Eva Andén

1886-1970.

Lawyer.

After graduating from high school, Eva Andén began studying law at Uppsala University and graduated in 1912.

After graduating from law school, she traveled around the country lecturing on marriage, child welfare and poor relief laws. Andén also led courses in legal knowledge for rural women, organized by the National Association for Women's Political Suffrage (LKPR).

In 1915, Andén took over a law firm for female clients, Kvinnliga juristbyrån, and three years later she became the first woman to become a member of the Swedish Bar Association.

Andén specialized in family law and mainly assisted clients in connection with divorces, inheritance, alimony, custody issues and division of property in divorces. His clients included Selma Lagerlöf and Astrid Lindgren.

Eva Andén was also a member of a committee that served as the Swedish Bar Association's referral body for family law legislation, where she occasionally had great influence.

From 1950 to 1962 she was also President of the Society of Nine. Andén practiced law until her death in 1970.

 

Burial site: 0106-0343

Image description: Eva Andén, year unknown. Photo: Atelier Hedström, Uppsala / KvinnSam, Gothenburg University Library. [The image is cropped]
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Alfred Dahlgren

1861-1908.

Photographer.

Alfred Dahlgren learned photography in Germany and from photographer Dahllöf in Stockholm. In 1890 he established his own studio at Dragarbrunnsgatan 48 in Uppsala where he worked as a portrait photographer.

In 1901, the Uppsala City Council decided that the city should be photographed, and Dahlgren was commissioned to take the 350 pictures to be delivered in two bound albums.

On weekdays he worked in his studio and early Sunday mornings, when the city was empty, he went out to take his pictures. After a year, the photographs were handed over in albums to the city council.

Nybron in Uppsala, decorated in connection with the Linnaeus Jubilee in 1907. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUB.

Tobogganing through King John's Gate at Uppsala Castle, ca 1890. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUB.

In 1908 he was commissioned to supplement the documentation with pictures of the city's outskirts and farm interiors from old city farms. In the same year, however, Alfred Dahlgren died and his last pictures were therefore handed over by his widow.

A total of 540 glass negatives are in the possession of the Uppland Museum and the two albums with the photographs are in Uppsala City Library. The photographs are a remarkable cultural and historical treasure.

 

Burial site: 0125-1150B

Image description: Alfred Dahlgren ca 1900. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Emma Schenson

1827-1913.

Photographer, watercolor painter.

Emma Schenson was probably the first female professional photographer in Uppsala and also one of the first women in Sweden to take photographs professionally.

She first trained as a watercolor painter, but from the 1860s she worked in parallel with both painting and photography. In the early days of photography, it was unusual for women to take photographs professionally, but after the 1864 Freedom of Trade Act, it became possible for women to enter the market and establish themselves as entrepreneurs and photographers.

Schenson was active in Uppsala from the 1860s onwards and had a permanent studio at Östra Ågatan 25 (between Nybron and Dombron). In 1888, the Fotografiska föreningen, which organized photographers, had three female members out of a total of 65. These women were Anna Hwass, Wilhelmina Skogh and Emma Schenson.

During Schenson's active period, the business card photograph and the larger cabinet photograph (format approx. 12×16.5 cm) became very popular in all social classes. It is very likely that there are pictures of older Uppsala families made by her.

The Domen quarter, Fyristorg and Uppsala Cathedral, Fjärdingen, Uppsala before 1885. Photographer: probably Emma Schensson, Uppsala / Upplandsmuseet.

"Svartbäcksgubbar" in Kvarnfallet at Akademikvarnen, Holmen district, Uppsala 1880s - 1890s. Photographer: Emma Schenson / Upplandsmuseet.

Between 1885 and 1893, Emma Schenson documented the major restoration of Uppsala Cathedral. Through her pictures we can follow the restoration from start to finish.

No negatives of Schenson's photographs are preserved today, but some photos have been preserved and are now in the Map and Image Collections at Uppsala University Library.

There is also an album showing the transformation of the cathedral during the time of the great restoration. The value of this photographic documentation was recognized early on, as can be seen in an inscription in Schenson's album, which concludes "unique of its kind and important for the future". The photographs that have been preserved are a remarkable cultural and historical treasure.

 

Burial site: 0101-0031

Image description: Emma Schenson, ca 1865-ca 1875. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Hans Rosling

1948-2017.

Doctors, researchers and educators.

