The theatre was a magical place. It was a world like no other. Letty loved the times she was allowed to come with her father to the theatre. Later in life, when she reflected on her happy childhood, there was one memory that stood out. It would have been in 1839 because she remembered that she was almost 12 years old. Her father, the director […]
Was Virginia nervous on that Sunday when Pastor Petterson opened the doors to the new class of 92 girls who would be studying with him? Did she arrive alone, or did she walk in with some friends? Was her secret known by the other girls who were gathering? She must have assumed that Pastor Petterson knew. But were there rumors? And if they knew, would […]
Last week, Kerstin shared the travel diary of 10-year old Ernst Salomon. In the summer of 1841, Ernst and his family were visiting Särö, a fashionable spa on the Swedish west coast. In his diary, he describes the activities at the spa. Besides the bathing, they went for walks, picked seashells, and went horseback riding. In the evenings, the guests took turns hosting dinners and […]
The elusive diaries at Stockholm City Archives He had found them! He had actually found Erik W. af Edholm’s original diaries from 1843-1848! Half an hour earlier, the archivist at Stockholm City Archives had told me that the family Edholm’s archive took up several yards of shelf-space and with the diaries not specifically cataloged, I could look forward to spending weeks looking through boxes of […]
I was actually going to write about Augusta’s first love. Then I got curious about all the young men who were interested in her. In 1845, Augusta was 18 and her admirers, who had just started their military careers, were in their late 20s. Augusta and her best friend Lotten Westman met them at balls, theatres, and concerts. After Augusta left Stockholm, Lotten wrote letters […]