Did you, your parents or grandparents ever send or receive a postcard from Sweden before the 1970s? If so, that postcard might very well have been produced by the Almquist & Cöster Company; one of the major postcard companies in Sweden, founded in the 1920s by the photographer Salfon Almquist and the technician Rudolph Cöster and operative until 1968.
The Swedish National Heritage Board holds in its archives a large collection of photo postcards by Almquist & Cöster, dating from the 1910s (some are from an earlier business owned by Salfon Almquist) until the late 1960s. The format is mostly clichés of glass or film with text for printing, or original printed postcards, many of them tinted. Starting today, we will upload a choice of them to share with you in a new picture set on Flickr Commons called ”Almquist and Cöster Postcards”.
We will show you ski resorts, beach life and camping grounds, an old folk’s home in Oskarström, a bus station in Umeå, miners at work in Kiruna, a car pulled by oxen in 1917, and many other sights from north to south in Sweden, with Swedes in different environments, at leisure or at various occupations. Several photographers were connected to the company. Still, many of the postcards don’t give the name of the photographer.
Warmly welcome to follow our photostream on Flickr Commons and discover Sweden through the Almquist & Cöster postcards! We are hoping for you to tag, comment and share to make these pictures come alive once more.
