The Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, incorporated as a not‑for‑profit corporation in Chicago, Illinois, October 15, 1948, emerged out of the Swedish Pioneer Centennial Association celebration of 1948, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Swedish pioneers in the Midwest. The Centennial Celebration was considered so successful by many of its organizers that a movement developed to establish an historical society with the following purposes: to stimulate and promote interest in Swedish‑American contributions to American history, preserve documents, encourage historical research, and sponsor publications. In certain aspects the Society was heir to an earlier organization, the Swedish Historical Society of America, which was founded in Chicago in 1905 and later moved to Minneapolis before disbanding in 1932. (Records of the S.H.S.A. are housed at the Minnesota Historical Society.)
The constitution and bylaws for the Swedish Pioneer Historical Society were adopted December 8, 1950. From its inception, the Society has been governed by an executive board of directors, with the day‑to‑day operations supervised by the executive secretary. One of the earliest activities of the Society was the publication of the Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly begun in 1950. The Society also published its first book, A Pioneer in Northwest America, Volume 1, the memoirs of Gustav Unonius, in 1950, and has continued to publish and sponsor books through its history.
In 1960, the Society sponsored its first flight program to Sweden, and has continued to periodically do so. In the latter part of the seventies, the Society began sponsoring "Pioneer Tours" throughout the United States.
The Society officially established its Archives, as mandated in the original constitution of 1950, in 1968, after twenty years of sporadic collecting. The Archives, located on the campus of North Park College, has concentrated on the collection of Swedish‑American material from the greater Chicago area. Not until 1982 was a full‑time archivist employed for this purpose.
In 1969, the Society established the Nils William Olsson Research Fund for the support of scholarly research. In 1977, the Society began awarding the Carl Sandburg Medal in honor of the well known poet and author who served as honorary chairman of the Society from its inception until his death in 1967. The award serves to honor those individuals who have contributed outstandingly to Swedish America. Other activities of the Society include the organization of programs in the areas of Swedish‑American research and culture including scholarly seminars, and the semi‑annual Society banquets.
Since the very beginning, the Society has had a national and international membership, with the bulk of the foreign membership living in Sweden. Membership categories originally included (in increasing amount of contribution), annual memberships, sustaining memberships, life memberships, and also honorary memberships. In later years, three new categories were added ‑ student memberships, donor memberships, and benefactor memberships. The Swedish Committee of the Society, still known as the Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, has coordinated many of the Society's functions in that nation. Their records are not housed in this manuscript series.
Beginning with the January, 1982 issue, the name of the Society's quarterly magazine was changed to the Swedish‑American Historical Quarterly. In October of 1983, the official name of the Society was also changed, to the Swedish‑American Historical Society. In October, 1984, a reorganization of the Society's board structure took place. The Editorial Board became the Publications Board, the Archives Board became the Preservation Board, and the boards for Development, Awards and Grants, and Programs were given further definition. At this time also, the Archives was renamed the Swedish‑American Archives of Greater Chicago.
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