Grejen med Göteborg : 1900-2020, 2021 : Östra rummet - Grupp 2 : Amerikakoffert :: Amerikakoffert

Adjöss och Good bye Göteborg!

Hilda Lindström från Kalmar var 32 år när hon köpte biljett till Svenska Amerikalinjens Drottningholm och for till New York via Göteborgs hamn. Året var 1920 och hon hade tidigare prövat lyckan som hembiträde i Uppsala. Vad saknade hon där? Vad drömde hon om när hon vandrade genom Göteborg, på väg till fartyget som skulle ta henne över Atlanten? Mer frihet, kanske. Eller högre lön?

Mellan 1850 och 1930 utvandrade 1,2 miljoner svenskar till Amerika. Först reste fattiga bönder som lockades av billiga odlingsmarker. Kring år 1900 följde en ny grupp emigranter: unga människor utan familj, mest kvinnor, som hoppades på bättre jobb och rimligare lön än där hemma. Från 1915 blev resan enklare, när emigranterna kunde ta Svenska Amerikalinjens fartyg direkt från Göteborg.

Under 1920-talet minskade emigrationen. 1929 hamnade USA i en ekonomisk kris och då upphörde i stort sett helt. Många utvandrade flyttade hem. Hilda Lindström återvände till Göteborg 1957 och bodde här tills hon dog. Kofferten som hon köpt i USA fick hennes brorson ärva.

AMERICA TRUNK - Trunks that have been in the USA, like this one, were called America trunks. This one was owned by Hilda Lindström, one of hundreds of thousands of Swedes who emigrated there.

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Good-bye Gothenburg!

Hilda Lindström from Kalmar was 32 when she bought a ticket on Swedish American Line’s ship Drottningholm and travelled to New York via the Port of Gothenburg. The year was 1920 and she had previously tried her luck as a housemaid in Uppsala. What was it she didn’t find there? What was she dreaming of when she walked around Gothenburg heading for the ship that would take her across the Atlantic? More freedom, perhaps. Or better pay?

Between 1850 and 1930, 1.2 million Swedes emigrated to America. The first group were poor farmers attracted by cheap land. About the year 1900 a new group followed: young single people, mostly women, hoping for better jobs and fairer pay than at home. From 1915 the journey became easier, when the emigrants could take Swedish American Line’s ships directly from Gothenburg.

In the 1920s emigration lessened. In 1929 the USA experienced an economic crisis and emigration ceased completely. Many emigrants came home. Hilda Lindström returned to Gothenburg in 1957 and lived here until she died. Her nephew inherited the trunk she had bought in the USA.