Grant awarded for project on trailblazing manorial scholar Alma Söderhjelm (1870-1949)
Portrait of Alma Söderhjelm, taken in 1942 for a French edition of a book about Axel von Fersen.
Åbo Akademis bibliotek, Alma Söderhjelms samling, Bildsamlingen.
Historian and researcher My Hellsing, PhD, at Stockholm University, has been awarded a grant of €88,800 by Svenska Litteratursällskapet in Finland. The grant is for a project on a manorial studies scholar before the notion existed: Historian Alma Söderhjelm (Vyborg 1870 – Saltsjöbaden 1949). In 1927, Söderhjelm was appointed professor and became the first woman in Finland to hold such a position. Alma Söderhjelm gained international scholarly recognition for her research on Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755–1793) and Count Axel von Fersen (1755–1810), which was based on empirical findings in manorial archives. A celebrity during her lifetime, Alma Söderhjelm’s research topics, itinerant career, and accessible style of historical writing fell outside the scholarly canon after her death.
In recent decades, a significant body of research has shed light on the substantial, often informal ways secretaries, wives, and daughters assisted male scholars’ research. This has reassessed the traditional view of 20th-century knowledge as exclusively tied to the university and the solitary male genius. Through a comparative close reading of Söderhjelm’s scholarly works alongside her correspondence, memoirs, diaries, notes, and photographs, this project demonstrates that Söderhjelm’s research practices were similar to those of her male colleagues. This project investigates three key scholarly partnerships of Alma Söderhjelm: with her friend Tyra Linder (1891–1980), the translator couple Victor Vinde (1903–1970) and Rita Vinde (1904–1994), and the historian Carl-Fredrik Palmstierna (1903–1993). In two out of three cases, Alma Söderhjelm benefited from collective scholarly processes that were attributed to her as a single author.
Two of Söderhjelm’s collaborators, Countess Thyra Klinckowström (left) and Miss Tyra Linder (right), working on the manuscripts at the Stafsund country estate. Photo by Alma Söderhjelm. Åbo Akademis bibliotek, Alma Söderhjelms samling, Bildsamlingen.
Today, as scholars seek to challenge national historiographies and understand the consequences of the professionalization of history in the 20th century—namely, the persistent male dominance within the field—delving into Söderhjelm’s career is of particular interest. This project furthers our knowledge of research and publishing practices, scholarly trajectories, the organization of manorial and national archives, and the transformation of country houses into cultural heritage sites in the first half of the 20th century.
For further information about the project contact My Hellsing: my.hellsing@historia.su.se
Historian and researcher My Hellsing, PhD, at Stockholm University