An exhibition about Valgerði Jónsdóttir has been installed in the museum to mark the 250th anniversary of her birth.
Valgerður Jónsdóttir was born on December 14, 1771 in Seljaland under the Vestur-Eyjafjöll mountains. In 1789, Valgerður married Hannes Finnsson (1739–1796), bishop of Skálholt. She was 18 years old at the time and he was fifty. Valgerður and Hannes had four children: Jón, Ólafur, Þórunn and Sigríður. Hannes died in 1796, after seven years of marriage. Valgerður was therefore widowed at the age of 25. In 1806, she married Steingrímur Jónsson (1769–1845), who was then a lecturer at Bessastaðaskóli. Steingrímur had been Bishop Hannes' secretary and a teacher in the bishops' home in Skálholt. In 1811, he was ordained a priest in Oddi á Rangárvellir and Valgerður then moved there. He took up the episcopal office in 1825. The first year they lived in Reykjavík and then in Laugarnes. Valgerður and Steingrímur had one son, Hannes. Valgerður lost her second husband in 1845 and after that she lived with her daughter Sigríður and son-in-law at Görður in Álftanes. Valgerður died on 17 May 1856.
A large manuscript collection was created in the bishops' homes. Hannes had inherited the collection of his father and grandfather and he himself had added to the collection, which Valgerður then inherited upon his death. Steingrímur further added to the collection and after his death, Valgerður offered the National Library the entire manuscript collection, a total of 393 volumes, for purchase. On June 5, 1846, the king signed a formal permit for the purchase and that day is considered the founding day of the National Library's manuscript collection. Since that day, the manuscript collection has grown every year and now houses around 15,000 manuscripts in addition to a number of private archives. It is impossible to say whether this would have happened without the sale of Valgerður's manuscripts. The manuscript collection is therefore a beautiful and ever-expanding monument to Valgerður Jónsdóttir.
The authors of the exhibition are Halldóra Kristinsdóttir, a specialist in the manuscript collection, and Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir, professor of history at the University of Iceland, in addition to Guðrún Hildur Rosenkjær, historian and dressmaker at Annríki, who wrote the text on the panel "The Fashion Model". Curator Rannver H. Hannesson assisted with the installation and Ólafur J. Engilbertsson was responsible for the design of the exhibition.