Portrett av Wilhelm Munthe (1883-1965) (9546759538)

Abraham Wilhelm Støren Munthe (20 October 1883 – 18 December 1965) was a Norwegian librarian and author. He worked at the

University Library of Oslo The University of Oslo Library ( no, Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo, UBO) is a library connected to the University of Oslo. Like the university, it was established in 1811 with Georg Sverdrup as the first head librarian. It originally doubled as ...

from 1903 to 1953.

Personal life

Munthe was born 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) as the son of Olaf Andreas Jens Wilhelm Munthe (1851-1914) and Helene Andrea Støren (1857-1939). In 1917, he married Jenny Hempel (1882–1975).

Career

Munthe finished his examen artium at Kristiania Cathedral School in 1902. He worked for the University Library of Kristiania from 1903, first as a volunteer. He received the cand.philol. degree in 1911. He studied middle age

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

and diplomatics at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

from 1913 to 1914, and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

handwriting Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface A typeface (or font family) is ...

s at the libraries of

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

from 1915 to 1916. From 1920 he was leader of the handwriting collection at the University Library of Oslo, and from 1922 he was appointed leader of the library, a position he held until he retired in 1953. Among Munthe's works are ''De norske bibliotekers historie'' from 1927, ''American Librarianship from a European Angle'' from 1939, ''Litterære falsknerier'' from 1942, and the 1947 essay ''Norwegian Libraries during the War''. He co-edited the journal '' Nordisk tidskrift för bok- och biblioteksväsen'' for many years, and served as president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from 1947 to 1951. Munthe chaired the Norwegian Trekking Association from 1940 to 1946, and the

Norwegian Genealogical Society Norwegian Genealogical Society ( no, Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening, NSF) is a genealogical society in Oslo, Norway. It was founded on 22 October 1926 as the first exclusively Norwegian genealogical society. Among the founders were Stian Herlofsen ...

from 1952 to 1957, and received

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and University of Uppsala. Munthe was appointed as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

(1953), of the Order of the Polar Star (Sweden), of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

(Denmark) and of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munthe, Wilhelm 1883 births 1965 deaths Librarians from Oslo People educated at Oslo Cathedral School Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Norwegian genealogists Norwegian writers Commanders of the Order of the Polar Star Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal