Dissertations before 1855

About the collection

The University library has some 50 shelf metres of older academic dissertations issued in Sweden and Finland between 1600 and 1855. In 1939 they were gathered from their previous locations among their respective disciplines and placed together. 

Their subjects vary widely, and it is sometimes not entirely clear who is behind a specific dissertation. Frequently, it was the preses (the official presiding over the defense of a dissertation) who wrote the text, meaning the examined was required to defend something they had not written themselves. The respondent was questioned regarding argumentation, rhetoric, logic and so on. The dissertations are thin brochures in quarto or octavo format.

In his active years, professor Johan Hinric Lidén (1741–1793) created the inventory titled Catalogus disputationum, covering dissertations from the academies in Uppsala, Lund and Turku, as well as from the gymnasiums, (gymnasial disputations) and from diocese meetings (diocesan dissertations) until 1777. 

When Lidén passed away in 1793 the inventory was continued by bibliographer and entomologist Gabriel Marklin, whose bibliography includes dissertations issued until 1855. 

These two inventories are held to be such a comprehensive bibliography of this category of materials that dissertations have not been detailed in the Isak Collijn bibliography of Swedish 17^th century prints. Nor was it included in the bibliography of Swedish materials issued from 1700-1829 (SB17) which is now part of the LIBRIS database. 

Requesting dissertations from our holdings is a bit different from the standard routines for making requests. As the older Swedish and Finnish dissertations cannot be found in Catalogue-57, and are rarely available through Supersearch or Libris, you need to make a manual request. Forms are available at the circulation desk, in the reading room and by the card catalogue in the bibliography room.  

Start by requesting the printed Catalogus disputationum at the circulation desk, or access the digitised version. The holdings of Gothenburg University Library are marked in each volume. The dissertations are alphabetised after their preses (mostly) and then by format. When making a request, it is important to include the shelf code. For example: Diss Lund 8:o von Döbeln 1. 

The alphabetisation in Lidén's catalogue starts over when the format changes; octavos first, followed by quartos. 

Acquisition history

Since the 1890s, dissertations have been acquired by the library by exchange, purchase and donation.

Read more

Catalogus disputationum in Gupea.

Hörstedt, Axel, Latin dissertations and disputations in the Early Modern Swedish gymnasium: a study of a Latin school tradition c. 1620–c. 1820, Göteborgs universitet, Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2018, Göteborg, 2018.

Lidén, Johan Hinric, Catalogus disputationum, in academiis et gymnasiis Sveciæ, atque etiam, a Svecis, extra patriam habitarum, quotquot huc usque reperiri potuerunt; collectore Joh. Henr. Lidén ... =Uppsala, Edman. 1–5. 1778–80., (Edman, Uppsala, 1778–1780.

Marklin, Gabriel, Catalogus disputationum in academiis Sveciæ et Fenniæ habitarum Lidenianus: annis 1820–1855, Wahlström, Upsala, 1856.

Suggested research topics

• An overview of the collection's contents. What is represented here, and how does it mirror the time and context of the material?
• Biographical research
• Academic writing in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. 

Please contact us if you have any suggested research topics you would like to share!