For the first four years, Hans Rosling lived in the Luthagen district, after which the family moved to Svartbäcken in Uppsala. After graduating from high school, Rosling studied statistics and medicine at Uppsala University. During a trip to Asia in 1972, his interest in public health led to a course in social medicine at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, India.

After graduating in 1975 and working as an intern in Hudiksvall, he furthered his education and gained expertise in tropical medicine at Uppsala University in 1977.

From 1979 to 1981, the Roslings worked in Nacala Porto in northern Mozambique, where Hans was a district doctor and his wife Agneta a midwife. In 1981, an epidemic of a previously unknown spastic paralysis disease broke out in the Nacala district, affecting more than 1,500 people, mostly women and children. The paralysis was linked to a very aggressive and highly monotonous diet consisting of a toxic form of cassava.

Rosling described the disease in his doctoral thesis and named it Konzo. This means 'bound bones' in the Congolese language where the disease was once described in 1938. During the 1980s, there were several Konzo outbreaks in other African countries.

From 1983 to 1996, Rosling worked as a teacher and researcher at Uppsala University in collaboration with several universities in Africa and Asia. In 1997 he was appointed Professor of International Health at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

In 1999, Rosling began lecturing with a new kind of animated bubble chart that showed the socio-economic state of the world and trends over time. The program was called Trendalyzer and had been developed by his son and son's wife, with whom he co-founded the Gapminder Foundation.

The lectures made complex statistics on world developments understandable to the public, policy makers and opinion leaders. The lectures were broadcast via the Web and TV all over the world, and governments and organizations hired him as a lecturer and advisor.

Rosling devoted his professional life to global health, global health problems, and how these are related to poverty. With the conviction that reason and knowledge improve the world and that with it we can eradicate extreme poverty and reduce carbon emissions, Rosling pointed out that it is the richest billion of the world's population that must first and foremost reduce carbon emissions because they account for half of them.

Hans Rosling's memoirs How I Learned to Understand the World, written with journalist Fanny Härgestam, were published posthumously in 2017 and Factfulness, written in collaboration with Ola and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, was published in 2018.

 

Burial site: 0116-0836B

Image description: Hans Rosling, press photo. Photo: Stefan Nilsson / Gapminder.orgThe image is cropped]
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Yngve Svalander

1920-1989.

Artist.

Yngve Svalander studied at Slöjdföreningens skola, Konstakademien and also abroad. He worked mainly as a draughtsman and graphic artist and was a cartoonist for Upsala Nya Tidning since the 1950s.

He created 'Kajan', which in 1962 began delivering a daily commentary on the newspaper's feature page. The inspiration came from the crows circling the cathedral spires. This crow became the newspaper's signature and was published for more than 24 years, six days a week.

Svalander has also illustrated several books, such as Tore Vretman's Menu (1956) and published the storybook Ballongresan.

Yngve Svalander is represented in H.M. King Gustav VI Adolf's collection, Uppsala University Library and Borås Museum.

 

Burial site: 0130-0030B

Image description: Yngve Svalander, Uppsala 1965. Photo: Uppsala-Bild / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Viktor Persson

1918-2000.

Antiquarian bookseller.

Viktor Persson, nicknamed "Bok-Viktor", was a well-known antiquarian bookseller and a well-known Uppsala profile. Viktor Persson lived on Övre Slottsgatan in Uppsala and in his small apartment he shared the space with his aquariums and many books.

In the 1950s, with the support of his father, archaeologist Axel W Persson, he established an antiquarian bookshop at Drottninggatan 3 near Politiska knuten called Bokfenix, which became a meeting place for book lovers and students. This led to Persson later becoming known as "Bok-Viktor" and in many ways he lived up to the name as he had a huge collection and knew exactly where the books were located.

Viktor Persson in his bookshop on Drottninggatan in Uppsala. Photo: Rolf Nodén. Taken from an almanac printed by RK tryck in 2003.

Viktor Persson in his "second" Bokfenix. Photo: From private collection.

Persson published a number of joke books and other curiosities in mini format on his own publishing house and the bestseller was Svenska invektiv (1963), a list of swear words that was sold in seven editions over three years.

In May 1980, the 18th century house that housed the antiquarian bookshop burned down, but the most valuable books escaped the flames. Bokfenix eventually moved to the corner of Skolgatan-Rundelsgränd.

 

Burial site: 0310-0274

Image description: Viktor Persson outside his antiquarian bookshop on Drottninggatan in Uppsala, probably 1950s-1960s. Photo: From private collectionThe image is cropped]
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Anna-Lisa Thomson

1905-1952.

