"The Other Swedes"
~ Celebrating Them ~
~ The Smoky Valley Writers ~
~ Celebrating Them ~
~ The Smoky Valley Writers ~
Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy
~ Chronicling the Lindsborg, Bethany College and Smoky Valley Photography
of
Swede Bror Gustaf Gröndal,
1887 - 1945
~ with her 2013 book,
"Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy
~ Chronicling the Lindsborg, Bethany College and Smoky Valley Photography
of
Swede Bror Gustaf Gröndal,
1887 - 1945
~ with her 2013 book,
"Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy
1927-2017
Granddaughter of B.G. Gröndal
1927-2017
Granddaughter of B.G. Gröndal
>>>>>>> Background
Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy's parents were Henry and Lillian Gröndal Dahlquist of Garfield, Kansas, where she graduated from Garfield High School. It was here that her grandfather photographer Bror Gustaf Gröndal (1855-1948) would spend the remainder of his life with his daughter Lillian, her mother, after he closed his studio in Lindsborg in 1945, the year that his wife, Sarah Margaret Noyd (1859-1945) died. It was in Round Rock, Texas, that Mrs. Eddy's grandparents met when her grandmother was a youthful photographer. Not long after their meeting, they were married and soon on their way to live in Lindsborg to set up a photography studio, after the invitation to do so by Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, Bethany College founder and second president.
The work of her grandfather to visually record the life and events of the Smoky Valley Swedes was significant, lasting 58 years, from 1887 to 1945. However, more significant to these Swedes' descendants was the writing and images of his work found in her 2013 book, THROUGH THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME!
Mrs. Eddy first attended Bethany College, before finishing at Kansas University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She devoted her life to her family, husband L. G. Eddy, sons Martin and Jan, and daughter Cynthia, while teaching and acquiring a Master's Degree. She retired from Wineteer Elementary School in Wichita, Kansas in 1990, and, then, she and her husband moved to Lindsborg.
There, they were members of Bethany Church, which was a member church of the 1860 Swedish Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Their Lindsborg lovely Swedish style home with Swedish furnishings was landscaped with English gardens. Mrs. Eddy was an accomplished cook and hostess to many visitors, including Holy Easter Week Messiah Festival soloists from the East. Her interest in the Swedish culture of Lindsborg and in its art and music found her involved in the many annual cultural events there. Also, at her church and at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, she volunteered her time.
>>>>>>> The Book and It's Value to the Community
It was more or less a family and community affair that energized the project of producing a book on Mrs. Eddy's grandfather, photographer Bror Gustaf Gröndal, referred to by many as B.G., and his work. Her daughter, his great-granddaughter, Ms. Cynthia Eddy, provided the greatest support to bring the vision of the beautiful book, THROUGH THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME, into a true reality for her mother, author Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy in 2013, ten years ago.
Mrs. Eddy's appreciation is so clearly stated to Ms. Eddy in the first sentence of the "Acknowledgements:"
"My profuse thanks goes to my daughter Cynthia Eddy, New York City,
for her talent and knowledge to design and publish this tribute to
her great-grandfather, Bror Gustaf Gröndal."
for her talent and knowledge to design and publish this tribute to
her great-grandfather, Bror Gustaf Gröndal."
Like her mother, Ms. Eddy graduated from Kansas University. Here, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Ms. Eddy was to establish herself as a New Yorker with graduate studies in the software and digital world. She is a former art director in print/digital and now is a frontend software developer.
To date then, and to date now in 2023, the 2013, THROUGH THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME was, and is to be, the "only" historical photography book of 92 professional photographs taken by Mrs. Eddy's grandfather Swede Bror Gustaf Gröndal from 1887-1945 of these Smoky Valley Swedes, these Smoky Valley People. From an historical and visual perspective, it is to be regarded as exceptional as it reflects the true pictures of this most unique and special Swedish and Swedish American community from its earliest years! This book was and indeed is a "gift" to behold then and now, for this Smoky Valley community, to be studied and to be treasured, as time passes on.
>>>>>>>Promotion of Bror Gustaf Gröndal and His Photography: 1973, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013
Twenty-eight years after Mrs. Eddy's grandfather left Lindsborg in 1945, Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg (1918-2016), historian, author and former Smoky Valley Historical Association secretary included two short stories on he and his wife Sarah Margaret Noyd in her 1973 book, "Talk About Lindsborg." The first was titled "Sally A. Noyd" and the second was titled "Partners for Life."*
In 2006, thirty-three years later, community interest peaked in the photography of B. G. Gröndal's work. This was due to the first and "only" to date professional showcasing of his work at the Lindsborg's McPherson County Old Mill Museum.
In 2007, after this retrospective, Lindsborg Smoky Valley Historical Association official Chris Abercrombie (1949-2017) created a video for the Kansas PBS Station Program: Real Kansas, on KPTS. The title was simply "B. G. GRÖNDAL PHOTOGRAPHER." In 2009, Mr. Abercrombie published this on YouTube.*
Somewhere during the time of, or after, the Museum show in 2006, a suggestion was made by a Mr. Don Weddle, a beloved community friend, to Mrs. Eddy to write a book on her grandfather and his work. As a result, in 2013, "THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME was written by her, and designed and published by his great granddaughter, creating Lindsborg's most visually beautiful volume.
