Image: RAÄ. The new museum and its modern setting during the 1940s
Ett historiskt museum och hur det har format Sverige
A historical museum and how it shaped Sweden was a three-year project that started in January 2009 and ended Mars 2012. A group of researchers have been engaged in the project financed by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and Swedish Arts Council. The project was placed at the museum, which gave the researchers access to the museum, the storerooms, archives, staff and every day work. The new museology has been the theoretical point of departure and the project focused on the museum’s part in a social, historical and political context and its production of meaning in the Swedish society.
The Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm (from 2010 The National Historical Museum) was established in 1866. Bror Emil Hildebrand was one of the main characters behind the museum. Hildebrand was a close friend to Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, the founder of the three-age system, a system that Hildebrand used at the museum to order the objects but also in his plan over the exhibitions. The museum was placed on the ground floor of the National museum in Stockholm, a museum that opened the same year. In the end of 1930 the museum moved to its current position on Narvavägen. A large archaeological and medieval exhibition opened in 1943. The exhibition was framed in a new modern and functionalistic setting. Modernism and functionalism became important in post-war Swedish society. The employees at the museum played an important part in the modern Swedish heritage management from the beginning and the museum has through its exhibitions shaped the idea of Swedishness during a major part of the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Participants and contact:
Johan Hegardt, associate professor in archeology, project leader
Fredrik Svanberg, associate professor in archaeology and museology, head of research at the museum
Malin Grundberg, phd in history, gender studies
Patrik Nordström, master of arts in archaeology, archive specialist
Eva Jacobsson, phd in history of economics, archive specialist (October-December 2010)
Ian Wiséhn, National Museum of Economy
Reference group:
Sir David Wilson and professor emeritus Bo Gräslund
Project publications in press 2012:
Fyra röster om ett museum. Main publication
The museum beyond the nation. Conference volume.
Oscar och Agda Montelius brevväxling. Transcribed by Patrik Nordström