Appreciated meeting across generations when Julius Swanlund's family visited the Faculty of Pharmacy

2023-09-22

“It is a fantastic experience to finally see my grandfather's collection,” says Anne-Marie Dale on a visit to her childhood Sweden and Uppsala University, where Julius Swanlund's Pharmaceutical History Collection has found a permanent home in the Faculty of Pharmacy's new Scheele room.

(Image removed) Julius Swanlund's granddaughters: Anne-Marie Dale, Hervor Swanlund & Carin Swanlund in the Scheele room

As the Faculty of Pharmacy planned its new representation hall, the Scheele room, one decision was self-evident: A place of honor was to be prepared for the Pharmacist Julius Swanlund's Pharmaceutical History Collection. One of Uppsala University's many fascinating treasures which in 1950 was donated to the Royal Pharmaceutical Institute, but moved to Uppsala in 1968 when the Institute was transferred into the newly formed Faculty of Pharmacy. Since then, everyone from Nobel laureates to schoolchildren have been captivated by the more than 200 objects, but rarely has a visit been as anticipated as a private viewing this September afternoon.

(Image removed) A summer visit to grandfather Julius Swanlund

“It is a fantastic experience to finally see my grandfather's collection. I remember how I as a young girl visited him in Ronneby, where he spent his last years. My Grandfather was truly a gentleman of the golden days, and I can still recall him being a living pharmaceutical encyclopedia,” says Anne-Marie Dale, 85 years young and a citizen of Trinidad, Colorado, who is currently visiting her native Sweden.

Grandfather Julius was born into a family of pharmacists in Karlskrona in 1875. He obtained his own pharmacy degree in Nyköping, after which he did his doctorate in Basel at the age of 26. Julius's academic skills took him on excursions to both Asia and Africa. Trips during which several items of scientific historical interest were added to his growing collection. Throughout his professional life, he also managed several pharmacies around Sweden, before finally returning to Blekinge.

(Image removed) Powder spoon shaped like a scorpion

“The collection contains so many fantastic items. Among them are several beautifully decorated vessels from 17th-century Italy and Holland, an almost unique glass mortar and a measuring glass that we have managed to date to the late 14th century. There are also interesting curiosities here, such as the powder spoon shaped like a scorpion, and not least my personal favorite, the volume Lärobok uti pharmacevtiska experimentalchemien (Textbook in pharmaceutical experimental chemistry) that can be enjoyed as poetry,” notes Mathias Hallberg, Dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

In 2010, Rebecca Flodin at Uppsala University documented the Pharmacist Dr. phil. J. Swanlund Pharmaceutical History Collection from a scientific perspective. In her research, she located the writing “Some notes on an old Dala pharmacy”, published in 1945, in which Julius Swanlund describes the collection's faience vessels as "incomparably the most beautiful and unique, which over the centuries have given apothecary offices a distinguished character". A few lines later he adds that "in the name of truth, it must be admitted that they are also the most impractical".

“We have for a long time thought of visiting Uppsala and seeing the collection, and when Dean Mathias Hallberg contacted us with an offer of a private tour, it was extra special to be able to do it in connection with my mother Anne-Marie's trip to Sweden. Today, we are three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren of Julius Swanlund visiting the Biomedical Center, so it is a meeting that spans four generations and an experience we will carry with us for many years to come, says Suzanne Fyffe.

(Image removed) Dean Mathias Hallberg with Julius Swanlund's great-grandchildren Daniel and Suzanne Fyffe

FACTS

Julius Swanlund (1875-1952) was a Swedish pharmacist with a far-reaching interest in the pharmaceutical sciences and its history.
In 1950, Julius Swanlund donated the Pharmacist Dr. phil. J. Swanlund Pharmaceutical History Collection to the Royal Pharmaceutical Institute in Stockholm.
In 1968, the collection became the property of Uppsala University. Today, 200 of the most scientifically interesting objects are on exhibition in the Scheele room at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

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CONTACT

(Image removed) Mathias Hallberg, Dean
The Faculty of Pharmacy
Mathias.Hallberg@farmbio.uu.se

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mathias Hallberg, Magnus Alsne