On Wednesday, March 2, Jóhanna Þ. Guðmundsdóttir, archivist at the National Archives of Iceland, will present the talk "Peasants Write to the King. The National Committee's Archives 1770–1771" in the lecture series Icelandic Book History, which will take place in the National Archives' lecture hall between 12:05 – 12:45.

The abstract of the talk states:

The first National Committee was a three-man committee sent to this country by the king in 1770 to investigate the state of the country. The committee was intended to contact both high and low-ranking citizens. Officials were given specific questions, but the public was encouraged to write about anything they liked.

The committee now has a valuable collection of documents, about 4,200 handwritten pages of diverse material. Letters and reports from farmers, priests, magistrates and other officials that the committee received from all over the country, as well as minutes and opinions of the committee members themselves. The National Archives of Iceland is currently working on a complete edition of these documents in collaboration with the Icelandic Historical Society and the National Archives of Denmark. The talk will examine this vast collection of documents from the National Committee. The social status of the correspondents, the main complaints in the letters and how they provide a unique insight into national customs around 1770 will be discussed.

Everyone welcome