Sepia Saturday 773 - The Desk

If this post seems familiar to some readers, that will be because it's basically the same as my post for Sepia Saturday 713 ("Going to Work"), about a year ago...   

My grandfather Gustaf (born 1904) started out as a shoemaker's apprentice in his early teens, but what he really wanted to do was write. He gradually managed to shift to a career as journalist, by taking a few correspondence courses (cf. SS 675 - "Book-keeping, Stenography and Typewriting") + freelancing for a local newspaper, until eventually he got employed there full time as journalist in 1926. He also usually took his own photos when he was out and about on various jobs. 

Young Gustaf at his desk in his room at the farm

While being a shoemaker's apprentice, Gustaf lived with the shoemaker and his family; but later on, he  was offered a room at the farm where his childhood friend Nils lived (with his mother, two sisters and one or two older half-brothers). One of Nils' sisters, Sally, was to be his future wife - but from what I've gathered from letters, when Gustaf first moved to the farm to live, there was not yet any romantic relationship between them. My impression is also that Gustaf's room must have been in a separate small cottage rather than in the main farm house with the family.

This photo shows one of Gustaf's colleagues at the newspaper where he worked between 1926-1938. (In 1938 he was recruited to another newspaper in the same town.)

In this photo Gustaf is obviously older, and I think it's probably from his office at the other newspaper, where later on in his career he also advanced to be editor. But I think his main passion was always to write his own articles about local history and people. 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 773 - The Desk

Going to Work - Sepia Saturday 713

I have written about my grandfather Gustaf's career before, for example last summer in a post for Sepia Saturday 675. He started out as a shoemaker's apprentice in his early teens, but what he really wanted to do was write. He gradually managed to shift to a career as journalist, by taking a few correspondence courses, and starting out by freelancing until eventually he got a full time employment as journalist at a local newspaper in the nearest town (1926). He also usually took his own photos when he was out and about on various jobs. 

He was more often behind the camera rather than in front of it, and I haven't got a lot of photos of himself related to his job. But there are these:

After he left the shoemaker's business, he had a room at the farm where his childhood friend Nils and his family (mother, two sisters and two uncles) lived - at first probably in exchange for also helping out a bit at the farm. This photo shows him at his desk in that room (which was probably in a small separate cottage rather than in the main farm house). 

(He was later to marry Nils' sister Sally, my grandmother; but I think when he first moved in at the farm they were still just friends.) 

This is a photo of him at work from later years
(not sure when or where)

This is not my grandfather, but one of his colleagues at the newspaper where he worked between 1926-1938. (In 1938 he was recruited to another, bigger newspaper in the same town.)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 713