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Ansvarlig for nettsidene: Norsk lokalhistorisk institutt
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LOCAL HISTORY
WORLD WIDE

Ansvarlig for nettstedet: Norsk lokalhistorisk institutt

Norway

> Introduction
> Genres and publishing
> The academic field
> Institutions, organizations, networks
> Bibliography and references
> Web links
> Acknowledgements

Introduction

With ancestry reaching back to the topographic descriptions of the 18^th century Enlightenment Era, the modern local history movement in Norway took shape in the early 20^th century. The cultural and ideological background was to a great extent the agrarian populist and national democratic movements of the time. There was a reinforced local history trend from the 1970’s on, closely connected to the general upsurge of (leftist) populism, regionalism and emphasis on history from below. Whatever importance should be put on the populist aspects, it should be noted that local history has a fair standing also as a professional, academic discipline in Norway.

Genres and publishing

The dominating local history genres today are on the one hand the bygdebok (literally ”local rural community book”, here taken to include also histories of larger districts, towns and cities) and on the other hand the annuals and other periodicals of local history associations etc.

The ”bygdebok”
There are two basic kinds of bygdebok. One is the general rendering of the history of the community (rural community, city, town or district). The other kind is the gards- og slektshistorie (”farm and family history”, ”Ortsfamilienbücher”), where the history of each individal farm and of the families that have inhabited and run the farm throughout the centuries are accounted for in great detail.

With few exceptions a bygdebok is commissioned and financed by the public authorities of the community. The majority of the 434 Norwegian kommuner (the basic administrative unit, whether rural or urban) does have their bygdebok, and older versions are likely to be replaced by new, updated ones. A majority of these projects are nowadays contracted with professionally trained historians (or, occasionally, ethnologists, anthropologists etc.).

The local history annuals
This genre is one in which the local history amateur dominates the field, although a fair number of these publications also contain articles by scholars. Approximately 300 annuals (and other periodicals) are published every year, mostly by local and regional history associations, sometimes by museums and archives.

National journals
Heimen, published from 1922 by The Norwegian Association of Local History (see below), is Norway’s one professional journal on local history.

Other genres
With modernized and cheaper ways of publishing, the variety of local history genres has multiplied through recent years. Pictorial reviews of the local past, cultural guides of the local community, monographs on the occupation years 1940-45, on local celebrities, architecture etc. etc. are flourishing. These are published by local associations, and also by commercial publishing enterprises.

The academic field

The history departments of all the universities of Norway (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø) list among their staff historians who at one time or another have been engaged in major local history projects. In Trondheim and Tromsø local history has been formally attached to academic chairs. Also within the history departments of the regional colleges local history has been an important part of the academic program. [Links]

Institutions, organizations, networks

The Norwegian Institute of Local History, founded in 1955, is an independent public institution under the Ministry of Culture. Its purpose is to promote local and regional activity through counselling services, research and documentation.

The Norwegian Association of Local History, founded1920, has 421 local history associations as its members, comprising 80.000 individuals. Its purpose is to stimulate interest in and knowledge of local history and cultural heritage. The organization publishes Heimen (see above under Genres and publishing). There are another 150-200 local association that are not affiliated with the national association. Altogether, the local history associations make up a veritable popular movement in Norway.

Local archives, rather crucial in local history activities, are organised in The National Association of Local and Private Archives.

Genealogists are organized in The Norwegian Genealogical Society (Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening ). Another important organization of genealogists is Dis-Norge (genealogy on Internet etc.).