To date then, and to date now in 2023, the 2013, THROUGH THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME was, and is to be, the "only" historical photography book of 92 professional photographs taken by Mrs. Eddy's grandfather Swede Bror Gustaf Gröndal from 1887-1945 of these Smoky Valley Swedes, these Smoky Valley People. From an historical and visual perspective, it is to be regarded as exceptional as it reflects the true pictures of this most unique and special Swedish and Swedish American community from its earliest years! This book was and indeed is a "gift" to behold then and now, for this Smoky Valley community, to be studied and to be treasured, as time passes on.
>>>>>>>Promotion of Bror Gustaf Gröndal and His Photography: 1973, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013
Twenty-eight years after Mrs. Eddy's grandfather left Lindsborg in 1945, Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg (1918-2016), historian, author and former Smoky Valley Historical Association secretary included two short stories on he and his wife Sarah Margaret Noyd in her 1973 book, "Talk About Lindsborg." The first was titled "Sally A. Noyd" and the second was titled "Partners for Life."*
In 2006, thirty-three years later, community interest peaked in the photography of B. G. Gröndal's work. This was due to the first and "only" to date professional showcasing of his work at the Lindsborg's McPherson County Old Mill Museum.
In 2007, after this retrospective, Lindsborg Smoky Valley Historical Association official Chris Abercrombie (1949-2017) created a video for the Kansas PBS Station Program: Real Kansas, on KPTS. The title was simply "B. G. GRÖNDAL PHOTOGRAPHER." In 2009, Mr. Abercrombie published this on YouTube.*
Somewhere during the time of, or after, the Museum show in 2006, a suggestion was made by a Mr. Don Weddle, a beloved community friend, to Mrs. Eddy to write a book on her grandfather and his work. As a result, in 2013, "THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME was written by her, and designed and published by his great granddaughter, creating Lindsborg's most visually beautiful volume.
Go HERE to 2013 "Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
~ Contents and Photograph Titles ~ The Sohlberg Deere Portraits
Go HERE to 2013 "Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
~ Dedication, Foreword by Mrs. Lorna Nelson, Preface by Mr. Don Weddle, Acknowledgments
Go HERE to 2013 "Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time:
~ The Words of Mrs. Eddy: "Life Experiences" "The Smoky Valley"
Go HERE to 2013 "Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
~ The Words of Mrs. Eddy: "Studio Cameras" "Studio Remembered"
"Gröndal's Career" "Photography as an Art Form" "Professional Organizations"
Go HERE to 2013 "Through the Lens of B.G. Gröndal: Keeper of His Time"
~ Selections from Bror Gustaf Gröndal's Photography from 1887 to 1945
* * *
*To learn more on B. G. Gröndal from other Smoky Valley Writers, go HERE to the 2 Accounts by Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg, and HERE to the Account by Mr. Chris Abercrombie. For the introduction to Mr. Bror Gustaf Gröndal, go HERE.
* * *
- Laminated Beautiful Cover of "Bethany Daisies," 1904
Book published in 2013 with 107 pages.
The lovely laminataed book cover photograph design by Ms. Cynthia Eddy shows her great-grandfather's most endearing work that resides along with other photographs in the Library of Congress. That photograph also is included on page 104 of the book with this caption:
Bethany Daisies
The photograph of the girls in white in the midst of the field of daisies was made in the summer of 1904. The girls were attending summer school at Bethany College to renew their teaching certificates. This work has proved to be his most endearing. It was featured with the television broadcast of Handel's Messiah and is in a collection of Lindsborg work in the Library of Congress. -- Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy
Bethany Daisies
The photograph of the girls in white in the midst of the field of daisies was made in the summer of 1904. The girls were attending summer school at Bethany College to renew their teaching certificates. This work has proved to be his most endearing. It was featured with the television broadcast of Handel's Messiah and is in a collection of Lindsborg work in the Library of Congress. -- Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy
[My grandmother, Nina Sohlberg, is shown in the front, near the center to our left a little. She is 6 or 7, petite, bent over showing her left side wearing a big white bow. The Sohlberg Deere Estate has a postcard copy of this black and white scene.]
Page 104
SOURCE: THROUGH THE LENS OF B.G. GRÖNDAL: KEEPER OF HIS TIME
The Family of Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy has kindly extended permission to share selections from her
2013 Through the Lens of Bror Gustaf Gröndal: Keeper of His Time in SWEDES, 8-23-23.
The Family of Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy has kindly extended permission to share selections from her
2013 Through the Lens of Bror Gustaf Gröndal: Keeper of His Time in SWEDES, 8-23-23.
Bror Gustaf Gröndal
(1855-1948)
Lindsborg's Photographer
1887-1945
Centered image on book cover back
* * *
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
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