Start  The Emigration
The Emigration
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Swedish emigration to the United States began during the 1840s and 1850s. By 1930, 1.2 million Swedes had settled in the United States, almost half between 1868 and 1893. The total exodus reduced Sweden's late 19th century population by about one-fourth. While most emigrants before 1880 left from rural areas, the majority after World War I came from urban centers.
Their reasons for leaving were as varied as the emigrants themselves: economic difficulties, an exclusive class system, a reactionary government, personal misfortunes, failing farms, and religious intolerance. By the 1860s, the network of contacts and services including American land companies, state immigration offices, steamship companies, and railroads increased the average Swede's ability to take advantage of opportunities in America.
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Hjalmar Peterson, America's most beloved Swedish-language performer, launched his career as the “peasant comedian” Olle i Skratthult, performing songs, poems, and comic monologues in his native Värmland dialect. In 1917, he married Olga Lindgren, who also became his leading lady on stage. His troupe's popularity reached its height in the mid-1920s. Their program often included folk comedies, songs, comic monologues, folk dances, and orchestra solos, and, after the program, a public dance that included waltzes, polkas, and schottisches.
Now-a-days Olle i Skratthult´s alter ego, Owe “Clapson” Carlsson, entertains with the old songs. Together with his orchestra he tours the Swedish America and will entertain the visitors at the Emigration Conference in Mellerud, August 16 2008.
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