Letters in Sweden In Sweden it was very common for old people to keep emigrant letters at home. To have relatives in America was something people were proud of. Examples of these letters can be found in different collections in Sweden. The Swedish Emigration Institute in Växjö, has between 50,000 and 100,000 emigrant letters. Work has started now to organise this collection in a more systematic way. The Kinda collection also includes other material in addition to the leters such as photos, postcards, newspaper clips etc. Naturally, the condition of the letters varies greatly. Some are very easy to identify and read, and are still in their envelopes, but it is apparent that they are written by people who are not used to writing. Their writing is sometimes influenced by the spoken language written in dialect or “Swenglish” and can be hard both to read and identify. An earlier project between Kinda municipality and Cultural Heritage Östergötland has digitalised the collection. The letters can be found in a database on the Internet ( www.svar.ra.se ) The work with the letters in the EMILE-project has given the possibility to compare the letters from Kinda with letters from other parts of Europe. Postcard from Anna Nysten enclosed to one of the letters home to her parents. Look at Life Stories. The archives of local history/The collection of emigrant letters