Ida Norrby

1869–1934.

Household educator.

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

Apart from a few short stays in the birth city of Kalmar, she spent her childhood and adolescence in Uppsala. After the small school teacher education, Norrby studied home economics, chemistry, physiology and Health Sciences in Edinburgh.

Back to Uppsala in 1894, she was employed at the Department of Home economics at Uppsala Enskilda Grammar School where J. A. Lundell was the principal. The following year the school was formed for the home economy, where Norrby was the director of 1933.

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

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

In 1903, Norrby published the Home Cookbook, 50 editions of which were published (1994), and she was also responsible for the preparation of the Little Cookbook (1926), the School Cookbook (1925) and the Big Cookbook (1926).

She was one of the founders of the Swedish Association of Mistresses Association and was its Chairman 1919–1926 and chairman of both the Swedish school kitchen teachers Association 1913–1926 and the Swedish Crafts Educator Association 1919–1929.

Ida Norrby was also a member of the Uppsala City Council from 1919 to 1930 and became an honorary doctor at Uppsala University in 1927.

 

Burial site: 0134-2143

Image description: Ida Norrby ca 1920–1930. Photo: Ellen Claeson / UUB. [The image is cropped]
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Lotten von Kræmer

1828–1912.

Author, philanthropist.

Lotten von Kræmer grew up in the governor family at Uppsala Castle. There she took part in Uppsala's romantic movement with people such as Malla Silfverstolpe, Atterbom and Wennerberg.

Von Kræmer debuted in 1863 with the Poetry collection and also published travelogues and dramas. She also befriended and got to know Thekla Knös and Ann Margret Holmgren.

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

She was also generous to the Fredrika Bremer Association, the Friends of the hand work, Östermalms work cabin for poor children and the Association for Women's Suffrage in Stockholm.

Kræmer moved in the 1870s to Östermalm in Stockholm and lived there until her death. The house was donated to the Fellowship of the nine that von Kræmer set up by bequeathing the majority of her wealth to it. The Fellowship of the nine, which still consists, is a literary academy with the task of supporting Swedish literature through prize awards to Swedish authors.

 

Burial site: 0152-0048

Image description: Lotten von Kræmer, unknown year. Photo: From the archives of the De Nios community. [The image is cropped]
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Thekla Knös

1815–1880.

Poet, photographer.

After the father Gustav, who was vicar of Västeråker and Dalby, died in 1828, the mother Alida and her daughter Thekla moved to Uppsala. They settled in the house at the northern end of Östra Ågatan, which is now part of the Fjellstedtska school's premises.

Thekla Knös and her mother came to be known in Uppsala as "the little Knösarna" and participated diligently in the city's social and literary life. Thekla Knös gave language lessons and "The little Knösarna" also held a literary salon in the home with the participation of Geijer, Atterbom, Järta, Törneros and Wennerberg. Knös also made translations, which was an income for several 1900-century women from the upper middle class.

At Atterbom's invitation, Knös competed in the academy with the poem Cycle Ragnar Lodbrok and won the Swedish Academy's grand prize 1851. Several of her works were also tinted.

She also published photographs of the past Uppsala, the bookThe year, with the subheading Drawings from Childhood, as well as fairytale books and other books for children.

After her mother's death in 1855, Knös suffered deep sadness and what kept her up was her religiosity and friends. She was a resident of various friends and relatives and was also taken care of by Malla Silfverstolpe for a period. Her mental health deteriorated however, and Thekla Knös died after 16 years of stay at Växjö Hospital.

The following example of Knös' poetry is taken from the poem "Desire in the auditorium" from Poems, vol. 1-2, 1852–1853.

Ah, the glorious Hall now became.
Alas, it was hastily replaced
To the quiet, shady valley.
Where happy hours have fled!
O! Would be soft the diva
My dear, mossy stone!
And the carpet-floral plan,
and the lamp-the glow of the evening sun!

Ah, would be the whispering Tern
A slim and shimmering birch;
Be bowing Lord-how willingly!-
A spruce that whispered dark!
The music-the chirping of birds
And the Buzz- the flood's song!-
But – in the saloon I sit,
And the time is long for me.

 

Burial site: 0112-0591

Image description: Thekla Knös, unknown year. Photo: Swedish Biographical dictionary / National Archives. [The image is cropped]
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Ann Margret Holmgren

1850–1940.

Author, figure in the women's rights movement.

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

Holmgren participated in 1902 in the formation of the Association for the woman's political suffrage and traveled around the country, agitated and gave lectures in the suffrage issue until the universal suffrage was decided in the Parliament in 1919.

Holmgren was Vice-chairman of the Swedish Women's Peace Association and one of the founders of the Swedish Men's Association 1921.

She published brochures related to the vocal rights work and also gave life-time drawings in the books Pioneers (1928 – 1930) and memories and Times Pictures (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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Ebba Boström

1844–1902.

Philanthropist, founder of the Samaritan home.

Ebba Boström was born at Östanå castle in Roslagen. She was early interested in helping the sick and engaged in philanthropic activities. From 1878 to 1881, Boström was staying in England to study Christian aid efforts and undertook healthcare training. In London and Manchester, she was associated with the Evangelical Revival movement.

In 1882 she moved to Uppsala, took over Uppsala Vice Commander Association's rescue Home for girls, bought at her own expense new premises and expanded the business with the training of prospective employees.

Boström also had to build an orphanage for "defenceless" (poor, extradited) girls.

A new hospital on Dragarbrunns street 74 was completed in 1893 and was named the Samaritan home. There she began the training of the deaconesses, and a house was purchased to the students home.

In 1899, Boström handed over the entire property to the foundation Samaritan home.

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, unknown year. Photo: Swedish Biographical dictionary / National Archives. [The image is cropped]
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Malla Silfverstolpe

1782–1861.

Author.

Magdalena (Malla) Silfverstolpe became an orphan early in her life and grew up with the mother's relatives on the family estate Edsberg. She and her husband David Silfverstolpe moved to Uppsala in 1812 and quickly found themselves in the stimulating academic and weathered environment.

After the death of her husband in 1819, Silfverstolpe began "keeping a salon" on Friday evenings for the higher society of the times where people from the cultural and scientific circles participated. The salon was held in the home at the main square, where among other romantics Geijer and Atterbom gathered.

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

Malla Silfverstolpe had an ability to gather and invite talents and in the home several celebrities was received, such as Jenny Lind, H.C. Andersen and C.J.L. Almqvist. Malla Silfverstolpe participated in the feud around Almqvist's book and published a book as a response.

 

Burial site: 0104-0249

Image description: Malla Silfverstolpe 1850's. Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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