Every month the National and University Library of Iceland picks one item from its collections and tells its story: a manuscript, photograph, map, poster or letter that has lain untouched for decades. Some of the items are well known; others have never been shown in public.
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Anna Sigurðardóttir’s honorary doctorate from the University of Iceland
The Icelandic Women’s History Archives was founded on New Year’s Day 1975 at the home of Anna Sigurðardóttir (December 5, 1908 – January 1996) at Hjarðarhagi 26. She was the first director of the Archives for about 20 years and was responsible for its establishment together with Else Mia Einarsdóttir and Svanlaug Baldursdóttir, librarians. Anna…
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Women’s work – Ingibjörg Guðlaugsdóttir
The 50th anniversary exhibition of the Women’s History Archives opened at the National Library on October 17, 2025. The exhibition features 18 women from the Women’s History Archives’s collection who worked in a variety of jobs in the 20th century. One of them was Ingibjörg Guðlaugsdóttir (1887–1971). Ingibjörg was born in Sogn í Kjósarhreppur parish.…
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Scrapbooks from the Executive Committee for the Women’s Day Off
Highlights of the library in October are two scrapbooks that the Executive Committee for the Women’s Day Off in 1975 compiled and donated to the Women’s History Archives along with its entire archive. Anna Sigurðardóttir, director of the Women’s History Archives, received the Executive Committee’s archives at Hotel Saga I Reykjavík on March 28, 1976.…
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Saumastofan − stage set model
The model for the stage set of Saumastofan (The Sewing Company) designed by Jón Þórisson for the original production of the musical by Kjartan Ragnarsson at Reykjavík Theatre Company is the library‘s highlight of September. Saumastofan premiered on October 28th 1975, four days after the first Woman’s Day Off where women went on strike and…
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Norðanvindur (North wind)
The book Norðanvindur (North wind) is the library’s highlligt in August, in celebration of the Nordic bookbinding exhibition Nordic Nature, which closes at the end of the month. The exhibition Nordic Bookbinding is a collaborative project of Nordic art bookbinders. In 2009, the exhibition was for the first time in the hands of Icelanders. It…
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Læðurnar (The Cats) by Walentin Chorell, translated by Vigdís Finnbogadóttir – a playbook from the National Theatre of Iceland 1964
This spring, the Icelandic Theatre Museum and the National Theatre of Iceland signed a collaboration agreement to publish the theatre’s playbooks on the website timarit.is. The occasion is the 75th anniversary of the National Theatre of Iceland, which opened its doors on the first day of summer in 1950. Playbooks from the first eighteen years…
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19. júní, annual publication of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association 1975
The Library’s highlight in June is the 25th issue of the 19. júní (19th of June), the annual publication of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, which was dedicated to the Year of Women in 1975. It includes a report on a conference at Hotel Loftleiðir on 20-21 June that year, where papers were presented on…
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Stúlka (A Girl) – Júlíana Jónsdóttir
The library’s highlight in May is the first book of poetry by an Icelandic woman, Stúlka (A Girl), which the author, Júlíana Jónsdóttir (1838-1917), published at her own expense in 1876. Júlíana was born in Búrfell in Hálsasveit in Borgarfjörður, but grew up in Rauðsgil in Reykholtsdalur with her maternal grandfather and his wife. She…
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The Finnish epic poem Kalevala bound by Unnur Stefánsdóttir
The sisters Unnur Stefánsdóttir (1912-2004) and Bentína Stefánsdóttir (1903-1965) established a bookbinding workshop at Grjótagata 4 in Reykjavík centre in 1952. They soon became very respected among collectors, as many valuable books came to them for repair and binding. Unnur took care of the repairs and gilding, and Bentína took care of most of the…
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“My sweetheart!” – The largest collection of love letters in the Women’s History Archives
Three hundred letters were sent between Guðrún Lárusdóttir and Sigurbjörn Ástvaldur Gíslason in the early 20th century. Their correspondence, as preserved in the Women’s History Archives, begins with a letter from Guðrún on February 28, 1900, and they begin by addressing each other as “dear sister” and “dear brother.” They talk a lot about religion…
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Diaries of María Skúladóttir Thoroddsen
The diaries and notebooks of María Skúladóttir Thoroddsen (1906–1976) from the thirties of the twentieth century are the Library’s highlights in February. They describe the mental world and emotional life of a Reykjavík girl of that time. Maria’s diaries from the years 1920–1922 describe her schooling and everyday life, courtship and school trips, what people…
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The Women’s History Archives ‘s founding directory
The Women’s History Archives was founded on January 1, 1975 by three women: Anna Sigurðardóttir, Else Mia Einarsdóttir and Svanlaug Baldursdóttir. It was founded in Anna’s home, on the fourth floor of a block building at Hjarðarhagi 26 in Reykjavík, and she served as its director for 20 years. The Women’s History Archives emerged as…