ASHF donates reference books to JCC library
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To commemorate America250, the local American Scandinavian Historical Foundation is donating the two-volume reference work, Swedish Contributions to American Freedom, 1776-1783, to the Hultquist Library at Jamestown Community College.
The work was written by Amandus Johnson, with the publication of the second volume sponsored in part by Jamestown resident Earl O. Hultquist (1891-1963). Until the ASHF's donation, the nearest available copies were housed at Cornell University and Case Western Reserve University. The ASHF sponsors the annual Scandinavian Folk Festival, as well as Jamestown’s Sankta Lucia and Midsommar celebrations.
This year’s Scandinavian Folk Festival highlighted John Morton, whose “yea” secured the Pennsylvania delegation’s vote in favor of independence. Morton was a descendant of Finnish Swedes who settled in the New Sweden colony during the 1640s. Although the Declaration was adopted on July 4, many delegates actually signed the document on Aug. 2. New York’s delegates were required to wait for authorization from Albany before they could cast their votes in favor of independence and sign the declaration — they signed on July 15. It is not certain on which day John Morton signed, but many indicate Aug. 2, 1776.