Ida Norrby

1869-1934.

Home economics teacher.

As a child, Ida Norrby was placed with her uncle, Professor Carl Norrby, and his wife, the educationalist Jane Miller Thengberg in Uppsala.

Apart from a few short stays in her native Kalmar, she spent her childhood and youth in Uppsala. After training as a primary school teacher, Norrby studied home economics, chemistry, physiology and health in Edinburgh.

Back in Uppsala in 1894, she was employed at the Department of Home Economics at Uppsala Enskilda Läroverk, where J. A. Lundell was headmaster. The following year, the School of Home Economics was established, where Norrby was director until 1933.

School of Home Economics, Trädgårdsgatan 14, Uppsala 1938. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet.

Graduate of the School of Home Economics, year unknown. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / Upplandsmuseet.

In 1903, Norrby published Hemmets kokbok, which went through 50 editions (1994), and she was also responsible for the preparation of Lilla kokboken (1926), Skolans kokbok (1925) and Stora kokboken (1926).

She was one of the founders of the Swedish Association of Housewives and was its chairman from 1919 to 1926 and chairman of both the Swedish School Kitchen Teachers' Association from 1913 to 1926 and the Swedish Craft Teachers' Association from 1919 to 1929.

Ida Norrby was also a member of Uppsala City Council from 1919 to 1930 and received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in 1927.

 

Burial site: 0134-2143

Image description: Ida Norrby ca 1920-1930. Photo: Ellen Claeson / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Bruno Liljefors

1860-1939.

Artist.

Bruno Liljefors, son of the gunpowder dealer Anders and Margareta Liljefors, studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1879 to 1882 and then traveled to the animal painter C. F. Deiker in Düsseldorf and from there to Grez-sur-Loing, where he stayed with Carl Larsson and others in the Swedish artists' colony.

Bruno Liljefors became one of the country's foremost animal painters with an international reputation and is best known for his nature and animal motifs. Like Carl Larsson, Liljefors was inspired by Japanese art and created daylight paintings based on naturalistic principles. With the painting "Tjäderspel" and "Nattstycke", as well as a couple of other works, he won the second class medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889.

The start of Liljefors' archipelago paintings is Morning mood over the sea from 1896, followed by a series of works with sea and bird motifs, usually painted in large format: "Uv vid havet", "Vilande havstrutar", "Jagande lom", "Rastande vildgäss" and "Storspovar" in 1899.

Liljefors' publications include the memoir Det vildas rike (1934). Art collections are held at the National Museum, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, the Thielska Gallery and Uppsala University. Bruno Liljefors' studio in Österbybruk is preserved as a museum.

 

Burial site: 0206-1641

Image description: Bruno Liljefors, unknown year. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Lotten von Kræmer

1828-1912.

Author, philanthropist.

Lotten von Kræmer grew up in the governor's family at Uppsala Castle. There she was exposed to the glamorous social life of Uppsala Romanticism, which included people such as Malla Silfverstolpe, Atterbom and Wennerberg.

Von Kræmer herself made her debut in 1863 with the collection Dikter and also published travelogues and plays. She also became friends and got to know Thekla Knös and Ann Margret Holmgren.

Lotten von Kræmer took a radical position on women's and peace issues, participated in public debate and supported the women's movement financially. She established the first female scholarship for female students at Uppsala University.

Kræmer also showed his generosity towards Fredrika Bremerförbundet, Handarbetets vänner, Östermalms arbetsstuga för fattig barn and Föreningen för kvinnans rösträtt i Stockholm.

Kræmer moved to Östermalm in Stockholm in the 1870s and lived there until his death. The house was donated to Samfundet De Nio, which von Kræmer established by bequeathing most of his fortune to it. Samfundet De Nio, which is still in existence, is a literary academy with the task of supporting Swedish literature by awarding prizes to Swedish authors.

