as belonging to a single location mentioned by
Öberg, since all of them appear on the museum
inventory cards from 1932 with the collection
location of “Nusa, New Ireland.” This corresponds
106
to letters received by Palmquist from
Öberg when the latter resided there.44
The sheer number of forty-fi ve objects aside,
among them are four particularly unusual New
Ireland malangan head carvings (fi gs. 28–31).
Similar examples of this rare and distinctive type
are today known to originate from the Namatanai
region of central New Ireland, possibly the
work of one man.45
In the intervening years, Öberg’s collection
and personal history have largely been forgotten.
Perhaps the most signature event in the
years since his death is that the 1981 annual report
of the Hometown Society Stora Skedvi was
dedicated to Öberg. And in 1982, the “South
Seas Collection of Carl Wilhelm Öberg” was
acknowledged by the Ethnographical Museum
of Stockholm. More vibrant but less certain, it
is said that Öberg’s life was an inspiration for
the Swedish children’s book author Astrid Lindgren,
when in the 1940s she wrote about “Pippi
Longstocking” (Pippi Långstrump) and created
the character of her father.46
As to the other newspaper clipping where
Öberg is pictured reading at a table, it was taken
in the living room of the Hometown Society
Museum, where his collection was at the time,
and still is, displayed on the fl oor just above
(fi gs. 2, 5, 8).
EPILOGUE
Upon returning to Sweden in 1909, Öberg
bought a cottage with land in his childhood
hamlet Hysta with some of his savings (fi g. 4).
He leased the land, and, among other things,
he raised bees there. In the following years he
occasionally gave interviews to local newspapers
about his life and experiences in the South
Seas (fi gs.14a anf b).47 When visiting him at his
cottage, it is recalled that one was greeted with
a deafening chirping of birds, since half of the
space in the kitchen was occupied by a large
birdcage with various exotic birds, and in the attic
of the house he kept his collection. The long
malangan pole lay on the fl oor next to spears,
and sacks fi lled with seashells lined the walls.48
He is remembered as a gentle and reserved man,
though his behavior was a bit different due to
his long stay in the South Seas.49
In late June of 1932, Öberg was hospitalized
from sudden illness and symptoms of what appears
to have been the onset of dementia. He
never returned to his home and passed away a
year later. In the Stora Skedvi church cemetery,
a memorial stone stands over Öberg’s grave,
funded by the local Hometown Community
(fi g. 35).
To conclude, it seems fi t to recall Öberg’s own
words, said years after returning home:
I went out with a fi rm belief in happiness. The
ship was my world. … For twenty years the
Souths Seas became my home. This was a totally
different world, and it was fi lled to the brink with
the mystery of the secretive. There was romance
and horror, love and hate, heaven and hell, life
and death.51
With gratitude from the author to Loed van Bussel;
Bart van Bussel; historian Leif Olofsson; the Hometown
Society Museum of Stora Skedvi, Sweden; curators and
staff at the Världskulturmuseet, Göteborg, Sweden; and
the Etnografi ska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden.
NOTES
1. Krämer, Augustin, 1925, Die Málanggane von Tombara,
München; Stora Skedvi Hembygdsförening Museum, ”C.
W. Öberg´s Söderhavssamling,” Dalarna. Sweden.
2. Kulturnämndens Skriftserie, 4, 1981, “Stora Skedvi
Hembygdsförening: Söderhavsfaren Carl Wilhelm
Öberg.” Säters Kommun; Kungliga Biblioteket
Stockholm, Sweden: Dalpilen, 6 February, 1906; Stora
Skedvi Hembygdsförening. Archives of C. W. Öberg.
Stora Skedvi, Dalarna, Sweden: a) Diaries; b) Collection
inventory.
3. Landstinget Dalarna, Archives. Ludvika, Sweden.
4. Hobhouse, Hermione, 1994, Survey of London, vol. 43 +
44, pp .397–406, London.
5. Kulturnämndens Skriftserie, 4, 1981, “Stora Skedvi
Hembygdsförening: Söderhavsfaren Carl Wilhelm
Öberg”. Säters Kommun.
6. Kulturnämndens Skriftserie, 4, 1981, “Stora Skedvi
Hembygdsförening: Söderhavsfaren Carl Wilhelm
Öberg.” Säters Kommun.
7. Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm, Sweden: Dalpilen, 6
February 1906.
8. Kulturnämndens Skriftserie, 4, 1981, “Stora
Skedvi Hembygdsförening: Söderhavsfaren Carl
Wilhelm Öberg.” Säters Kommun; Stora Skedvi
Hembygdsförening. Archives of C. W. Öberg, Stora
Skedvi, Dalarna, Sweden: b) Collection inventory.
9. Stora Skedvi Hembygdsförening, ibid.
FIGS. 28–31 (right): Four
unusual and distinct types
of malangan head carvings
collected by Öberg and
given to Dr. Palmquist,
Sweden.
H. 80, 70, 75, and 70 cm.
Världskulturmuseet, Göteborg,
inv. nos. 1932.20.0001–4.
Photo © Världskulturmuseet,
Göteborg, Sweden.
FEATURE