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

2023-08-27

High School Graduation 1949 - Sepia Saturday 687

In my dad's photo album there are some photos of his teachers and classmates from his "Upper Secondary" or "Senior High"  school. (Back then called 'Läroverket' in Swedish.) I assume probably he probably took these photos himself during the last term before his graduation (spring 1949). (The high school graduation both back then and still today called 'studenten' in Swedish.)

The photos are rather blurry, and the prints very small and firmly glued onto the album pages; but I did my best to copy them with my camera, and then edited and arranged them into two collages (one for each album page). I'll not bother about the teachers' names, just what subjects they were teaching. I think the photos in themselves kind of reflect the "good old school days" (hm...) rather well - a rather more formal atmosphere than nowadays reflected in how both teachers and students dressed, etc.


1/ Headmaster 
(The girl is probably a student)
2/ Swedish 
3/ Geography 
4/ Christianity 
5/ Drawing


1/ Mathematics,  2-5/ Chemistry/Science


Graduation photo (taken at home).  No doubt not only his parents but also extended family were very proud of him on this day - the first in the family to graduate from secondary school. (And he would also be going on from there to technical college to become an engineer). 








6 comments:

  1. What a great thing to regale him with flowers as he graduated! Ours are just in a bunch wrapped in paper or plastic. You outdid yourself meeting the theme for the week.

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    1. Barbara, lots of flowers is still tradition here at high school graduation :)

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  2. How fortunate he took all those pictures. I'll bet in the years to follow he was glad he did.

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    1. Gail, like his own father, my dad was a keen photographer, and also developed his own b&w films and photos. In our 2nd house in my childhood/teens he had his own darkroom in the basement.

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  3. A perfect choice to end our school theme this month. I like the snapshot quality of his photos. They reveal a bit more of the person than a formal posed photo. It's interesting that his teachers are all men, though that may have been common in those days. My father graduated from a small town high school in 1948 and like your dad was the first in his family to finish high school and go on to university. I He always kept close touch with his old high school friends and attended many reunions. I think in some ways he was more proud of high school than college just because he recognized it let him escape a rural farm life he did not want.

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    1. Mike, I do suspect that high school teachers back in the 40s were probably still predominantly male.

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