• In 1917, electricity in the home was far from standard, kerosene lamps were more common than incandescent. As late as the end of the 1930s, ten per cent of Swedish households lacked electricity.
  • In 1917, four years remained before Swedish women gained their right to vote.
  • 1917 is also called the year of riots and famine. In Sweden, food shortages prevailed and in April of that year in Västervik, over 2000 people demonstrated that they needed land to grow potatoes because their families were starving. The riot spread to several places in the country and today is called the potato riot.
  • Outside Sweden's borders, the First World War was going on and in Russia the Russian Revolution was taking place.

Sources: National Archives, Stockholm Source