This paper focuses on contemporary archival professionals in Sweden. The research questions posed are: RQ1: What are the different facets of archival work commonly described in employment advertisements directed at archival professionals? RQ2: What are the desirable personal traits that employers seek when hiring an archival professional?  The material consists of job advertisements from the year 2022 compiled from Historical ads. The methods applied are content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis, and we use the term archival professionals to denote employees that are responsible for society's information resources being created, shared, used and preserved in an adequate way. A well-functioning information supply is crucial for information security, transparency and public access to information, and for securing future digital cultural heritage. Archival professionals have often been described as somewhat mysterious and obscured. Due to digitalisation, new demands are being created. However, it is not self-evident what different facets of archival work are required and what personal characteristics are beneficial. Our conclusion is that there is a broad scope in the types of archival work described and wished by employers. The roles and responsibilities of archival professionals, as depicted in employment advertisements, are diverse and multifaceted. They are expected to develop, lead, and educate within their area of expertise. Personality wise, an archival professional should be meticulous and at the same time flexible, be prepared to do monotonous work but also be creative, be able to work alone and at the same time meet the public.

This article explores the collection of archival records in the nineteenth century and its impact on historical archives. The discussion begins with archival theory’s traditional distinction between collections and archives. Where collections are broadly defined to include artifacts, books, media, documents and various materials, contrasting with the more specific categorisations within the archival community of “archives” (or “fonds”) and “artificial collections”. In the context of contemporary archival practices that increasingly embrace collecting while simultaneously questioning the objectivity of archives, the Jacob Westin Collection and the Axel Oxenstierna Collection, along with the Swedish Autograph Society’s Journal from 1879 to 1898, are examined. The study places special emphasis on the ef­fects of these collections on archives, particularly from the perspectives of provenance and original order. During the nineteenth century, the popularity of collecting autographs and historical documents surged, influencing how archival records were managed. The study highlights how collectors have profoundly influenced public archives through acquisition methods including purchase, exchange, and at times, theft, often reorganising materials according to their own systems. It encapsulates discussions on the differentiation between collections and archives, the role of collectors in preserving historical materials and considerations in archival practices.

In response to the literature’s claim that there is an increasing gap between archivists and historians and a dwindling connection between the archival and historical disciplines, I investigate in this article how Swedish historians have related to archives and archival material as historical sources, in both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The study is based on one of Sweden’s leading journals for the discipline, Historisk tidskrift, published by the Swedish Historical Society. The term ”archive” is analysed from the journal’s start in 1881 to 2021. Following the historian Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, archives and archival documents are seen as the ”epistemic things” on which academic history can build its production of knowledge.

The fact that archives and archival sources have played a significant role in history’s evolution into an academic discipline has attracted little interest. This study shows that archival documents have been seen as the historian’s main primary source for most of the period studied. The texts examined in Historisk tidskrift only rarely analysed the archive’s original, internal order and creation process, but constantly praised the use of extensive archival material. Changing historiographical patterns did not result in the questioning of the archives’ pre-eminence as a primary source to any degree, even though the changes meant that new questions were posed of archival sources and new types of source materials were used by historians. An unreflective view of archival documents was evident in the romanticisation of archives as dark and disordered, an approach present in Historisk tidskrift throughout the period studied. There were value judgements about the historian’s ”tribulations” in the archives, and trips to archives and the ”treasures” found there were romanticised. This approach contrasted with how historians, adopting a positivist role model, viewed archives as authentic and true. Given this contradiction, I would argue the historical discipline should take greater account of the context in which the archival material was created, preserved, and arranged.

Purpose: By studying marketing strategies of the global Weider Nutrition International Group, this study aims to analyse how the industry surrounding fitness equipment and dietary supplements interacted with fitness culture through marketing, advertising and consumption in 1950s Scandinavia. The emphasis is on how the Weider Group established their position as a world leader in sports nutrition through mail order partnerships and advertising using bodies and body ideals in their campaigns.

Design/methodology/approach: The Weider Group's marketing campaigns are studied through close reading of text and images in Scandinavian weightlifting and bodybuilding magazines in the 1950s, guided by a theoretical understanding of the body as a constant and ongoing project.

Findings: This study deepens the historical knowledge of market-driven aspects of sport and exercise. The market for nutrition and fitness products was internationalised in the 1950s. The study shows that cooperation between commercial and civic organisations played a major role in the enterprise of selling fitness and nutrition products.

Originality/value: This paper shows that in marketing the products, the advertisements - which appealed to both men and women - not only struck a tone of intimacy and desire but also cultivated a sense of insecurity and inadequacy, as well as individuals' responsibility for maintaining their own bodies. The latter was reflected in young men's letters to magazines in which Weider's products and training programmes were praised. For women, this opened up a previously male-dominated gym environment.

The main focus in this article is to analyse representations of body and class in strength sport and boxing in a Swedish context during the period 1910-1960, as well as their deeper societal meanings. The concepts of profession, body and class are understood in close connection to the theoretical concepts of value and capital. This study's understanding of class and group affiliation differs from more traditional class analyses. It is argued for an in-depth understanding of how such processes take place and work through a broader concept of class. Representations are examined through magazines closely connected to the sports, as well as identification through autobiographies, written by prominent athletes during the early and mid twentieth century. The study shows a close link between these sports and manual labour. Physically strenuous work functioned both as a training regime in itself but was also presented as a way to be 'discovered'. However, the close connection to the working class and manual labour groups meant that physical strength came to be seen as something natural. Sporting success was also locked into body capital, which also had a relatively low exchange value in relation to other forms of capital.