Sweden
by Lars Nilsson
> Introductory remarks
> Genres and publications
> The academic field
> Organisations and web links
> Bibliography and references
> Acknowledgements
Introductory remarks
The modern local history movement started in Sweden around 1900 as a
kind of protest against the industrialisation process and a defence for
rural lifestyles. A lot of local organisations were set up as well as
open air museums inspired by Skansen in Stockholm. In 1916 a national
organisation was established, called Samfundet för hembygdsvård.
This name was later on changed to Riksförbundet för hembygdsvård
and the early association was at the same moment transformed to a truly
national organisation. Today it is known as Sveriges Hembygdsförbund
(Swedish Local Heritage Federation). More than 1,800 local heritage societies
including almost half a million persons are members of this nation-wide
organisation.
But already in the 18th century there was a great interest for local
history manifested in a number of urban biographies as dissertations often
written in Latin. This interest for town history at the university level
was further strengthened in the 20th century. On initiative by the Swedish
Confederation of Towns an Institute for Urban History was founded in Stockholm
as early as 1919. From the start the Institute was organised as a section
of the Confederation of Towns but with clear links to the academic world.
Those links grew stronger by time and in 1952 a chair of urban history
was established in Stockholm, financed by The Confederation of Towns,
the City of Stockholm and the State. Recently Stockholm University has
also got a chair in the History of Stockholm that was a gift from the
Swedish Government when Stockholm celebrated its 750 years of existence
in 2002.
Genres and publications
Swedish urban as well as local history has been dominated by a biographical
tradition. The writing of monographs on cities, towns, parishes and other
places has thus been the main task. A variety of ways and means –
private and public – has been used for publishing and financing,
most of them without any profit making ambitions.
The number of all forms local history publications has increased substantially
during the last decades of the 20th century. Anthologies on local topics
both urban and rural ones have became much more common as well as for
example picture books and cultural and other historical local guides.
There has also been a rise in the interest for writing general urban history.
Many of the local heritage societies, as well as different kinds of regional
associations engaged in local history matters, publish their own newsletters
and/or annuals. The only national journal is Bygd och Natur edited by
the Swedish Local Heritage Federation. Urban history issues are normally
published in general historical journals like Historisk tidskrift and
Scandia.
The academic field
The writing of town history was successively established as an academic
field with the founding of the Institute of Urban History in 1919. Another
strong impetus came in the early 1950s when the chair in urban history
was set up. Local history on the other hand was for a long time not seen
to be of any academic interest. The writing of local history was more
or less a spare time occupation for persons outside the professional university
system. It did not give any merits in the competition for academic positions.
Around 1970 there was a strongly growing interest for social, demographic
and economic history at the universities and parallel to that changed
attitudes towards local history. Research of this new type could often
best be accomplished by selecting data from small geographical areas such
as towns and rural parishes. The local setting was often used as a means
to reach general conclusions on the studied topic. It was case studies
concentrated to local milieus. The site per se was not always the main
focus for the researcher. But an important side effect was that also research
on places for their own sake more and more was seen as important research
areas.
The new trends around 1970 fostered, thus, a new interest in local history
as a university topic. The new university colleges that were established
at that point of time started almost immediately with courses and research
in local history concentrated to their own regions. Especially strong
interests were expressed in Linköping and Örebro, but also for
example in Växjö and Karlstad. A centre for local history was
organised in Linköping, and networking on local history centred on
the Institute of Urban History began at a much broader scale than before.
The new tendencies were also discernible in other academic disciplines
such as economic history, geography, art, ethnology and others as well.
The networking got therefore a multidisciplinary character. Recently a
multidisciplinary Ph.D. research school in urban studies has started at
Örebro University.
Organisations and web links
The Institute of Urban History at Stockholm University founded in 1919
is the main centre for Swedish urban history. http://www.historia.su.se/urbanhistory/index.htm
The Swedish Local Heritage Federation, located in Stockholm, started
in 1916 is the national organisation for a great number of local heritage
societies. www.hembygd.se
Committee for Documentation on Stockholm (Kommittén för Stockholmsforskning)
established by the city itself in the 1930s with the object to publish
books and promote interest in the history of Stockholm. www.stockholmia.stockholm.se
Centre for Local History (Centrum för lokalhistoria) at Linköping
University. www.isak.liu.se/centrum_for_lokalhistoria
Ph.D Research school in urban studies at Örebro University (Forskarskolan
Urbana studier – Städer och regioner i förändring).
www.oru.se
Demographic Date Base at Umeå University, including for example
population statistics for Swedish towns and rural parishes. www.ddb.umu.se
Terra Scaniae is a website on local history for the region of Skåne
in south Sweden. www.ts.skane.se.oas.funcform.se
Swedish Local History Database is a digital archive containing community
records. www.lokalhistoria.nu
Bibliography and references
Revy över stads- och kommunhistoria 1981-1985. Lokalhistoria 2.
Stockholm 1991.
Swedish Bibliography of Urban History. A Selection of Books and Articles
Published up to 1992, Lars Nilsson (ed.). Studier i stads- och kommunhistoria
10. Stockholm 1994.
Revy över stads- och kommunhistoria 1986-1990. Redaktörer:
Anna Kåring Wagman & Lars Nilsson. Lokalhistoria 9. Stockholm
1996..
Revy över stads- och kommunhistoria 1991-1995. Redaktörer:
Mats Berglund & Lars Nilsson. Lokalhistoria 13. Stockholm 2000.
http://www.historia.su.se/urbanhistory/index.htm
Acknowledgements
Responsible for this presentation is Lars Nilsson, Professor of Urban
History and Director for the Institute of Urban History.
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