From 1940 to 1991 six women, members (mostly by marriage) of the family of Anna and Ernest Swanson, exchanged correspondence by letter or, occasionally, by card or postcard. Those writers shared news of family, friends and offspring, also of travel and weather. Ruth Swanson, in California, saved letters and cards she received. Her collection, preserved by Ruth’s daughters Betty and Elaine, offers an informative view of the lives of first- and second-generation Scandinavian immigrants dispersed across the USA. Click on any name below to read transcribed or original letters by that author.

This collection includes two letters from Anna Swanson, both rescued by Barbara Swanson. We never ‘hear’ first hand from Ruth. What Ruth saved, however, provides a remarkable record of our families. Dave made several visits to see Swanson cousins in California. On one of those visits, Betty showed Dave a notebook holding letters that Ruth had collected. During a later visit, Dave spent several useful hours copying contents from the notebook to digital files. Dave sorted and transcribed the letters. Multiple copies of letters and transcripts exist in a double-safe archive. To facilitate name or location searches across the full set of letters, access a composite chronological file here.