We’d like to welcome the Swedish National Heritage Board, the agency of the Swedish government that is responsible for cultural heritage and historic environment issues, to the Flickr Commons.

They join with a 121 photo sampling from their public archives, which hold more than two million photos – including copy prints, glass plates and other negatives, slides and 70,000 digital copies.

The sets here, taken over a period stretching from the later part of the nineteenth century, are from the collections of Carl Curman (1833–1913), a Swedish physician and scientist, who photographed Swedish towns, such as Stockholm and Lysekil, sailboats and the fisherman population, as well as his own family. He also photographed Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, during his visits to other parts of Europe.

Keep an eye out for more photographs from the Swedish National Heritage Board in the coming weeks. In the meantime, your comments, notes and tags are much appreciated!