Otto Nordenskjöld | Special collections, archives and manuscripts
Portrait of Otto Nordenskjöld with letters and two expedition address labels.
Expedition address labels from the Otto Nordenskjöld expedition to South America in 1920-1921, with photo of Nordenskjöld, badge from the International Congress for the Study of the Polar Regions in Brussels, 1906, and letters to Nordenskjöld from polar researcher Ernest Schackleton.
Photo: Gunnar Jönsson
  2. Education and the history of science
  3. Otto Nordenskjöld

Otto Nordenskjöld

Professor Otto Nordenskjöld was one of Sweden's most renowned explorers and polar researchers. He was one of the founding members of the School of Business, Economics and Law in Gothenburg, and became its first principal in 1923.

About the archive

Otto Nordenskjöld's archive (H 2004:08) mirrors his multi-faceted efforts in a wealth of correspondence, particularly with many of the world's foremost geographers and explorers, but also with representatives of other areas such as trade geography and peace issues. The archive further includes a large amount of photographs from his various expeditions, along with manuscripts and news clippings. A key item in the archive is the ship's log from the Antarctic expedition of 1901–1903. The archive spans 102 volumes and includes several additional accessions beyond the main accession acquired in 2004.

Photo of Otto Nordenskjöld, menu from dinner at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm at the homecoming of the Antarctic expedition in January 1904, a letter from Otto to his parents, and a construction bill for the base camp of the expedition on Snow Hill.
Photo of Otto Nordenskjöld, menu from dinner at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm at the homecoming of the Antarctic expedition in January 1904, a letter from Otto to his parents, and a construction bill for the base camp of the expedition on Snow Hill.
Photo: Gunnar Jönsson

Biography

Otto Nordenskjöld (1869–1928) was born on Sjögelö in the Häsleby parish, in the county of Jönköping. He was the son of Colonel Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld and Anna Elisabet Sofia Nordenskiöld. Otto carried out a number of research expeditions to, among other places, Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, as well as to Peru and Greenland. The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 is the most well known, as it took a rather dramatic turn, and the fate of the expedition was unknown for some time. 

Following the Antarctic Expedition, Otto Nordenskjöld became a tenured professor of geography, with trade geography at the Gothenburg College. He was one of the founding members of the School of Business, Economics and Law in Gothenburg, and became its first principal in 1923.

Hand coloured glass plate negative depicting the Snow Hill base camp built in 1902 for the Antarctic expedition of 1901-1903.
Hand coloured glass plate negative depicting the Snow Hill base camp built in 1902 for the Antarctic expedition of 1901-1903.
Photo: Okänd
Otto Nordenskjöld.
Otto Nordenskjöld.
Photo: Oscar Rylander

Locate the archive

The archive has a partial inventory. Please contact the Manuscripts Section at the Humanities Library if you have any further questions about the Otto Nordenskjöld archive. 

Contact

Gothenburg University Library Manuscripts Section
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The Humanities Library
Renströmsgatan 4
405 30 GOTHENBURG

Read more

Further archival materials concerning Otto Nordenskjöld available at:

Centrum för vetenskapshistoria

Kulturparken Småland

 

G. Alvstam, Claes, Holmer, Björn, Larsson, Anders, Olvmo, Mats, Thorsson, Sofia, Otto Nordenskjöld genom kameran : forskningsresorna i bilder, Karlstad 2021.

Otto Nordenskjöld in the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (SBL)

The Polar portal - a collaboration project between the University of Gothenburg and the Gothenburg University Library

Antarctica - Gothenburg University project website 

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