In one of my last blog posts, I wrote about Berta Hallgren, a photographer based in Mora and Leksand, in the Darlana region of Sweden. Back in February I had purchased a small bundle of carte de visite (CDV) from a second hand shop in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, two of which were taken by female owned photo studios. Hallgren was the first of the collection I had explored and today I  am sharing what I found about the second photographer, Josefina Franke. Like the Hallgren post, I wanted to share a little insight into the way I work and research so buckle up because this is a bit of a long one!

J. Franke Stockholm. Scheelegaten 2.
(1868-1951)

A small child in a knee length white dress stands in the middle of a square chair. With a slight vacant expression on their face, they gaze at something or someone out of frame. Their hair is parted on the side and is kept out of their eyes using a white bow. The dress is embellished with lace at the hem, the shoulders, the neck and chest area. The outfit is finished off with striped stockings, a pearl necklace and what look like black patent leather shoes. In the background a textured and patterned wallpaper can be made out, with a high skirting board. The image is stuck to a dark grey/blue card with the words “J.Franke Stockolm. Scheelegaten 2” embossed in gold underneath. On the back is the studio’s stamp with the address repeated, the studio’s telephone number and the words “plåten förvaras för efterbeställning” underneath. (This translates to “the plate is stored for reorder” so the sitter could order more prints and cards in the future.)

When I began to research J.Franke, I was quite confused. When looking her name up, I was met with a lot of different studio locations, images and dates of birth! At first I thought maybe she hadn’t been well researched in the past, or maybe she had a common name so her details were all over the place? Luckily I came across the DigitaltMuseum Website.* This was really helpful in finding out more about this photographer because it turns out none of the above were the issue. The answer was actually quite simple. Franke’s mother was also a photographer and she had been named after her.

According to ‘Franke fotograferna’ by Stig Sandström, J. Franke was the daughter of Josefina Franke and Carl Franke and was born in 1868 in Skellefteå, within Västerbotten county of Sweden.** She was one of 8 surviving children. Josefina jr. also known as ‘Fina’ (which is how I will refer to her now to differentiate) along with a few of her other siblings, followed in their parents footsteps by opening their own photographic studios. According to the Swedish fotograf registret, Fina practised first as a Photographic assistant from 1891-1892.*** Then as a Photographer in 1893/4 in a studio at Hamngatan 17, Stockholm City. She then later opened her studio on Scheelegatan in 1906/7.****

What interested me most about this card was the composition. There are thousands of CDVs of children but this one looked awkward standing in the middle of a chair, a style of chair I had never seen before, wearing fantastic stripy stockings that contrasted the neat white formal dress worn for the shoot.

One tool I was taught during my Masters degree was how to examine and analyse image content. One approach was to look at props and backgrounds when examining a CDV to help decipher the social status of the clientele or the social status they wished to portray. It not only can help us explore the lives of the sitter, but the photographer themselves. For example, the types of budget they hand for props, backdrops, costumes, or if they could even afford a studio! This can also help link images to photographers if information is missing from their card. 

As I stated in my last blog, I am not a fashion historian. Nor am I an interior design, furniture or design historian! But I was very interested in this chair. After googling terms such as “square children’s chair” and “corner chair with decorative arms” I finally came across the item. (If worse comes to worst, I always do a reverse google image search!) A Bobbin Turned Corner Chair. Like I said, studio objects, especially if they are uncommon (I’m not sure if this item was a common item of the time but I’ve not seen one before!) can help us link images if there is no stamp or if there is and you need to find a date, there may be other/similar images by the same photographer out there that have been dated!

Rötter has become my new favourite website resource when looking into Swedish Photo History. Rötter, translated to ‘Roots’, is a website run and owned by The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies. Basically, it is a resource for researching Swedish family history. There are thousands of photographs on the website and members can upload their own with snippets of personal knowledge added to the item entries. There are hundreds of images uploaded that have been taken by Fina Franke. And many among them contain the bobbin turned corner chair.

As you can see I have attempted to group these images by studio background and card types. Moving from plain backgrounds and the same golden logo, to ‘Atelier Franke’ and a black backdrop, to a wallpapered background. Many of her images found on Rötter have a range of styles from vignettes, wedding images to more extravagant costumes and backdrops. On closer inspection, the majority of these extravagant images are from her first location rather than the second studio. These that include the bobbin turned chair all hail from her second location and from this online collection we see it does not appear previously. The first image on the bottom row (or the right hand image on the third row if viewing this on a phone!) had some accompanying information on Rötter

“Eivor Wilhelmina Elisabet Blom född den 30/1 1917 i Össeby-Garn,gift Hultgren,dotter till Ester och Gustaf Josef Blom”

which translates to “Eivor Wilhelmina Elisabet Blom born on 30/1 1917 in Össeby-Garn, married Hultgren, daughter of Ester and Gustaf Josef Blom”. From this we can roughly estimate the date of the image! So I think the sitter is about 4-6 years old and if the information on the website is right, that dates the card somewhere between 1921-1923. To me, I thought the dates were a bit odd as by this point CDV use and production (generally) were on the decline in the UK from around the 1910’s. From my basic research into photo studios in Sweden however, showed there were a lot popping up during the 1910s and closing at the beginning of the 1920s.***** This fits in with the timeline the studio was owned by Fina Franke as she was at the Scheelegatan location from 1906/7-1926. (This timeline dates my original card having been made between these dates.) This could also explain the plainness of the image. The bare background and simplicity of the portrait could reflect the slow demand for the photographic style. The bobbin turned corner chair is one of the few chairs used in this studio; money that once was spent on extravagant backdrops and furniture may now be lacking or spent elsewhere. Only a few years later the studio finally closes. 

Before researching this charity shop-carte de visite-collection, I knew almost nothing about Swedish Photo History. I didn’t know what resources were out there, where Mora was or what a bobbin turned corner chair was! I hope those who have followed along my research into Berta Hallgren and Josefina ‘Fina’ Franke now have a little more insight into how using photographs as research objects, can not only help research their own histories, but can help you expand your own historical knowledge and repertoire of resources!

Notes:

* A website where “the objects and associated information published (...) have, in the majority of cases, been obtained from the Primus collection management system.” This system is used across many of the museums in Sweden and has websites dedicated to various Nordic countries. 
** This paper ‘Franke fotograferna’ by Stig Sandström focuses mainly on the parents but gives a good insight into the photographic family. It includes primary source material used by the writer. https://lokalhistoriaskelleftea.se/pdf/Franke-fotograferna.pdf
*** https://fotografregistret.se/j-franke-stockholm/
**** It is still a bit confusing when looking at cards all the family made as her mother originally went by Josefina Franke, her father by C. Franke and then Franke. Their cards vary in style, studio locations however and if dated, it becomes easier to tell if the cards belong to Fina or her parents. The location on this particular card Scheelegatan 2 where Fina had a studio from 1906/7-1926. Her mother passed away on Christmas Eve 1904 so there is no way to mix up her and her mothers cards too!
*****In the UK there is a link between the decline of CDV production and WW1 however their ongoing use in Sweden may have been extended due to Sweden’s 'neutral' stance in WW1!

Images containing the chair are all taken from https://www.rotter.se/faktabanken/portrattfynd/stockholm/josefina_franke Starting from the top row, left to right:

1. # 97861 owned by Hans Löbel's picture collection
   Information with the card: Nils Gustaf Jimmy Malmgren born 1916-05-07 in Kungsholmen (AB) and died 1960-11-28 Gräskö. Parents Gustaf Malmgren and Alida Nilsson.

2. # 52686, owned by Thomas Dahl, Mariestad

3. # 62112, owned by Thomas Dahl, Mariestad

4. # 62111, owned by Thomas Dahl, Mariestad

5. # 100555 owned by Thomas Dahl, Mariestad, Unknown children 1913

6. #104493, owned by Margareta Dahlbeck, Brottby
   Information with the card: Eivor Wilhelmina Elisabet Blom born on 30/1/1917 in Össeby-Garn, married Hultgren, daughter of Ester and Gustaf Josef Blom

7. #145251 owned by Thomas Dahl, Mariestad

8. #169187, owned by Arne Pettersson, Nyköping

9. #104897, owned by Fjällsjö Hembygdsförening, Backe
   Information with the card: According to the text on the back of the card, these are Harry Söderman, 4 years old and Herbert Söderman, 2 years old

10. #180614, owned by Jan Stenberg, Norrsundet