Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon and Már Jónsson, professors at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, and Davíð Ólafsson, adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies.
Archives all over the country contain hidden treasures that could shed light on the lives and history of ordinary Icelanders over the centuries. These documents and manuscripts have provided a solid foundation for the research of a group of scholars and students in the humanities. Their findings have more often than not been published in the series Sýnisbók íslenskrar alþýðumenningar (Anthology of Icelandic Popular Culture), which is published by the University of Iceland Press in collaboration with the Centre for Microhistorical Research at the University of Iceland History Institute. Last year, this series celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first publication.
The series is edited by Már Jónsson, Davíð Ólafsson and Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, who are all regular visitors to the archives to investigate these hidden treasures. "It started over 20 years ago when I decided with Kári Bjarnason, the special collections librarian, to start publishing a series based on my knowledge of personal sources that I felt deserved to be shared with colleagues and the public," explains Sigurður Gylfi, meaning sources such as diaries, love letters, memoirs and so forth.
Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, Davíð Ólafsson, and Már Jónsson
"We believe that these sources, which are often complicated and difficult to process, can provide a new perspective on the past."
Már says that the Anthologies have been developed with certain ideals in mind. "Firstly, to give readers the opportunity to encounter the unbelievably rich legacy of manuscripts from recent centuries kept in archives around Iceland, perhaps primarily in the manuscript collections at the National and University Library. Secondly, to bridge the gap between academics and amateur enthusiasts of Icelandic history," he says.
"Thirdly, it has always been the goal of the editors to create an outlet for university students who have shown a lot of interest in the sources and their processing. This dream has certainly come true, because many authors in the series are our former students and colleagues. Fourthly, and finally, we wanted to try to give scholars in the humanities and social sciences the opportunity to see the contents of the private documents that have formed most of the series. We believe that these sources, which are often complicated and difficult to process, can provide a new perspective on the past," says Davíð.
Already, 22 books have been published, the most recent being Sakir útkljáðar í samantekt Vilhelms Vilhelmssonar (Case closed as compiled by Vilhelm Vilhelmsson), containing material from the case records from Miðfjörður in Húnavatn county from the first half of the 19th century, and Jón Jónsson's book Sögur af förufólki (Stories of vagrants), which discusses vagrancy from the middle ages to the end of the 19th century. "We editors believe that the content of these books provides readers with a fascinating glimpse into material and history relevant to all ordinary people in Iceland in recent centuries."