Book Description

Swedish emigration to America has been the subject of important research projects. Several works have noted the significance of migration and identified certain traditions from Sweden that were defined in America as immigrant leaders shaped aspects of the Swedish-American community. Immigrant churches and their institutions played key roles in the formation of ethnic identity and the understanding of ethnic consciousness in Swedish America. This study contributes to a scholarly discussion about the history of Swedish Americans in an immigrant church, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and the dynamic circumstances they faced as immigrants. This dissertation analyzes the role of David Nyvall as a leader among Swedes in America, testing the methods with which he shaped the Swedish-American community, the Covenant Church, and immigrant schools. Nyvall was born in Sweden in 1863, emigrated to the United States in 1886, and became first president of a Swedish-American school established by the Covenant Church, North Park College and Theological Seminary. He also served as secretary of the Covenant Church, president of Walden College (a Swedish-American institution), editor of Minneapolis Veckoblad (a Swedish-American religious paper), and inaugural professor of Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Washington. Nyvall wrote hundreds of articles and books, and he was a leading spokesperson in the Swedish-American community until his death in 1946. David Nyvall was an immigrant leader who gave shape to ethnic, denominational, and educational priorities among Swedes in America.