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Unique letter diaries form the basis of new research project on homemakers’ friendships

Åbo Akademi University researcher Anna Sundelin has been granted a significant funding from the Swedish Cultural Foundation for her research project on homemakers’ friendship and everyday life from 1946 to 2005.

The project is based on an exceptional source material: six letter-diaries preserved in the library’s archival collections. “The letters bear witness to the women’s joys, sorrows, and friendships and serve as a keyhole into the everyday life of the Finland-Swedish housewife,” Sundelin describes.

Originally, the women who wrote the letters were fourteen in number, united by their studies at the Högvalla domestic science school during the years 1944–1946. After graduation, they spread out across the country but continued to stay in touch—primarily through the letter-book. Everyone wrote in it in turn and then sent it on to the next person. 

You can also listen to Yle Vega Åboland’s interview in Swedish “Research project on housewives’ friendship received a major grant” with Anna Sundelin on Yle Areena.

If you have any questions about the archival collections, please contact us at manus@abo.fi

Image of the diaries: Åbo Akademi University archival collections