Almquist & Cöster’s squeaky clean, fluorescent vision of late 1950s Sweden.

The Swedish National Heritage Board holds in its archives a large collection of photo postcards from the Almquist & Cöster Company, operative from the 1920s until 1968 they were one of Swedens major postcard publishers.

Founded by the photographer Salfon Almquist (1880-1975) and the technician Rudolph Cöster (1879-1949), the company was based in Helsingborg, southern Sweden. Almquist had been working as a photographer since 1904, in his studio “Atelier S. Almquist”. Some of the photos from those years are included here.

The whole collection consists of about 30,000 postcards dating from the 1910s until the late 1960s. The format used was mostly glass or film. Most are black and white. We’ve chosen the hand tinted ones. Various photographers worked for the company and remain anonymous.

The postcards show Swedish holiday resorts, countryside, views of towns, small communities and Swedes in different environments, at leisure or at various occupations. There are beaches, camping grounds, holiday cottages and ski resorts. Other motifs are ports, power plants, infrastructure like airports and bus stations, and official buildings such as schools, hospitals, churches and town halls.