A 'Swenglish' journey through family photos, notes and postcards
from the early 20th century.

2024-07-20

On the Beach - Sepia Saturday 733

 


This is a photo from my great-aunt Gerda's album. Those who have been following this blog for a while may remember her. She was an older half-sister of my grandmother; and a lot of this blog was based on her postcards and photos. She emigrated to America in her youth, worked her way up as lady's maid and travel companion to wealthy ladies, and from 1928 onward ended up working for Estelle Manville-Bernadotte, married to the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte (related to the Swedish royal family, acting as diplomat during WWII, and tragically assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948. 

Gerda's photo album is in no particular order and without notes about names or dates. My best guess is that this photo shows Gerda together with a great-niece of hers, in the mid/late 1940s - probably on holiday on the west coast of Sweden? To me the sand dunes look rather typical of beaches in the province of Halland. If my guess is correct, Gerda would be around 65-68 years old here. (She lived to be 92.) I know from postcards she wrote back in her youth that she loved to swim/bathe. 



2024-07-10

At the Seaside - Sepia Saturday 731-732

 


Laxvik Havsbad (Sea Bath),Trönninge (Halland, Sweden)

Postcard sent to my dad in August 1943, from his friend Olle.
Dad was 12 years old in 1943, so presumably Olle was around the same age.





Laxvik 6 August 1943

Hello! Thanks for the letter, I was so happy to get it.
It's raining just now when I'm writing this.
 I will be going back home from the summer holiday soon.
I'm swimming a lot, would you believe it -
I'll soon be beating Björn Borg*.
Greetings from your friend Olle


*Björn Borg, born 1919, was a famous Swedish swimmer

Björn Borg
(photo from Wikipedia)


This post would have been a better
match for Sepia Saturday 731... 


. . but I didn't get it done in time, so
instead I'm linking to 
Sepia Saturday 732...
 




2024-04-06

Two Together - Sepia Saturday 718

 

Tage & Mattis

 

In one of my grandfather Gustaf's albums, in among family photos, there are also several photos of people unknown to me. It's also not always clear whether those photos are "private", or were taken in connection with his job as journalist. (Gustaf usually also took his own photos to go with articles he wrote for the newspaper.) Underneath this photo only the first names of the couple are written, though, so I assume they were personal friends of his: "Tage and Mattis" ("Mattis" probably a nickname, short for Matilda?). My guess is that it is from around 1930 - comparing it to the wedding photos of my own grandparents Gustaf and Sally, and Sally's sister Hildur and her husband (below), as well as the prompt photo for this week's Sepia Saturday.

Gustaf and Sally, 23 September 1930


Olle and Hildur, 30 December 1930



Linking to Sepia Saturday 718 - Two Together






2024-03-24

Easter Cards from 1914 - Sepia Saturday 716

As Easter is coming up next weekend, I thought I'd share some Easter Cards sent to my great-uncle Gustav Ekman in 1914, when he was living at Backa, Brålanda (Dalsland, Sweden) in 1914. Easter that year was 10-13 April. 

I have shared these cards before, but not for Sepia Saturday. 

G.067.02


Happy Easter 1914! 
from Carl Emanuelson

(Gustaf's older brother)

G.067.03


Happy Easter 1914! from Sally
(Gustaf's younger half-sister -
my grandmother, 14 years old in 1914.)

  G.068.01                           Hildur Söderberg (*)


Happy Easter & best wishes from all of us / Oscar
Norrköping, 11.4.1914
(another older brother)

G.068-02


Happy Easter! 1914
from Hildur
(his step-sister, 22 years old -
half-sister to Sally on their mother's side)

G.069-01


Happy Easter from Ida & Gustav
(Could be his stepmother's sister
and her husband, but these were
common names, so hard to be sure.)

G.069-02



Fridenslund, 31/3 1914.
Happy Easter from the Blomgren family.
(Unknown to me, but I just checked the name
Fridenslund, and there is/was a farm by that
name in the same village as the farm Storegården,
where his brother Carl and his step-mother and
younger half-siblings lived.)


    Hildur Söderberg (*)                                                      G.070.01    


Happy Easter from Alfhild, Ivan and Ruth
(I don't know who they were)

G.070-02



Dear Gustaf, 
We were going to send you the money Gustav, but we don't know where to send them. If you would be kind enough to send me a card and tell me where you are, we will send them soon.
Best wishes from Erik Johnsson.

The postmark starts with VÄRM... as in Värmlands Nysäter, so most likely this card is from the family he worked for there during 1913. From previous cards I've deduced that Gustaf moved from there to Brålanda around New Year 1913/14. Obviously they had his address there, but perhaps they were not sure if he was still in the same place. Or maybe they needed a post office address to send money - I'm not sure how such transactions were made back in those days.

Bästa Gustav,
Vi skulle sända pengarna till dig Gustav, men vi vet ej vart vi skall sända dem, så om du ville vara snäll och sända mig ett kort vart du är så vore du snäll, då skall vi sända dem strax. 
Många hälsningar från Erik Johnsson

Poststämpeln börjar på VÄRM... som i Värmlands Nysäter, så förmodligen är det från Gustafs arbetsgivare där under 1913. Av tidigare vykort har framgått att Gustaf flyttade till Brålanda runt nyår 1913/14. Tydligen hade de adressen dit han flyttade, men de var kanske osäkra på om han fortfarande var kvar där. (Eller kanske behövdes det en postkontors-adress för att sända pengar?)


(*)  Hildur Söderberg (1885-1976) was a Swedish painter and illustrator. She studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm between 1906-1911, and around the time of WWI she was also living in Stockholm. She also made illustrations for short stories in a Christmas magazine.

Below are two more cards by her, also sent to Gustav at Brålanda by his brothers Carl and Oscar, but not dated. As it's unlikely they both sent him two Easter cards each in 1914, I guess these two are probably from 1915:

G.069.03

G.070.01

Hildur Söderberg var en svensk målare, tecknare och illustratör, född 1885, död 1976. Hon studerade vid Kungliga Konsthögskolan i Stockholm 1906-1911, och var vid tiden för första världskriget bosatt i Stockholm. Som illustratör utförde hon bl.a. novell-illustrationer i tidskriften Julhälsning.

Linking to Sepia Saturday 716 

2024-03-16

My Mum as Teacher - Sepia Saturday 715

 


My mother, born 1930, graduated from teacher training college in the spring of 1952. Here she is on her graduation day together with her parents. Her father was a school teacher as well. Her mother, before she got married, had had a secretarial job.

In the autumn of 1952, my mum moved to a small countryside village for her first teaching job. It was a very small school. From the few photos in her photo album, it seems her pupils were all ages, from beginners (7 year olds) to their early teens. (Rather reminding of Anne of Green Gables or Little House of the Prairie kind of schools.)

The school house


"My children"


"First year"

"Break"

(Drawing by my mum in her album)

The school house from another angle. Photo taken when my dad (then her boyfriend) and his parents came to visit. My parents with my grandmother Sally +  my grandparents' dog Zepp (a collie). Photo taken by my grandfather Gustaf.  (My parents got engaged at Christmas that year, 1952.)


As teacher, my mum lived in this small cottage next to a farm house.


"View from my window"

"Winter break"

At the end of the spring term 1953, she took the older of her pupils on a school trip to Gothenburg.






Photo from tourist boat 'Paddan'  in Gothenburg

While I don't know how many of the young people aboard "belong" to my mum, I think I can spot evidence that her fiancé joined them for this boat trip: Dark-haired young man with sunglasses, next to dark-haired young woman - on the right, 7th row or so from the front...


Linking to Sepia Saturday 715