CAMC Collection 106. Swedish Pioneer Essay Contest, 1948: Overview

To learn more about this collection please see the finding aid link found above, and/or visit the College and Lutheran Church Archives to use these primary sources.

Swedish Pioneer Essay Contest, 1948.  CAMC Collection 106.  1 oversize Hollinger box.

ABSTRACT:
The Swedish Pioneer Essay Contest collection contains copies of essays submitted to the Swedish Pioneer Essay Contest sponsored by the Swedish American Line in 1948.  The submissions fell under three different age groups with prizes ranging from government savings bonds to an all-expense paid trip to Scandinavia on the M.S. “Gripsholm,” a ship of the Swedish American Line.

Essays were submitted in three different groups: Group 1 – College Undergraduates, Group 2 – High School and Preparatory School Students, and Group 3 – Adults Regardless of Occupation.  There were winners and honorable mentions for each group.  A total of 2,012 essays were received from every state as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.  Only identification numbers and no names were presented to the judges.  Submissions were judged on three categories: originality of material; method of treatment; and literary skill.

The judges were:

• Adolph B. Benson, professor emeritus, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
• Dr. Conrad Bergendoff, president, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
• Dr. Reuben G. Gustavson, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
• Dr. Naboth Hedin, professor in Scandinavian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, California
• Helge Kökeritz, professor in English, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
• Dr. Evald B. Lawson, president, Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey
• Dr. Algoth Ohlson, president, North Park College, Chicago, Illinois
• Lithgow Osborne, president, American Scandinavian Foundation
• Dr. Roy V. Peel, professor, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
• George M. Stephenson, professor in History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Dr. Marshall W.S. Swan, curator, American Swedish Historical Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Dr. Edwin J. Vickner, professor in Scandinavian Languages, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (formerly of Gustavus Adolphus College)
• John B.C. Watkins, First Secretary of External Affairs, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

There were six winners and five honorable mentions from Groups 1 and 2, and six winners and ten honorable mentions from Group 3. 

This collection is divided into the three groups that the essay contest was divided into: Group 1 – College Undergraduates, Group 2 – High School and Preparatory School Students, and Group 3 – Adults Regardless of Occupation.  Papers are organized alphabetically by title within each group.