an email for more information.