Gloria Dei Church, Philadelphia, PA

In the 17th century Swedish settlers landed on the banks of the Delaware River establishing churches in Wilmington, Tinicum and by the mid-17th century in Wicaco outside of what would become Philadelphia. That latter church, Gloria Dei, is Pennsylvania’s oldest congregation. The existing church was built between 1698 and 1700 and originally served a Swedish Lutheran congregation. The church today is part of the Episcopal Diocese and a national historic site. Archival records scanned as part of this project include vestry minutes, registers, financial, correspondence between the original Swedish parishes and the churches in Philadelphia, Delaware and New Jersey as well as their “miscellaneous records”.