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]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

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]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

Thekla Knös

1815-1880.

Poet, photographer.

After the father Gustav, who was vicar in Västeråker and Dalby, died in 1828, the mother Alida and daughter Thekla moved to Uppsala. They settled in the house at the northern end of Östra Ågatan, which is now part of the Fjellstedt School premises under the name Kavaljeren.

Thekla Knös and her mother became known in Uppsala as 'de små knösarna' (the little Knöses) and participated diligently in the social and literary life of the city. Thekla Knös gave language lessons and the 'little Knöses' also held literary salons in their home with the participation of Geijer, Atterbom, Järta, Törneros and Wennerberg. Knös also made translations, which was an income for many upper-middle-class women in the 19th century.

At Atterbom's urging, Knös competed in the Academy with the poetry cycle Ragnar Lodbrok and won the Swedish Academy's Grand Prize in 1851. Several of her works were also set to music.

She also published Fotografier över det forna Uppsalivet, the book Året, with the subtitle Teckningar ur barndomslivet, and storybooks and other books for children.

After her mother's death in 1855, Knös suffered from a deep depression, and what kept her going was her religiousness and her friends. She stayed with various friends and relatives and was also looked after by Malla Silfverstolpe for a time. However, her mental health deteriorated and Thekla Knös died after 16 years in Växjö Hospital.

The following example of Knö's poetry is taken from the poem 'Desire in the drawing room' from Dikter, Band 1-2, 1852-1853.

Alas, the hall was now beaming.
Alas, it was hastily changed
To the quiet, shady valley.
Where happy hours have fled!
O! be the soft couch
My dear, mossy stone!
And the carpet- floral plan,
And the lamp-the glow of the evening sun!

Oh, to be a whispering tern
A tender and shimmering birch;
Be a bowing gentleman - how nice!
A fir tree whispering dark!
The music - the birds chirping
And the murmur - the song of the waves!
But - in the lounge I am sitting,
And time makes me long.

 

Burial site: 0112-0591

Image description: Thekla Knös, year unknown. Photo: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon / RiksarkivetThe image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

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]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

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]
Click here for an uncropped image

 

 

Malla silver post

1782-1861.

Author.

Magdalena (Malla) Silfverstolpe was left motherless at an early age and grew up with her mother's relatives on the family estate Edsberg. She and her husband David Silfverstolpe moved to Uppsala in 1812 and quickly settled into the stimulating academic and white environment.

After her husband's death in 1819, Silfverstolpe began to 'hold a salon' on Friday evenings for the higher society of the time, attended by people from the cultural and scientific circles. The salon was held in Uppsalahemmet at Stora torget, where the Romantics Geijer and Atterbom, among others, gathered.

They offered the opportunity to listen to literature read aloud and to music. Debates were held, songs were sung and letters were read. Both Malla Silfverstolpe and Thekla Knös, who held the salon herself, have described these meetings in their respective diaries.

Malla Silfverstolpe had a knack for collecting and inviting talent, and the home hosted several famous people, such as Jenny Lind, H.C. Andersen and C.J.L. Almqvist. Malla Silfverstolpe took part in the controversy surrounding Almqvist's book Det går an (1839) with the countersign Månne det går an? (1840).

 

Burial site: 0104-0249

Image description: Malla Silfverstolpe 1850s. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image