Nordiska museet, Archives and Library

Overview

The Nordiska museet Archives and Library is the archival and library department of the Nordic Museum (Nordiska museet), Sweden's largest museum of cultural history. Located on Djurgården island in central Stockholm, the archives and library together form the museum's principal research facility for Swedish and Nordic cultural history from the sixteenth century to the present.

History

Nordiska museet was founded in 1873 by Artur Hazelius, who also founded the open-air museum Skansen. Hazelius began collecting objects, documents, and folklore materials in 1872 during travels in Dalarna. He was the first to lay the foundation for the archival collections, gathering diaries, materials on folklore and folk medicine, records from interviews, autobiographies, farm and family archives, and archives from individuals, businesses, and associations. The museum's present building on Djurgården, designed in Dutch-influenced Renaissance Revival style by architect Isak Gustaf Clason, was opened in 1907.

Collections and Holdings

The Nordiska museet archives contain documents from societies, companies, and private individuals covering more than 4,500 metres of shelving. The Photography Collection comprises approximately six million photographs documenting Swedish and Nordic life from the 1840s to the present, including the archives of noted photographers such as K.W. Gullers, Gunnar Lundh, and Gösta Glase. The library holds more than 250,000 books and journals, as well as brochures, maps, and product catalogues. An extensive collection of fashion journals and magazines from the eighteenth century to the present and a unique collection of product catalogues in home furnishings, consumer electronics, and fashion are among the library's distinctive holdings.

Journalism and Media Significance

The library's collection of fashion journals and popular magazines provides a rich resource for researchers studying print media history and consumer culture in Sweden. The photographic archives, representing some six million images, include significant documentation of twentieth-century urban life, industry, and social change.

Access

The archives and library are located at street level (ground floor, Fatburen) of the museum building on Djurgården. Opening hours are limited; the archive is open on Wednesdays during the academic year and by appointment at other times. Researchers may consult archived material in the reading room and search databases for exhibition themes and objects.