Carte-de-Visite Album of Swedish Illinoisans, c. 1860s–1880s

Illinois, Iowa, and Sweden: multiple studios, 1880. Carte-de-visite album containing forty-five photographs, a mix of CDVs and tintypes. Album missing spine with front and back boards detached, some pages detached, and tears to paper, good; photographs generally excellent with normal wear.. In the mid-19th century, social, religious, and economic conditions in Sweden led to an outpouring of immigrants to the US, with many going to the midwest. One locus of Swedish immigration was Rockford, Illinois; by 1900, twenty-two percent of Rockford’s residents had been born in Sweden, with many more the descendants of Swedish immigrants. Offered here is an album of portraits of the residents of Rockford from about the 1860s to 1880s, many of whom are Swedish—surnames include Norden, Westerdahl, Munson, and Nelson (the portraits are generally captioned, but the handwriting is often difficult to decipher). Many of the CDVs have studio names verso; most of these are in Rockford, though several are in Sweden, in particular Kalmar and Gothenburg. Of interest to researchers of Swedish immigration to the US, especially the midwest.