The 300th anniversary of the first American colony of Swedes and Finns was marked by a 3-cent red violet stamp issued on June 27, 1938. The colony, known as New Sweden, was established near present-day Wilmington, Delaware. The Kingdom of Sweden was a European power with expansionist goals in the seventeenth century. It included Finland and much of the rest of Scandinavia.
A painting by Stanley M. Arthurs depicting the landing of the first Swedish and Finnish settlers in America inspired the stamp's vignette.
Gordon T. Trotter
