Magrethe Hald and the Nordic History of Textile Research, seminar

Eva Andersson Strand, Morten Grymer-Hansen, and Ulrikka Mokdad

Centre for Textile Research has carried out a research project on Danish textile researcher Margrethe Hald from 2020-2022 and now invites to a seminar on the pioneering effort of Hald and the Nordic roots of textile research. While Margrethe Hald became the first woman in Denmark to obtain a doctorate in archaeology in 1950, she was not the first scholar to make textiles her field of study. Several textile researchers in the Nordic countries appeared in the first half of the 20th century and especially researchers from Den-mark, Norway, and Sweden formed an important network as friends and colleagues.

Archaeological textiles abound in the Nordic countries, especially in Southern Sweden and Denmark, owing to the ideal levels of acidity in the ground and bogs. Finds of complete costumes from the Bronze Age and Iron Age sparked the interest of scholars as early as the mid-19th century but it was not until the following that their potential was fully realized. This seminar aims to shed light on the sometimes forgotten and untold history of early textile research and how this became a research field in its own right within the Nordic countries.

To register contact Morten Grymer-Hansen at grymer@hum.ku.dk, remember to let us know if you participate in person or via zoom.

Programme

Session 1: Margrethe Hald and Textile Research in Denmark

09:00 Women’s Work: Suffragettes and the early history of textile research in Denmark - Morten Grymer-Hansen
  
09:30 Prehistoric Textiles in the National Museum of Denmark - Ulla Mannering
 
10:00 Margrethe Hald and Nordisk Textilteknisk Terminologi - Susanne Lervad
 
10:30-10:45 Break
  
10:45 Experimental Textile Archaeology - Eva Andersson Strand
 
11:15 Searching for authenticity: Margrethe Hald’s Ethnographic Studies and Travels - Ulrikka Mokdad
 
11:45 Discussion
 
12-13:00 Lunch
 

Session 2: Textile Research in a Nordic Context

13:00 Agnes Geijer and Textile Research in Sweden - Margareta Nockert
 
13:30 Pioneering Swedish women in Chinese Textile Research - Helen Persson
 
14:00-14.15 Break
 
14.15 The History of Textile Research in Norway - Hana Lukesova
 
14.45 The History of Textile Research in Finland - Sanna Lipkin
 
15:15 Discussion
 
15:30-15.45 Break
 
15.45-16.45 Panel Discussion: TBD
 
16.45-17.00 Closing Remarks

At CTR, every-other Wednesday, we have administrative meetings running through the semester, followed by a scientific presentation.

We kindly invite everyone interested to join these lectures.

The presentation, will start around 15:00. Please join the zoom link and you will be let in. We expect everybody to turn on the camera and have your name as the “name tag”.

Please see the programme for more information.