A new corporate archive for family retail firm Bergendahls, put together by the Center for Business History, was deposited in the spring of 2022 at the local historical archives in Hässleholm. This way, the Hässleholm company’s rich history, which spans four generations of Bergendahl, gets a permanent place where future researchers can access it – and where the 100-year-old company can continue to add new material.
It was in 1922 that Mikael Bergendahl started a margarine agency. Today, we know the company simply as Bergendahls. The family-owned company, based in Hässleholm and active in the food and retail industry across the country, thus celebrated 100 years in 2022. Before the anniversary, we at the Centre for Business History were asked to collected the historical material that existed in the organization and to create a professional archive, which would be easily accessible and easily searchable.
The collected material was organized and cataloged at our facilities in Bromma – and then deposited with Lokalhistoriska arkivet i Hässleholm, the local historical archive in Hässleholm. The Bergendahl files were officially handed over at an anniversary event on May 16, 2022, attended by the Bergendahl family, parts of the management team and many Bergendahl veterans.
Also: an anniversary magazine
In 2021, Bergendahls sold the wholesale part of its business to industry colleague Axfood. Historically, the wholesale business has been the mainstay of the company – but bold investments and changes are an equally important part of the company’s history. The newly created archive testifies to that – and that story was also conveyed in a commemorative magazine that the Center for Business History produced for Bergendahl’s 100th anniversary.
The magazine was distributed for the first time at the anniversary lunch and has since been distributed to all employees.
