Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon (SKBL), known in English as Biographical Dictionary of Swedish Women, is a Swedish biographical dictionary of Swedish women. It was started in 2018 when 1,000 articles about Swedish women were published in Swedish and English and a further 1,000 articles were published in 2020. [1] This activity has been financed by Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. [1]
SKBL is produced by the University of Gothenburg and the articles are written by experts and researchers. The dictionary contains biographies of women who, across several centuries and in many different ways, have contributed to society's development, both within Sweden and beyond. The entries, based on a mix of existing and brand-new research, were mainly selected with an emphasis on societal significance rather than personal fame. The selection includes female pioneers and women who fought for gender equality as well as those of historical significance. Finnish women are also included for the pre-1809 era.
From 2010 Lisbeth Larsson (1949–2021), a professor of literary studies, tried to create a more general dictionary with a focus on women to give a fairer picture of history (together with Inger Eriksson, operations manager at KvinnSam). The original plan was to publish a book but it was later decided to compile a database which could be accessed as a web-based dictionary. [2]
The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy in Uppsala is one of 18 Swedish royal academies and dedicated to the study of Swedish folklore. Its name is often expanded to Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur.
KvinnSam - National Resource Library for Gender Studies, formerly the Women's History Collections, is the Swedish National Resource Library for Gender Studies. The collections belong to Gothenburg University Library.
Emanuella Ottiliana Carlbeck was a Swedish pedagogue and is counted as a pioneer in the education of students with Intellectual disability. She founded the first institution for people with Intellectual disabilities in Gothenburg in 1866. The institution included a school, a working home and an asylum for patients.
Elsa Borg was a Swedish educator and social worker. She is known for being the founder of the Christian Bible Home for women and its combined mission work and social work among the poor in Stockholm.
Thorborg Ragnhild Rappe, was a Swedish pedagogue and Baroness. Alongside Emanuella Carlbeck, she is counted as a pioneer in the education of students with intellectual disability in Sweden, and she represented her country at the 1893 Congress of Women in Chicago.
Ada Konstantia Nilsson was an early Swedish woman medical doctor. She was one of the founders of the campaigning magazine Tidevarvet in 1923.
Rosa Fitinghoff was a Swedish writer of novels. She was noted for her interest in dogs. Her mother and her aunt, Malvina Bråkenhielm were also novelists.
Laura Mathilde Fitinghoff born Laura Mathilda Bernhardina Runsten was a Swedish writer, after she was estranged from her husband. She was known for her children's books; particularly Children from Frostmofjället, which became a 1945 film.
Ida Granqvist was a Swedish missionary. She wrote 26 books of poetry and translated hundreds of texts into isiZulu whilst a missionary in South Africa. She was criticised for speaking from a pulpit whilst in Sweden.
Lovisa Mathilda Nettelbladt (1814–1867), was a Swedish novelist and travel writer. She wrote under the pseudonym m-n. She lived in the United States between 1850 and 1856, and she is foremost known for her travel book about her life in North America, which belongs to the earliest literature published of a Swedish emigrant as well as a Swedish female emigrant to the USA.
Jaquette Liljencrantz (1848–1920) was a Danish writer, journalist, Women's rights activist and socialist.
Elsa Andrea Elisabeth Björkman-Goldschmidt (1888–1982) was a Swedish artist and writer who was active in Sweden and Austria. After attending Stockholm's Art Academy, she worked as an engraver and etcher. In 1916, while assisting the Red Cross in Russia, she met her future husband, the Austrian surgeon Waldemar Goldschmidt. They married in Vienna where she was involved with Save the Children and started working as a correspondent for the Swedish press. In 1938, anti-Semitism forced the couple to move to Sweden where she published a number of books about her life in Vienna.
Kerstin Abram-Axelsson née Nilsson; was a Swedish artist, debater, and social activist, who primarily expressed herself through various paintings and graphic arts. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout Europe, the United States, Mexico, and the Soviet Union.
Lili Sanelma Nyström was a Swedish archaeologist and museum director. She was the wife of Swedish historian and the former governor of Gothenburg and Bohus County, Per Nyström. She was the founder of the Lili Kaelas stiftelse för arkeologisk forskning.
Tekla Åberg was a Swedish teacher and school director. She was a pioneer for girl's education in Sweden and was the founder and director of the first grammar school for girls outside Stockholm, Tekla Åbergs högre allmänna läroverk för flickor.
Agnes Birgitta Odén-Dunér was a Swedish historian. She was the first woman to hold a professorship at Lund University, and was also the first female history professor in Sweden. She was a member of several local and international literal and historical academies such as the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters; The Science Society in Lund (honorary); the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities; the Academy of Finland; the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1977; and the Academia Europaea.
Eva Julia Augusta Ramstedt was a Swedish physicist who specialized in radiology and studied under Nobel laureate Marie Curie. She was heavily involved in women's rights in academia and was among the founding members of an association for female academics now known as Kvinnliga Akademikers Förening. Due in part to the association's efforts, several legal changes were enacted that nudged Swedish female academics closer to having the same rights as their male colleagues, including a change to the Basic Laws of Sweden in 1909 and universal suffrage in 1921.
Lisbeth Helena Larsson (1949–2021) was a Swedish literary historian and researcher who from 2000 was professor of literary studies at the University of Gothenburg where she focused on gender studies. Drawing on the archive of women's history at the Arts Faculty Library, she published a book on women from Gothenburg, Hundrade och en Göteborgskvinnor. It paved the way for a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation which in March 2018 led to the establishment of Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon, a searchable biographical dictionary of Swedish women. Larsson is also remembered as a theatre and literature critic for the newspaper Expressen.
Sigrid Ekehielm, also known as Boås-Beata, was a Swedish 17th-century business owner.
Anna-Maja Nylén was a Swedish ethnologist.