Nordiska Museum is the central musem for cultural
history of Sweden with collections of cultural historical photography, from daguerreotypes to contemporary. Collections which were used in creating the idea of the Swedish nation around 1900. It has well established contacts with contemporary Swedish documentary photography.

The Swedish Secretariat of Photographic Collections / Fotosekretariatet vid Nordiska Museet is situated at Nordiska Museet. It holds one of the most important cultural historical photographic collections in Sweden.

Nordiska Museum grants two yearly awards: The K.W. Gullers prize of documentary photography and The Diploma of NUDOK.

1) The K.W. Gullers prize of documentary photography to an established Swedish photographer, and the small Nudok diploma for a young photographer. The Grant of K.W.Gullers, a well-known Swedish photographer in the field of reportage (1916-1998), is given once a year for one person’s contribution to the photographic field of documentary. It’s been administered by Nordiska museet since 1990, and given to photographers living and/or working in Sweden or being of Swedish citizenship. The board of Nordiska museet makes the final decision after proposals from an internal working group. The grant is mostly about 1.000 Euro. Preparations start in February; it is presented in October (nordiska@nordiskamuseet.se).

The origin of the grant is a foundation created by friends of K.W. Gullers who collected money for his 50-year’s birthday. Gullers´ huge archive is part of the collections of Nordiska museet.

Among the grant holders are Tuija Lindström (1982), Håkan Pieniowski (1979), Jefferik Stocklassa (1989), Lars Thunbjörk (1989), Maud Nycander (1993), Micke Berg (1998), Jens S. Jensen (1999), Ann Eriksson (2002), Catharina Gotby (2003), Gerry Johansson (2005), Nina Korhonen (2006), Donald Boström (2007), J.H.Engström (2008), Maria Söderberg (2009).

2) The Diploma of NUDOK was founded 1991 by the NUDOK group of photographers in Västervik (Nu=Now, Dok=Doc, for Documentary), who in the middle of the post-modern flurry considered it important to put light on documentary photography in Sweden. According to the founders´ will, it is given to photographers in Sweden who have created documents of human conditions. It is administered by Nordiska museet since 1995. Preparations for the diploma start in February; it is presented in October. Everyone is free to make proposals but the final decision is not limited to these (nordiska@nordiskamuseet.se.

Holders have been both well-established as young photographers. Among the holders are Eva Stackelberg and Jefferik Stocklassa (1991), Maria Söderberg and Curt Bröms (1994), Anders Alm and Monika Goffriedsson (1997), Elin Berge (2004), Gudrun Romeborn (2005), Jenny Gaulitz (2008), Thomas H. Johnsson (2009)

Director of Nordiska Museum is Christina Mattsso.
Curators and contact persons: Jonas Hedberg & Kajsa Hartig.

Extra information: The Swedish Network for documentary photography was initiated in 2004 and is made up of museums and other cultural institutions in Sweden with an interest in documentary practices. Nordiska Museum is one of them.