Gustaf Larsson — a farm worker’s life
A life’s story from rural Sweden during the 19th and 20th century, brought alive by music and historical objects. Narrated by the protagonist’s great-grandchild and presented by Sörmland Museum.
By Josefine Svensson, Curator at Sörmland Museum.
What can the traces of a 19th-century farm worker’s life tell us? Sörmland, a region in eastern Sweden, is often referred to as a landscape of manors. It is the history of the rich and noble that has been preserved and told. But there were also other people’s lives that took place on the land of manors and castles around Sörmland, lives that left fewer physical traces in museum collections.
They were called statare, landless farm workers who were paid in food and shelter. Gustaf Larsson (1845–1920) from Björnlunda was one of them. And he is one of the few statare’s biographies as well preserved in Sörmland Museum’s collections.
What was his life like? What can his traces tell us? Gustaf’s life was difficult. As a landless farm worker, he found himself in the lower hierarchies of the estate, with harsh working conditions. On top of that, he was chronically ill in a time before modern medical care. But Gustaf wasn’t just a worker who had a hard time. After finding a violin and learning how to play, he became an accomplished musician. He became the first of several generations of fiddlers. The folk music from Sörmland that Gustaf played throughout his life and that you can hear in the film is now by his great-granddaughtet, Christina Frohm.
It is Sörmland Museum’s vision to always put people first. The objects in our collections are not just objects, but traces of a human story. In the film about Gustaf’s life, it is not only the tangible traces that come to life, but also the intangible ones. Gustaf’s musical legacy and his granddaughter’s memories are woven together with the objects and archival material from the museum’s collections. They are united with the visible traces of the past in the landscape of Sörmland.
Traces from different times and places are woven together into a story that involves both emotions and historical facts. It is a personal story about a human fate with both light and darkness, but takes a look at the larger picture of history as well — those who lived in the neglected shadow of history.
Sources in Sörmland Museum’s collections:
Framed photography of farm workers at Ekehov manor. Unknown photographer, 1915/16. Sörmlands museum, Public Domain.
Easter egg, metal. Sörmlands museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ekhov Manor, Björnlunda. Unknown photographer. Sörmlands museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Gustaf Larsson’s glasses. Sörmlands museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Gustaf Larsson’s notebook. Sörmlands museum, CC BY-SA 4.0.
