Mackenzie, Malcolm L., 1926-2000

Publicist and avid sailor Malcolm L. Mackenzie, born on January 19, 1926, in El Paso, Texas, was a founding member of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, based in Wilmington, Delaware.

Mackenzie, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University, owned and operated the publicity firm of Malcolm L. Mackenzie & Associates in Wilmington during the 1960s through the 1980s. In his private life, Mackenzie, who graduated from the Maine Maritime Academy and served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, enjoyed sailing and researching maritime history. Mackenzie devoted much of his life to redevelopment of an area in Wilmington known as the Seventh Street Peninsula, which encompasses heritage sites such as Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church and the Carl Milles 1938 sculpture of the Kalmar Nyckel, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the establishment of New Sweden. This sculpture is located at the "the Rocks," a natural wharf on the Christina River, where on March 29th, 1638, approximately 30 men from Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, and Germany arrived on two ships, the Kalmar Nyckel and the Fogel Grip . Mackenzie was active in the Swedish Colonial Society and was a founding member of both the New Sweden Centre and the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, which established the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard and, in 1997, built a replica of the 17th-century sailing ship.

The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Wilmington, Delaware. The foundation was originally organized by a group of individuals interested in maritime history and the first permanent Swedish settlement in America.

The original passengers of the Kalmar Nyckel and her sister ship, the Fogel Grip, established the first Swedish colony in Wilmington, Delaware in 1638. To commemorate this historic crossing, the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, beginning in the late 1980s, established a working ship yard and constructed a historically accurate replica of the original Kalmar Nyckel . After years of construction, the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation held the inaugural launch of its replica ship in September, 1997. As of 2009, the mission of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation centers around maritime education and providing the public with opportunities to learn about and work aboard its 17th century Swedish replica ship, the Kalmar Nyckel . Educational programming also occurs at the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard, located on Seventh Street in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biographical information about Malcolm L. Mackenzie was derived from the collection. Heed, Samuel, Esq. et al. Kalmar Nyckel: A Guide to the Ship and Her History. Wilmington, Delaware: Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, 2009. http://www.kalmarnyckel.org/download/knf_guidebook.pdf. Also available in print form.

From the guide to the Malcolm L. Mackenzie papers, circa 1926-2007, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)