Ida Bull is an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, author, and academic. She is a Professor

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the Department of Historical Science at the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology 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 the ...

. Bull's research interests span fields of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

including

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and ins ...

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

, and women and gender history, particularly from the era of 1978–1998. She has authored books, including ''Lokalsamfunnet i verden. Norske lokalsamfunns plass i den første globaliseringen på 1600- til 1800-tallet'', and ''Trondheim 1814 Series: The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences, Writings 1-2014''.

Education and career

Bull received her education in several cities throughout Norway, including

Oslo 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 ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. In 1998, she completed her doctoral degree and presented her dissertation, entitled 'De trondhjemske handelshusene på 1700-tallet. Slekt, hushold og forretning' (Merchant houses in Trondheim in the 18th century. Family, household and business). Following her PhD, she began her academic career as a Lecturer and advanced through the ranks to the position of a professor, before retiring to become Emeritus at the Department of Historical Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Research

Bull is known for her research in the economic and social history of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

during the early modern period and for her work on women and gender history. She has written more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals including ''Scandinavian Journal of History'' and ''Historisk Tidsskrift''.

Gender history

Bull's research work on women and gender history is particularly associated with social history and has focused on the matter of

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word ...

s. She provided insights of widowhood in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and explored their role in transferring

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

occupations from one man to the next and mentioned it to be a reason behind making public pensions necessary. She also highlighted the domestic lives of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

women during the period of 1600–1857, and their connection with property ownership.

Social and local history

Bull has worked on Scandinavian social and local history and has discussed different factors associated with it. In her book, ''Lokalsamfunnet i verden. Norske lokalsamfunns plass i den første globaliseringen på 1600- til 1800-tallet'', she discussed the impact of Norway's entry into global trade, from the 16th century to the 19th century, after the discovery of sea routes to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and before the country's

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

, on the

local communities A local community has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical l ...

. Atle Døssland commended the orderly presentation and explanation of the book and mentioned: "If we follow Ida Bull's presentation a little more closely at the seams, she, as I said, nevertheless brings out moments and concrete examples which indicate that there must have been significant differences between local communities when it comes to contact with the outside world." She also explored the networks of

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

households of Trondheim in the eighteenth century and stated that hierarchical and patriarchal authorities ran in the regional and international contact networks. Later she described the problems associated with generational change and

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...

in the family.

Bibliography

Selected books

*''Katalog over privatarkiv i Statsarkivet i Trondheim'' (1998) ISBN 82-90802-08-0 *''Historie, kritikk og politikk, festsirkft til Per Maurseth'' (2002) ISBN 82-7765-039-6 *''Fra takmark til byens grønne lunge: Trondheim bymark fra de eldste tider til i dag'' (2006) ISBN 82-519-2122-8

Selected articles

*Bull, I. (1998). De trondhjemske handelshusene på 1700-tallet: slekt, hushold og forretning. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. *Bull, I. (2002). Inheritance in Family Business: The" Long" Merhcant Family: Problems Concerning Generation Change. Scandinavian journal of history, 27(4), 193–210. *Bull, I. (2007). Foreningsdannelse i norske byer. Borgerlig offentlighet, kjønn og politisk kultur. Heimen, 44(4), 311–24. *Bull, I. (2013). Kunnskap-hver etter sin stand og sitt kjønn. Utdanning i norske byer på 1700-tallet. Akademika forlag. *Dørum, K., Bull, I., Droste, H., Henningsen, L. N., Johannessen, F. E., Katajala, K., ... & Ørnbjerg, J. (2022). Hvem styrte byene? Nordisk byhistorie 1500–1800.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Ida Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Norwegian archivists Norwegian women historians Norwegian women academics Social historians Place of birth missing (living people)