Swedish Folk costumes were created be­cause the peasants wished to have ‘dress-up clothes’ for parties, church, weddings, etc. Because they could not afford the silks and fine laces and velvets of the upper classes, they created clothing based on the styles of the period with fabrics of their own creation. Thus most of the folk cos­tumes are made of wool and linen and leather.

Alone in Stockholm during World War II my father Nils William Olsson found different ways of spending his leisure time.

A diversion for him in Stock­holm was joining a Swedish folk-dancing group. While this didn’t last longer than the war years, Fa­ther did acquire a complete Swedish folk costume and also one for Mother. His costume is from Herrestad härad in Skåne. Mother's costume is from Floda in Dalarna.
These he brought back to the U.S. in 1945. Since then these two cos­tumes have remained untouched. Which brings me to the purpose of this article. These costumes need new owners.

As some of you know, my parents started a scholarship program with the Swenson Center, it is known as the "Dagmar and Nils William Olsson Visiting Scholar Award" and it is awarded yearly to a selected academic researcher wanting to use the library at the Swenson Center.

These costumes will be sold in pieces and the monies donated direct­ly to the above mentioned scholar­ship.

Read more about this in Swedish American Genealogist June issue (2), 2014.

Here are color pictures of various parts of the costumes: