Helena Nyblom

1843-1926.

Author.

Helena Nyblom was one of the most prolific and popular fairy tale poets at the turn of the century.

She was born in Copenhagen in 1843, the daughter of Jørgen Roed and Emilia Amanda Kruse. Her father was a painter and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and her mother had an interest in ancient art and literature. Helena Nyblom thus grew up in a home characterized by intellectuality and aesthetics.

She met her future husband in Rome and they moved to Uppsala, where their home soon became a gathering place for artistically minded people from all over the Nordic region.

Nyblom published a number of short stories and poetry collections, but her real literary breakthrough came in the late 1890s with her fairy tales.

Nyblom converted to Catholicism in 1895, which was both noticed and criticized in the media.

Helena Nyblom was an active debater in the women's movement and also a cultural writer for magazines such as Nordisk tidskrift, Ny svensk tidskrift, Ord och bild and Idun.

In 1922, the autobiographical work Mina levnadsminnen was published.

John Bauer's illustration from 1913, for Helena Nyblom's "The changelings" in "Among gnomes and trolls". Photo: Wikimedia commons.

Vershuset on Östra Ågatan 65 in Uppsala. The Nyblom family lived in the house from 1864 onwards. Photo: Arild Vågen / Wikimedia commons.

Burial site: 0112-0574

Image description: Helena Nyblom, Stockholm ca 1870- ca 1880. Waldemar Dahllöf / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Anita Nathorst

1894-1941.

Theologian, author.

Anita Nathorst was active in the Christian student and high school movement and a friend of Karin Boye, who called her her 'spiritual mother'. Boye had a love for her, but it was an unrequited love.

Nathorst studied in Uppsala and became the first female theol.lic. in church history. Her collection of poems was published in 1926.

Nathorst was diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age and was treated by the doctor Iwan Bratt in Alingsås. They began a love affair in the mid-1930s. However, the love affair ended and Nathorst bought an apartment in Skåne. Until it was vacant, it was a difficult time for her in Bratt's home and Karin Boye acted as a support for her.

Anita Nathorst died in Malmö nursing home in the summer of 1941, just a few months after Karin Boye.

The following poem, written by Karin Boye, is called "Hur kan jag säga..." (How can I say...) and is included in the posthumously published collection De sju dödssynderna och andra efterlämnade dikter. The collection was published in 1941 and the poem is addressed to Anita.

How can I tell if your voice is beautiful.
I just know, that it penetrates me
and will make me tremble like a leaf
and tear me apart and blow me up.
What do I know about your skin and your limbs.
It just shakes me that they are yours,
so that for me there is no sleep and rest,
until they are mine.


Burial site: 0101-0051

Image description: Anita Nathorst, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / From private collection [The image is cropped]
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Adolph Törneros

1794-1839.

Author, humanist, philologist.

Adolph Törneros was born in Eskilstuna on Christmas Eve 1794. At the age of 12 he began to earn a living as a private tutor and was enrolled at Uppsala University in 1812, later becoming professor of aesthetics in 1829 and of Latin in 1832.

Törneros spent most of his life as an academic teacher of Latin and in the literary circle of Geijer and Atterbom, who were among his closest friends.

Törneros is one of the foremost letter-writers in Swedish literature and was one of the foremost travel writers of his time. From the city of learning, Törneros longed every spring for the countryside, where from spring to autumn equinox, in his many letters, he described the impressions of his travels in the central Swedish summer landscape around Lake Mälaren.

The landscapes and environments are drawn with great detail, and the adventures and hardships are described in particularly lively and vivid language. In a letter to his mother dated December 29, 1828, he describes his walk from his home to the Geijer family at half past six on Christmas Eve 1828:

 

"The snow creaked harshly under the galoshes - a twenty-degree chill bit like a shark at the tip of the nose and earlobes and fingertips - the starry sky stared down with grim eyes over the earth, which was dressed in white as if for the weekend - Orion, just climbed out of the southeast, sparkled so that one seemed to hear it - the moon [sic] was still lying and tumbling in the tidal waters, but splashed up unseen a cascade of rays."

Adolph Törneros was described as outwardly gangly, with a slender birdlike profile. His friend Atterbom found "in the quick mobility of the figure and the flying speed of the gait, an unmistakable impression of a bird".

Törneros spent his last Christmas with the Atterbom family. Törneros then fell ill and died at home three weeks later of what was described as a form of typhus. Geijer said:

 

"He had too little ballast, so he flew away from us".

 

Burial site: 0112-0557

Image description: Portrait of Adolph Törneros. Unknown master, oil painting from the 1830s. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Vivi Täckholm

1898-1978.

Botanist, author.

Vivi Täckholm studied at Stockholm University and conducted botanical studies in Berlin, London and Geneva.

In 1926, she and her husband, Professor of Botany Gunnar Täckholm, moved to Cairo and together they mapped the plant world of Egypt.

After her husband's death in 1933, she completed work on the Flora of Egypt, which was published in four parts, Part 1 (1941), Part 2 (1944), Part 3 (1954) and Part 4 (1966). In 1946, Täckholm became Professor of Botany at the University of Cairo and lived there for most of her life.

Täckholm also published several popular botanical works, such as Pharaoh's Flowers (1951), Egypt in Close-up (1964), The Desert in Bloom (1969) and The Minarets of the Saga (1971).

Vivi Täckholm also wrote children's books, such as The Saga of Snipp Snapp Snorum (1926) and Lillans resa till månen (1976). In the 1960s, Täckholm also gained a lot of attention through several TV programs.

 

Burial site: 0131-1356

Image description: Vivi Täckholm, year unknown. Photo: Staffan Norstedt / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Olof Thunman

1879-1944.

Artist, writer.

Olof Thunman was born in the Imperfectum student house on Västra Ågatan, where the St. Lars Catholic parish is now located.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and its etching school between 1902 and 1906. Thereafter, Thunman devoted himself to landscape painting, which, like his poetry, is based on the cultural landscape of Uppland. Thunman painted in an impressionistic style, often with twilight tones, but later switched to topographically precise drawings and washes.

In 1928, he moved to the gatehouse at Noor's castle in Knivsta and lived there for the rest of his life. Thunman often went out into the countryside, on foot or by bicycle, with pen and paper in hand. He often wore a gray wadding suit with leg wraps, and as such is depicted in a sculpture outside Särsta Inn in Knivsta.

The poetry is collected in books such as Pan Spelar (1919), Olandssånger (1927) and Fornbygd och färdvägar (1929). The most famous poem is "Vi gå över daggstänkta berg" to a melody of uncertain origin, possibly from a Hälsingemeelodi.

In October 1944, Olof Thunman died and after the burial ceremony on October 28 in Uppsala Cathedral, the funeral procession went through Odinslund past Carolina, via Övre Slottsgatan into Åsgrändsgrinden. The procession was lined by a crowd of thousands, who with torches honored the deceased.

After the coffin was lowered into the grave, a double quartet from OD sang "Over the forest, over the lake" with text and music by composer A.F. Lindblad.

The following stanza is taken from the poem "Winter Night", Olandssånger, 1927.

There is snow over Fågelsången
And the case sleeps at the Iceland Bridge.
In the night, a winter prisoner listens
In vain for a spring tone.

 

Burial site: 0115-0801

Image description: Olof Thunman ca 1940. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / UUBThe image is cropped]
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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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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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Hans Järta

1774-1847.

Civil servant, politician, author.

Hans Järta (originally Baron Hans Hierta) became a student in Uppsala at the age of 13, an official in the Cabinet for Foreign Correspondence at the age of 18, and a secretary in the Judicial Audit Department four years later.

At the age of eighteen, Järta was hanging out with the men in the conspiracy against King Gustav III. Järta was at the masquerade ball in 1792 when the shot against Gustav III was fired. Afterwards, Järta gave some misleading information about the shooting, but there is only circumstantial evidence as to whether he was involved in the actual assassination plan. Nor was he ever accused of involvement in the murder.

Järta renounced both his nobility and his parliamentary position at the Riksdag in 1800 in protest against Gustav IV Adolf and the monarchical autocracy and took the name Järta (the family name was Hierta).

Järta was one of the men behind the 1809 coup d'état and, after the king's abdication, was one of the leaders in the Riksdag that year. He was secretary to the Constitutional Committee during the drafting of the 1809 Constitution.

Järta was also governor of Kopparbergs län 1812-1822, a member of the Swedish Academy in 1819 and moved to Uppsala in 1825 where he worked as a writer. In Uppsala, Järta held a literary salon, which competed with Malla Silfverstolpe's salon.

Järta later became head of the National Archives from 1837-1844.

The tall gravestone that adorns the cemetery refers to his son of the same name, who died as a young student in 1825.

 

Burial site: 0112-0588

Image description: Hans Järta. Photo: From Emil Hildebrand, History of Sweden up to the twentieth century, vol 9 (1910) / Wikimedia Commons. [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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