Ceramicist, painter.

Anna-Lisa Thomson studied at the Higher School of Industrial Arts in Stockholm between 1924-1928 and then in Italy, Austria, Prague and Dresden.

Between 1928 and 1933 she worked at the S:t Erik earthenware factory in Uppsala, designing tea sets in green glaze and ceramic objects with relief decoration. In the mid-1930s, Thomson came to Upsala Ekeby and worked there throughout her working life.

Thomson mainly created art objects in various ceramic materials with pure, often nature-inspired, decorative elements. Among his most famous works are the vase Paprika (1948), which was made in various shapes and sizes, and the urn Lancett (1949). Thomson is represented in the National Museum and in several other museums.

She also painted, and her works were often inspired by nature, with motifs from the west coast where she spent part of the year. Her book Eko av dagars ljusa klang (1953; Echo of the Bright Sound of Days ), with poems and illustrations by Anna-Lisa Thomson, was published posthumously.

 

Burial site: 0318-1310

Image description: Anna-Lisa Thomson with ceramics, Uppsala 1937, photo: Gunnar Sundgren / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Sven Lilja

1887-1951.

Music teacher, conductor, singing leader.

Through Hugo Alfvén's mediation, Sven Lilja was accepted at the Stockholm Conservatory of Music and studied there from 1912-1917.

After a few years as an actor, he worked as a singing and music teacher in Sundsvall, music teacher at Stockholm folk high schools, cantor in Sofia parish and conductor for the Stockholm Workers' Singing Association and the Stockholm Singers' Association. Sven Lilja introduced modern singing and turned it into a popular movement.

He led a sing-along movement in the countryside and on the radio, but above all at Skansen, where he led the movement for the first time in 1935. In the following years, the sing-along evenings at Skansen became a permanent institution.

Sven Lilja also plays himself in the movie 'Love and Singing' from 1944.

 

Burial site: 0132-1384

Image description: Sven Lilja wearing the classic singing costume, year unknown. Photo: From private collectionThe image is cropped].
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Sven Anders Hägg

1817-1904.

Master shoemaker, politician, author.

Sven Anders Hägg started as an apprentice shoemaker at the age of 10 and received his journeyman's certificate in 1840. Between 1845-1848, Hägg lived in Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Paris, where he witnessed the February Revolution.

Hägg came to Uppsala in 1848 and became a master craftsman for cobbler Lindgren's widow at Östra Ågatan 45. Hägg took over the workshop in 1852 and became a citizen of Uppsala. In the same year he founded the Allmänna sjuk- och begravningshjälpen in connection with the Hantverksföreningen and was a member of the city council from 1862-1866.

Hägg was a devoted teetotaler but liked to go to the theater, which was said to be "his only pleasure". As an author, he published The History of Footwear, Market Trade in the Cities and Description of the Old Cemetery in Uppsala.

On his 67th birthday, Hägg was presented with the King's gold medal of the 5th magnitude for civic merit by County Governor Adolf Hamilton.

Hägg had his farm at Gräsgränden next to the current mouth of Bangårdsgatan at Fyrisån. In the book about Upsala cemetery he writes about his children: "Two children, a boy close to two years and a girl at the age of four, are buried here".

 

Burial site: 0156-0253

Image description: Sven Anders Hägg, Uppsala ca 1850. Photo: Karl Ågren / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Henrik Gahn

1820-1874.

Chemist, industrialist, inventor.

Henrik Gahn attended Falu mining school from 1841 to 1842 and was a student at Jernkontoret from 1842 to 1848. He later became director of a lead and silver works in Boda (Rättvik) and devoted himself to forestry, agriculture and chemical experiments.

In 1867, Gahn started a chemical-technical factory at Stora torget in Uppsala with ink, black ink and the disinfectant Aseptin, invented by Gahn, as products. Gahn's inventions played a major role in the company's success.

The company had many other chemical-technical products and was known for its soap range. From 1899, the factory was located in the Gudrun district, at Kålsängsgränd 4 in Uppsala.

The company continued after Gahn's death under the name Henrik Gahns AB in other premises and in 1964, the company was bought by Barnängen who closed the factory in 1968.

Soap packaging in the factory, Uppsala 1917, photo: UUB.

Factory staff, Uppsala 1917, photo: UUB.

Burial site: 0140-1608

Image description: Henrik Gahn, 1870s. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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