Lorens Berg (January 18, 1862 – September 14, 1924) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

teacher and local historian.

Life

Berg was born in Kodal, the son of Amund Andersen (1827–1868) and Anne Kristine Sørensdatter (1822–1870). He worked as a shepherd and farmhand as a child, and then as a sailor before becoming a teacher in 1881. He taught at Prestbyen in Kodal from 1891 to 1899. In 1905 Berg published the book ''Andebu. En Vestfold-bygds historie i 1600-aarene'' (

Andebu Andebu is a village in Sandefjord municipality, Vestfold County, and a former municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Andebu. The village is surrounded by forests, mountains, and hills. Its nearest cities a ...

: History of a

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

Village in the 1600s). He thereby started a practice of local history writing that became pioneering in Norway, based on archival studies and a solid methodical presentation. In less than 20 years he published local history books (''bygdebøker'') about

Brunlanes Brunlanes is a parish and former municipality within Larvik municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It was annexed by Larvik on January 1, 1988. The administrative centre of the municipality was located in the adjacent villages of Nevlunghavn ...

, Hedrum, Tjølling, Sandar,

Tjøme Tjøme () is an island in Færder, and a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Tjøme. The parish of ''Tjømø'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see f ...

Nøtterøy Nøtterøy is an island and a former municipality in the present-day municipality of Færder in Vestfold and Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Borgheim. The parish of ''Nøtterø'' was esta ...

, and Stokke. Lorens Bergs begravelse 1

Berg was appointed a

government scholar Government scholar (Norwegian, ''statsstipendiat'') is a position awarded by the Parliament of Norway upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research and funded directly over the State budget of Nor ...

in 1911. He died 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 ...

(now Oslo) on September 14, 1924. He was buried in the Kodal cemetery on September 19, 1924, where there is a memorial next to his grave. In 1952, a granite statue of Berg by Hans Holmen was unveiled at Prestbyen in Kodal. In 2008, a local historical society, the Lorens Berg Foundation, was established in Andebu.

Publications

*1905: ''Andebu. En Vestfold-bygds historie i 1600-aarene'' (Andebu: History of a Vestfold Village in the 1600s). Kristiania: Det Mallingske Bogtrykkeri. *1909: "Gaarden Aker i Sem. En Gaardshistorie" (The Aker Farm in Sem. A Rural History). ''Historisk tidsskrift'' 20: 232–251. *1909: "Om Jordegodsets Fordeling i Tønsberg Len (det senere Jarlsberg Grevskab) i 1650 og 1701" (Estate Division in Tønsberg County, Later Jarlsberg County, in 1650 and 1701). ''Historisk tidsskrift'' 20: 33–66. *1912: "Om bygdehistorie" (Village History). ''Historisk tidsskrift'' 22: 86–92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Lorens 20th-century Norwegian historians Norwegian government scholars People from Sandefjord 1862 births 1924 deaths