Aerial Photography - Sepia Saturday 658

 

Flygbild av Mullsjö 

Aerial Photo from Mullsjö

ÄKTA FOTOGRAFI 
Ensamrätt
A/B Almquist & Cäster, Hälsningborg
Ahrenbergsflyg

GENUINE PHOTOGRAPH
Exclusive rights

This postcard was sent to my great-grandmother Selma for Mother's Day in May 1937, from her step-daughter Ester (one my grandmother Sally's older half-sisters), living in Mullsjö - a village by a lake with the same name, located some 25 km north-west of Jönköping.

At first glance, a postcard like this looks rather dull to me - but when I started thinking about it, it struck me that aerial photography like this was probably still rather new in Sweden in 1937.

The name of the company "Ahrenbergsflyg" took me to a Swedish Wikipedia article about Albin Ahrenberg, 1889-1968. Leaving military aviation in 1924 he started his own company, with flights for postal services and aerial photography. In 1929 he planned a flight from Stockholm to New York, via Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and the Labrador region of Canada. He got as far as Greenland - but was forced to return to Sweden from there (by boat), because of technical trouble.

In 1931, he returned to Greenland to help search for an English meterological research expedition that had gone missing there. He was successful and returned a hero this time. 

Later on, during WWII, he served again in some military position, with surveillance of the Stockholm archipelago. (I'm afraid my knowledge of military terms and organisation is not sufficient - in either language! - to quite grasp the details.) 

Anyway - the story serves to support my thought that back in 1937, a black and white aerial photo of a countryside village probably still seemed a lot more impressive to the recipient than it would today!

In 1937, Selma was 76 years old, and living with her daughter and son-in-law (my grandparents Sally and Gustaf), and her grandson Bertil (my father, 6 going on 7 that year). 

And below is an aerial photo of the house to which the card was sent. It's the house that my grandparents built, and moved into in 1930, when they got married. 

I'm not sure whether that photo is from the 1930s, 40s or 50s, though. (It was obviously black and white with the colours added to it afterwards.) When my brother and I sold the house in 2014 (rather different-looking by then - twice as big, and yellow), we left the original of this photo hanging in the house for the new owners, as we don't have a younger generation of family to pass it on to anyway.

"Aero Foto Vetlanda"

Linking to Sepia Saturday 658

G.015.3 Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, N.Y.

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, New York
200,033
The Leighton & Valentine Co., N.Y. City.
Printed in the United States.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Monument in New York commemorates Union Army soldiers and sailors who served in the American Civil War. It is located at 89th Street and Riverside Drive in Riverside Park in the Upper West Side of New York City.

Ground was broken for the monument on September 21, 1900. Mr. Guggenheimer turned the first spadeful of dirt. About 200 people were present at the ground breaking ceremony. The first stone was laid in January 1901. On the cornerstone was a simple inscription saying that the monument was erected by the citizens of New York. It was finally dedicated on Memorial Day in May 1902 with Governor Theodore Roosevelt officiating. During the dedication, the monument was unveiled following a parade of Civil War veterans up Riverside Drive. The memorial bears the simple inscription: "To the memory of the brave soldiers and sailors who saved the Union".  [Wikipedia]

Date: Unknown – probably 1902
To: Herr Gustaf Ekman, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gerda

Jag glömde skrifa adressen för Mullsjö. Det är Alfhem Mullsjö. Kanske det är bäst om du sänder böckerna hit till Sörby i alla fall. Kära hälsningar, syster Gerda.

Texten visar att kortet uppenbarligen sänts från Sörby även om bilden är från New York. Poststämpeln har inte lämnat något avtryck. Om vykortet sänts 1902 måste det ha varit på hösten kort innan syskonen emigrerade, eftersom monumentet på bilden inte invigdes förrän i slutet av maj 1902. (I så fall måste kortet antingen ha ingått i en samling nyligen importerade kort; eller ha skickats till Gerda av någon vän som redan emigrerat.) Alternativet är att kortet inte sändes förrän ca tio år senare när båda syskonen var tillbaka i Sverige igen.

In English

I forgot to write the address in Mullsjö. It is Alfhem, Mullsjö.* Maybe you had better send the books here to Sörby after all. Best wishes, sister Gerda.

*Mullsjö is a locality near Jönköping.

The postcard was obviously sent within Sweden even if the view is from New York. As the monument itself was not finished until May 1902, this means the card was either sent in the autumn of 1902 before either of the siblings left for America (but must have had started making plans). If the card was sent in 1902, it must have been in a collection of recently imported ones, or sent to Gerda by some friend who had already emigrated. The alternative  is that this card was not sent until about ten years later, when they were both back in Sweden again. There is not enough left of the postmark to give a clue.