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

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). 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 687

School Days - Sepia Saturday 684

  

For this Saturday, and the August theme of School Days, I'm presenting two photos from my dad's primary/elementary school years. I know that at least for the first three years he went to a small school only a very short way from home, and the kind of school where grades 1-3 were taught together in one group (because there weren't all that many pupils). Whether they also taught grade 4-6 in the same building, or if he then had to go to a different school up in the main village, I'm not sure. In his teens, he went on to attend a secondary school in town, and then I assume he probably commuted by train, into town, as there was a train stop very close to their house. (The trains back then used to make several stops between the railway stations in the village /Fristad/ and that in town /Borås/.)

Anyway, these photos are from Dad's photo album, and according to his own notes, the first photo is from småskolan (first three years of primary/elementary school), and the second photo is from what he calls folkskolan (by which he probably means the next three years). 

Från småskolan ...

 

... och  Folkskolan

One or two readers with extraordinarily good memory may recognise my dad by now - but for the rest of you, the clue is that he's the only one wearing glasses - and also (again) very serious-looking... ;-) (Further clue: You'll find him in the middle of the 1st photo, and bottom right in the 2nd.)

As the school theme is going to continue through August, I may be back with some more photos from his secondary school years in another post. (Next week I'll hopefully I'll be off on a mini holiday for a couple of days, though, so will probably be skipping No 685.)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 684

G.010-2 Floby kyrka och skolhus (1902)

G.010-2 Floby church and school house

Floby Kyrka & Skolhus. Vestergötland.
Foto. & förlag: Dagmar Eriksén, Norrköping

Date: 17.8.02(?)
To: Herr Gustaf Ekman, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gerda

Jag är nu på s-y(?) (Sörby) och har mycke roligt, resan gick utmärkt, (Elsa?, Ernst?, Cassel?) träffade jag ej. Kära hälsningar G-a.

Jag var inne i (B---?) en stund. Ester o Johansson mötte mig der.

Jag vet ej när jag kommer hem igen. Om du kommer hit till fredag eller lördag så skall jag stanna öfver nästa söndag. Det kan du gerna göra.

Oscar har varit här en stund, han hadde ej någon velociped.

Gerda verkar ha återkommit till Sörby (systern Emma) efter en resa. Jag kan inte uttyda platsnamnet som börjar med B. (Och inte heller med säkerhet namnen på de personer hon “ej träffade”.) Ester, deras andra syster, vistades kanske också omväxlande hos Emma resp. Oscar. Jag vill minnas från andra kort att Johansson var namnet på en anställd hos Oscar.

In English

Postcard to Gustaf from his sister Gerda, August 1902. The view is Floby church and school house. The handwriting is not easy to decipher, but she seems to be back (from where?) with her sister Emma at Sörby/Floby (where she seems to have spent much of 1901-02 before emigrating).

[bottom:]
I’m now at Sörby and am having fun. The journey went well. I did not see E—, E— or C—. Best wishes, G-a.
[upside down:]
I was in B—for a while, Ester and Johansson met me there. I don’t know when I’ll be back. If you come here Friday or Saturday I’ll stay over next Sunday. Please do come. Oscar [another brother] has been here for a short visit, he did not have a velocipede.