7th Annual New Sweden History Conference
Carl Linnaeus, Pehr Kalm & the Early American Scientific Community

Saturday, October 13, 2007
Trinity Episcopal (Old Swedes’) Church
1129 Kings Highway
Swedesboro, New Jersey 08085

The 7th Annual New Sweden History Conference Carl Linnaeus, Pehr Kalm & the Early American Scientific Community, will commemorate the tercentenary of Linnaeus’s birth and focus on the role of Pehr Kalm (Linnaeus’s “apostle” in America) in the development of the early North American scientific community and in the religious and ethnic history of southern New Jersey during the mid-18th century.

Kalm’s home in America was the Swedish-Finnish community of Raccoon (now Swedesboro) in southern New Jersey, where he served as substitute pastor of Trinity Church and married the widow of the former pastor. In Sweden, the darling of Linnaeus’s household was his pet raccoon named Sjupp.

All conference activities will be in Trinity Church unless noted otherwise.

Schedule

9:30 Registration, Parish Hall

10:15 Welcome and Announcements

10:30 Morning Program

“Looking at New Sweden & America through Linnaean Lenses”
Karen M. Reeds, Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and Guest Curator, Come Into a New World:  Linnaeus and America, American Swedish Historical Museum.

“Pehr Kalm in Southwestern New Jersey”
Peter O. Wacker, Emeritus Professor of Geography, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

“The Greatest Natural Botanist in the World:
John Bartram & Linnaean Botany in 18th-Century North America”
Joel T. Fry, Curator, Bartram’s Garden

Questions and Discussion

12:30 Luncheon, Parish Hall

Lunchtime Tours: Edith A. Rohrman, Administrator, Trinity Church, will lead a tour of the church. Robert E. Savage, Emeritus Professor of Biology, Swarthmore College, will lead Part One of “Retracing Kalm’s Steps in ‘the Environs of Raccoon, New Jersey’.” The nature walk will catalogue the flora and fauna of Kalm’s time, especially specimens he sent back to Linnaeus. This will be in the spirit of the popular “botanizing expeditions” Linnaeus himself led around 18th century Uppsala while he was teaching at the university. The lunchtime portion will remain in the Trinity churchyard.

2:00 Afternoon Program

“Pehr Kalm: A ‘Linnaeus Apostle’s’ North American Observations”
Paula Ivaska Robbins, Independent Scholar & Pehr Kalm Biographer

“Behind Every Great Man There’s a Woman: Pehr Kalm & Anna Margaretha Sjöman”
Edith A. Rohrman, Trinity Church, and
Lorraine E. Williams, Curator of Archaeology, New Jersey State Museum

Questions, Discussion & Conference Evaluation

3:30 A second church tour by Ms. Rohrman, and Part Two of Dr. Savage’s nature walk, “Retracing Kalm’s Steps in ‘the Environs of Raccoon, New Jersey’.” Part Two will be near Raccoon Creek, a short distance from the church. Be sure to wear sturdy shoes and clothing that will protect you from insects and the area’s rampant poison ivy!

Sponsors: Trinity Episcopal Church; Swedish Colonial Society; American Swedish Historical Museum; McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania; New Sweden Centre.
Trinity Episcopal Church	Swedish Colonial Society	American Swedish Historical Museum

McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

New Sweden Centre

Funders: New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities; the New Jersey Historical Commission, Department of State; and the Finlandia Foundation.
New Jersey Council for the Humanities	New Jersey Historical Commission, Department of State	Finlandia Foundation

Trinity Church is located on the corner of Church Street and Kings Highway, in the town of Swedesboro, New Jersey.

Parking is available along King's Highway, on Church Street, and on Second Street (behind the church). Conference attendees may park in the small lot on Church Street, directly opposite the church, marked "Church parking only."

Questions: Call Trinity Church office at (856) 467-1227, or email trinityoldswedes@verizon.net.

Driving Directions

From New Jersey Turnpike
Take Exit 2 (Swedesboro). After toll at end of exit ramp, turn left (west) onto Rt. 322. Go 1 mile to traffic light and turn left onto Rt. 551 (King's Highway). Continue for 1 mile south and cross Raccoon Creek. Church is on right as you enter the town of Swedesboro.

From Route 295 (South or Northbound)
Take Exit 11 towards Mullica Hill. Go East on Rt. 322 about 3 miles to third light; Rt. 322 and King's Highway. Turn right onto Rt. 551(King's Highway). (If you miss the turn and reach the turnpike entry, you have gone too far. Turn around and follow directions from turnpike above.) Go 1 mile south and cross Raccoon Creek. Church is on right as you enter the town of Swedesboro.

From Pennsylvania
Take Commodore Barry Bridge. The exit ramp becomes Route 322 East. Go approximately 5 miles to the third light at Route 322 and King's Highway. Turn right onto Rt. 551 (King's Highway), continue south for 1 mile and cross Raccoon Creek. Church is on right as you enter the town of Swedesboro.

Attendance is free of charge, and you are welcome to bring your breakfast and lunch with you. If you wish to purchase the conference’s continental breakfast and box lunch, the cost is $35 per person ($25 for students and high school teachers). Please register even if you do not plan to purchase the conference’s food service. Mail the registration coupon (or send name, address, telephone number, email & affiliation) by Monday, October 8, to New Sweden History Conference, Trinity Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 31, Swedesboro, New Jersey 08085. Make check payable to “Trinity Church” and write “NSHC 2007” on the memo line. For registration questions contact Trinity Church at (856) 467-1227.

The Speakers

Karen M. Reeds, a member of the Princeton Research Forum and the National Coalition of Independent Scholars, has spoken on Linnaeus, Kalm, and New Sweden at the 2002 New Sweden History Conference, the Linnaean Society of New York, the Universities of Helsinki and Turku, Harvard Medical School, and the British Museum.

Peter O. Wacker is the author of many books and articles about New Jersey’s cultural geography, most notably, “Land and People: A Cultural Geography of Pre-Industrial New Jersey: Origins and Settlement Patterns” (Rutgers University Press, 1975).

Joel T. Fry is the author of many works, including “America’s ‘Ancient Garden’: The Bartram Botanic Garden, 1728–1850,” in “The Culture of Nature: Arts and Science in Philadelphia, 1740-1840” (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2008).

Paula Ivaska Robbins is the author of “The Travels of Peter Kalm, Finnish-Swedish Naturalist, Through Colonial North America” (Purple Mountain Press, 2007), which will be available for purchase at the conference.

Edith Auten Rohrman’s new career began in 2006 as an intern with the State Historic Preservation Office in Trenton. She organized and managed the Third New Sweden History Conference (2003) and a massive project to rehabilitate Trinity Church that began in the 1990s.

Lorraine E. Williams is the State Archaeologist of New Jersey, the co-editor of “New Sweden in America” (University of Delaware Press, 1995), and the curator of “Cultures in Competition: Indians and Europeans in Colonial New Jersey,” at the New Jersey State Museum.

Robert E. Savage is a board member and the former board Chair of the American Swedish Historical Museum and the co-author of “Calming John Bartram’s Passion: Sweden’s Scientific Certification of Philadelphia’s Botanist,” in “America’s Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram, 1699-1777” (American Philosophical Society, 2004).