Agnes Wergeland

Agnes Mathilde Wergeland (May 8, 1857 – March 6, 1914) was a Norwegian-American historian, poet and educator. Agnes Mathilde Wergeland was the first woman ever to earn a doctoral degree in Norway.[1]

Early life and education

Agnes Mathilde Wergeland was born in Christiania, Norway to Sverre Nicolai Wergeland (1817–96) and Anne Margrethe Larsen (1817–89). She was from a prominent, distinguished Norwegian family. Wergeland's family hailed from Brekke in Sogn. Her brother was Norwegian painter, Oscar Wergeland. She was the great-niece of Norwegian writer and politician, Nicolai Wergeland; hence Henrik Wergeland, Camilla Collett and Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland were the cousins of her father.

She attended Nissen Girls School in Christiania in 1879, studied independently Norwegian history, Greek and Roman architecture and sculpture, and medieval history at the University Library of Christiania from 1879 until 1883. Then she studied Old Norse and Icelandic law under jurist Konrad von Maurer at the University of Munich from 1883 to 1885. She then attended the University of Zurich, whence she took her PhD in 1890. Wergeland emigrated to America because there were few opportunities for women in higher education in Norway.[2]

Career

She received a fellowship in history from Bryn Mawr College in 1890 and lectured there for two years before lecturing at the University of Illinois in 1893. She was a docent in history and nonresident instructor at the University of Chicago from 1896 to 1902. In 1902, Wergeland was offered the position of chair of the department of history at the University of Wyoming. Agnes Wergeland remained a University of Wyoming history professor until her death.[3]

Agnes Mathilde Wergeland wrote several scholarly works, three of which were published after her death. She also wrote two volumes of poetry which were published by Symra in the Norwegian language: Amerika, og andre digte (America and Other Poems) and Efterladte digte (Posthumous Poems).[4]

An endowment fund was given as a memorial to the University of Oslo at Christiania for Norwegian women students to study history and economics in the United States. A scholarship in history was also established by professor Grace Raymond Hebard to honor her friend and colleague, Agnes Wergeland, as one of the pioneering members of the History Department to the University of Wyoming.[5]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ Norwegian-Americans (Odd S. Lovoll. Multicultural America. 2006)
  2. ↑ The Scandinavian Immigrant Writer in America (Dorothy Burton Skardal, Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 21: Page 14)
  3. ↑ The Promise of America (Nasjonalbiblioteket, avdeling Oslo)
  4. ↑ The Poetry of Agnes Mathilde Wergeland (Larry Emil Scott. Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 30: Page 273)
  5. ↑ Mathilde Wergeland Memorial History Prize Archived October 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. (University of Wyoming)
  6. ↑ Biographical and Professional Information (Wyoming Writers) Archived March 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.

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