 

Burial site: 0152-0048

Image description: Lotten von Kræmer, year unknown. Photo: From the archives of the De Nios Society. [The image is cropped]
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Ann Margret Holmgren

1850-1940.

Author, feminist.

Ann Margret Holmgren was one of the leaders of the women's movement for suffrage and peace. In the early 1900s, she became increasingly involved in women's issues through Ellen Kay and Lydia Wahlström.

Holmgren participated in the formation of the Association for Women's Political Suffrage in 1902 and traveled around the country, agitating and lecturing on the issue of suffrage until universal suffrage was decided in the Riksdag in 1919.

Holmgren was vice-chairman of the Swedish Women's Peace Association and one of the founders of the Swedish Women's Civic Federation in 1921.

She published pamphlets related to the suffrage movement and also published life drawings in the books Pionjärer (1928-1930) and Minnen och tidsbilder (1926).

 

Burial site: 0125-1141

Image description: Ann Margret Holmgren, unknown year. Photo: Unknown photographer / Stockholm City Museum. [The image is cropped]
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Jan Fridegård

1897-1968.

Author.

Johan Fridegård, known as Jan Fridegård, grew up in a stately home outside Enköping and made his debut in 1931 with the poetry collection Den svarta lutan. Before his debut, he worked in several different professions but was periodically unemployed and without income.

Fridegård wrote articles for the revolutionary magazine Brand, and his first novel, En natt i juli (A Night in July), was published in 1933. The theme of liberation is portrayed in the autobiographical suite of novels Jag Lars Hård (1935), Tack för himmlastegen (1936), and Barmhärtighet (1936).

During the mood of preparedness for the Second World War, Fridegård began to write about the rebellious slave Holme in Trägudars land (1940), Gryningsfolket (1944) and Offerrök (1949).

Fridegård moved several times in his life and lived during the latter part of his life at Bredmansgatan 7A in Uppsala.

A museum has been dedicated to Jan Fridegård at Övergran church in Håbo.

 

Burial site: 0105-0304

Image description: Jan Fridegård in his home, Uppsala 1948. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Ebba Boström

1844-1902.

Philanthropist, founder of the Samaritan Home.

Ebba Boström was born at Östanå Castle in Roslagen. She was interested in helping the sick at an early age and devoted herself to philanthropic activities. Between 1878 and 1881, Boström spent time in England to study Christian relief work and received medical training there. In London and Manchester she was associated with the evangelical revival movement.

In 1882, she moved to Uppsala, took over the Uppsala Moral Society's rescue home for girls, purchased new premises at her own expense and expanded the business by training future employees.

Boström also built an orphanage for "defenseless" (exposed, abandoned) girls.

A new hospital at Dragarbrunnsgatan 74 was completed in 1893 and named Samariterhemmet. She began training deaconesses there, and a house was purchased as a home for the students.

In 1899 Boström handed over the entire property to the Samaritan Home Foundation.

Ebba Boström's uncle is the philosopher Christopher Jacob Boström, who is also buried in the Old Cemetery.

 

Burial site: 0126-1165

Image description: Ebba Boström, year unknown. Photo: Swedish Biographical Dictionary / National ArchivesThe image is cropped]
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Gösta Knutsson

1908-1973.

Author, radioman.

Gösta Knutsson came to Uppsala in 1927 and graduated in Latin and classical antiquities in 1931. He was chairman of the General Choir 1959-1970 and secretary of OD.

As chairman of the student union from 1936 to 1938, Knutsson became a representative and hallman for Radiotjänst in Uppsala and thus began his career in Swedish Radio.

As a radio man, Knutsson became known above all as the organizer of quiz shows, which for a long time were one of Swedish Radio's biggest successes. The program "Who knows what" began to be broadcast in 1939 together with Gösta Knutsson's colleague "the all-knowing" Einar Haglund.

First edition of Pelle Svanslös och taxen Max from 1944, published by Bonniers Barnbibliotek. Photo: Upplandsmuseet.

Gösta Knutsson at his desk, Uppsala 1942. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / UUB.

For several decades, Knutsson hosted a number of popular entertainment programs, such as the Monthly Magazine, the Unprepared Speakers' Club, the Tricky Club, and even programs for the youngest radio listeners.

While working in radio, Knutsson became one of Sweden's best-known children's authors. In 1939 he published the children's book Pelle svanslös på äventyr, which was a great success and was translated into ten languages. The book started a series of twelve books about Pelle, Maja, Bill and Bull, Elake Måns and the other cats.

 

Burial site: 0148-1908B

Image description: Gösta Knutsson, Uppsala 1948, photo: Uppsala-Bild / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Gustaf Fröding

1860-1911.

Poet, writer.

Gustaf Fröding was born at Alsters manor in Värmland and was deeply rooted in Värmland's mill and manor life through his family. He came to Uppsala in 1880 and lived at Övre slottsgatan 13 in a farmhouse and took a single exam. Fröding joined the radical circles of the Verdandi association and wrote parodic poems and comradely songs.

He returned to Karlstad where, after writing notices in various newspapers, he was employed by Karlstadstidningen. An inheritance in 1888 brought financial independence and Fröding left his employment.

Between 1889 and 1890, Fröding spent time in a 'mental institution' in Görlitz due to mental problems. It was there that he experienced his first major creative period, when the bulk of his debut collection of poems, Gitarr och dragharmonika, was completed, making him Sweden's foremost poet at the time.

The following example of Fröding's poetry, entitled "I ungdomen", is taken from Gitarr och dragharmonika, 2nd edition, 1893:

The river sparkles so beautifully,
it chirps so merrily in the furrow.
Here I lie lazy, like a spoiled son
in the lap of my mother nature.
It sings and smells and shines and smiles
from earth and sky and everything I see.

It is as if the wind carries a message to me
about happy days, which are striped,
my blood is in turmoil, I think I am in love
- in whom? - alas in everything that breathes.
I wanted everything in heaven and earth
was close to my heart in the form of a girl.

In 1894 New Poems was published and in 1896 Splashes and Tabs. However, his health deteriorated and Fröding was hospitalized at Ulleråkers Hospital from 1896-1905.

Gustaf Fröding died on February 8, 1911 and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Uppsala on February 12. After the burial in Klara Church in Stockholm, the coffin was taken by special train to Uppsala. In his speech, Archbishop Nathan Söderblom said the following words at the coffin:

"Three little books came out - and a whole language has grief".

Many of the people of Uppsala met the coffin when it arrived in Uppsala. Then the coffin, wrapped in torchlight in the winter twilight, was taken to the cemetery. Erik Axel Karlfeldt spoke at the grave.

 

Burial site: 0157-0504

Image description: Gustaf Fröding, 1896. Photo: Heinrich Osti / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Dag Hammarskjöld

1905-1961.

Official, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Dag Hammarskjöld grew up in Uppsala, where his father, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, was governor. From 1936 to 1945, Hammarskjöld was State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946.

In 1947-1948 he was a Swedish delegate to the OEEC negotiations, Cabinet Secretary in 1949-1951, and Consultative Minister in 1951-1953. Hammarskjöld was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1953 and the following year succeeded his father as a member of the Swedish Academy.

Hammarskjöld's leadership skills were necessary to streamline the complex UN organization, and his personal integrity, diplomatic skills and commitment to the UN idea gave authority to his role as Secretary-General.

Dag Hammarskjöld died in 1961 in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.

In 1963 his diary entries were published under the title Vägmärken. In the Peace Chapel in Uppsala Cathedral there is a memorial stone with the inscription:

 

Not I but God in me Dag Hammarskjöld 1905-1961.

 

Burial site: 0116-0834C

Image description: Dag Hammarskjöld, 1959 New York, USA. Photo: United NationsThe image is cropped]
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