Anna Caspari Agerholt (25 July 1892 – 16 August 1943) was a Norwegian

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist and writer. She is remembered in particular for her groundbreaking ''Den norske kvinnebevegelses historie'' (The History of the Norwegian Women's Movement), published in 1937. Agerholt was a pioneering educator in social studies, giving a series of one-year courses for the

Norwegian National Women's Council The Norwegian National Women's Council ( no, italic=no, Norske Kvinners Nasjonalråd) was founded on 8 January 1904 as an umbrella organization for the various Norwegian women's associations. It was established by Gina Krog whose international con ...

(''Norske Kvinners Nasjonalråd'').

Biography

Born on 25 July 1892 in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Anna Caspari was the daughter of Josef Immanuel von Zezschwitz Caspari (1857–1952), an academic, and Vilhelmine Christiane Sømme (1863–1952). On 28 December 1923, she married the archivist Peter Johan Agerholt (1890–1969). Little is known of her childhood but in 1910, but when she took the matriculating

Examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

at Hamar School, Caspari chose to write a Norwegian composition on ''Kvindens stilling i samfundet før og nu'' (Women's place in society then and now). She went on to study philology at the University of Kristiania, graduating as Cand.philol. in 1917. The following year she earned a teaching diploma. Initially she worked as a teacher at high schools in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

and Oslo but from 1925 she taught social history and Norwegian at the Norwegian National Women's Council. From 1931 to 1950, she was responsible for the one-year courses which were the only options for women wishing to work in the social sector. In addition to her articles in various journals, in 1937 she published her pioneering ''Den norske kvinnebevegelsens historie''. Although it was initially well received by women's organizations, it was not until its republication in 1973 that it became a basic reference work for women's history in Norwegian universities. While she emphasizes the period up to 1913 when Norwegian women first obtained the vote in national elections, she also covers more generally the struggle for equality between women and men. Agerholt was active in the bourgeois women's movement, chairing the ''Norske Kvinnelige Akademikeres Landsforbund'' (Norwegian Association for University Women) from 1932 to 1934. During the German occupation, for a short period she was secretary for the Norwegian National Women's Council. She attended many international conferences connected with the women's movement, becoming closely associated with leading women's rights activists. Anna Caspari Agerholt died in Oslo on 17 August 1943.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agerholt, Anna Caspari 1892 births 1943 deaths Writers from Oslo Norwegian women's rights activists Norwegian feminists Norwegian educators Norwegian women educators 20th-century Norwegian women writers Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people