Oscar Arpi was born in Börstil in north-eastern Uppland in 1824.
Arpi was conductor of the Allmänna sången 1852-1871 and of the OD 1853-1854, and also a music teacher at the Cathedral School in Uppsala 1855-1876.
He was the leader of the Uppsala Student Union from 1852 to 1871 and led the Allmänna sången when the choir won first prize at the international singing competition for male choirs in Paris in 1867.
Oscar Arpi with baton and tuning fork, ca 1870. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUB.
Concert poster with the General Song from 1853. Photo: UUB.
Arpi was temperamental, had a technical gift for music and a magnetic and personal conducting talent.
Jane Miller Thengberg was born in Greenock, Scotland, and after the death of her father, her mother moved back to Sweden with her two children.
Miller Thengberg studied education in Sweden and abroad and taught as a governess in Stockholm from 1845 to 1852. She was also a governess in Scotland for a short time.
In 1853 she moved to Uppsala, where she soon met her future husband, the librarian and teacher at the cathedral school Pehr Adrian Thengberg.
Miller Thengberg was strongly committed to the issue of girls' education. With the support of her husband Adrian Thengberg, P. D. Atterbom, Malla Silfverstolpe and Gunnar Wennerberg, she founded a girls' school in 1855 called Klosterskolan.
Teaching took place in the building on what is now Klostergatan. The school quickly gained a reputation as the best girls' school in the country. The building has its roots in the medieval settlement and is located in the block north of the old monastery area.
When Miller Thengberg was recruited eight years later as director of the Higher Teacher Training College, with a training school in Stockholm, 130 girls had been educated in the building.
She was also one of the initiators of the School of Home Economics in Uppsala.
Jane Miller Thengberg is buried at the Västgöta nations Burial site , which was donated by her husband Adrian Thengberg (died 1859) and Jane Miller Thengberg. She paid for both the long iron fence and the casting of the sculpted lion by sculptor W. Hoffman.
Image description: Jane Miller Thengberg, Stockholm 1870. Photo: W. A. Eurenius & P. L. Quist / UUB.The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Through Hugo Alfvén's mediation, Sven Lilja was accepted at the Stockholm Conservatory of Music and studied there from 1912-1917.
After a few years as an actor, he worked as a singing and music teacher in Sundsvall, music teacher at Stockholm folk high schools, cantor in Sofia parish and conductor for the Stockholm Workers' Singing Association and the Stockholm Singers' Association. Sven Lilja introduced modern singing and turned it into a popular movement.
He led a sing-along movement in the countryside and on the radio, but above all at Skansen, where he led the movement for the first time in 1935. In the following years, the sing-along evenings at Skansen became a permanent institution.
Sven Lilja also plays himself in the movie 'Love and Singing' from 1944.
Image description: Sven Lilja wearing the classic singing costume, year unknown. Photo: From private collectionThe image is cropped]. Click here for an uncropped image
Maria Henschen opened a private school for girls in her father's (Lars W. Henschen) farm, which was located between Kyrkogårdsgatan, Åsgränd and Övre Slottsgatan.
She then became the first headmistress of the 'Magdeburg' (Uppsala Higher Elementary School for Women), which she also owned.
Barbro Holmdahl was a teacher at Vårdhögskolan and a trained nurse at Uppsala sjuksköterskehems sjuksköterskola. In 1990, she received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Uppsala University. Before that, Holmdahl had trained as a psychologist.
Her books include Boken om Henrik (1986), which describes the illness and death of her own son. Other books she has published include Tusen år i det svenska barnets historia (2000) and Sjuksköterskans historia (1994).
One of the many ways she educated her students was to take them on a tour of Uppsala and tell them about the medical institutions and poorhouses of the time. She also taught crisis management.
At the age of eight, Hildur Akselsson suffered from polio and, as a wheelchair user, she managed to get a good humanities education. She had no formal teacher training but had a talent for teaching children.
At the age of 19, she started a business in her parents' home at Villavägen 3 (Villa Tomtebo) that would become known as "Aunt Hildur's School" and a well-known institution in Uppsala for 37 years.
In 1913, the family moved to the corner house at Skolgatan 33 on western Strandgatan overlooking the river and "Magdeburg". Her pupils included Dag Hammarskjöld and Gunnar Weman. About Hammarskjöld, Hildur Akselsson mentioned that he had an easy time learning.
Agnes Geijer was born in October 1898 in an academic home in Uppsala. She later became a teacher of art and textile history at the School of Home Economics from 1921 to 1927 and an assistant professor at the National History Museum and the National Museum. She was also the leading researcher of her time in Nordic textile history.
She was head of Pieta's conservation department from 1930 to 1949 and head of the Swedish National Heritage Board's textile department.
In 1938, Geijer defended his thesis on ancient textiles from the excavations at Björkö (Birka) and made a pioneering contribution to textile research. The textiles found at Birka were made of different materials and produced differently, sometimes using unknown techniques. Geijer's work with the Birka finds showed that Viking Age costumes could be reconstructed and that their origin could be determined.
Agnes Geijer published several works, such as Medeltida textilier av svensk tillverkning, Textila skatter i Uppsala domkyrka and Ur textilkonstens historia, which have been translated into English, giving her international recognition.
To strengthen Nordic textile research, she established the Agnes Geijer Foundation for Nordic Textile Research, which has been active since 1988.
Agnes Geijer on the right at a preserved Polish flag from the 17th century belonging to the Swedish National Trophy Collection. Photo: The Swedish National Trophy Collection 1959.
Agnes Geijer on the right at Pietas textile conservation. Photo: From the Swedish Journal 1942.
In 1936, a sensational find was made that provided unique insight into the Middle Ages. In a bog near Varberg, the "Bockstensmannen" was found, who died around 1350. Agnes Geijer took part in the study of the Bockstensmannen's remains and his well-preserved clothes.
Housing inspector, municipal politician, physical education teacher.
After graduating from the Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm in 1893, Hildur Ottelin moved to Skolgatan 10 in Uppsala and lived there for a time with her brother. For several years she worked as a physical education teacher and physiotherapist at Lindska skolan and Anna Wikström's trade school for blind women.
In 1903, Ottelin invested in two farms at Stamgatan (today's Geijersgatan) 7 and 10 with the intention of renting out housing and settled herself in number 10. A year later, she bought land from vicar Otto Myrberg in Rickomberga, which was later sold cheaply to working-class families, and together they formed a housing association, Rickomberga Egna Hem, of which she was managing director from 1904 to 1923.
Later, Ottelin became a housing inspector under the Board of Health and in 1912 she became the first woman to become a member of the City Council when she was elected for the Social Democrats. Similarly, Ottelin also became the first woman in the county council chamber.
As a politician, she became known for her many controversial proposals and her involvement in housing and elderly issues. Hildur Ottelin continued to be involved in municipal affairs until her death.
Since 1950, a street in Uppsala, in the Rickomberga area, bears her name.
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.
