The Women’s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad

Contents

The College | Materials from the College | Komtemåtta | Materials on Komtemåtta | Participants in courses | Materials on the participants in courses |

The college

The aim of the College was to educate women so that they would be able to make use of their civic rights. The participants in the courses were not only given a theoretical education but also self-confidence, inspiration and the courage to dare to fight for women’s rights.

Materials from the College

General

Kvinnlig medborgarbildning. Särtryck ur Tidevarvet, 1925. (Citizenship Education for Women. Reprint from "Tidevarvet" (The Era), 1925.)
Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad. Av rektor Honorine Hermelin, 1939. (The Women´s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad by the Principal, Honorine Hermelin, 1939.)
Prospekt. Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad som öppnas med vårkursen 1925... (Prospectus. The Women´s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad that will be opening with the spring course in 1925...)

Courses

Fogelstadkurserna. "Urkursen". Nyköping, 1922. (Courses at Fogelstad: ”Basic course”. Nyköping, 1922)
Fortsättningskursen 1939. (Advanced course, 1939).
Förteckning över kurser vid skolan från 1925-1954. (List of courses at the College 1925-1954).
Intyg ... har genomgått kursen... (Certificate … has attended the course …)
Kurser under 1939. Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad. (Courses in 1939. The Women´s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad).
Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad. Tillbakablick över åren 1925-1935. Redogörelse för 1934 års kurser, planerade kurser under 1935. (The Women´s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad. Retrospective view of the years 1925-1935. Account of the courses in 1934, and courses planned for 1935).
Program för Fortsättningskursen 1939. (Programme for the Advanced course in 1939).
30:de arbetssommaren 1954. En fortsättningskurs. (The thirtieth working summer in 1954. An advanced course).

Lectures and abstracts

Från tiggarpass till socialhjälp. Ebba Holgerssons föredrag, refererat av Mary Svensson, 1951(?). (From beggar’s beat to social assistance). Ebba Holgersson’s lecture, reported by Mary Svensson, 1951(?).
Glädjen att en människa är född. Doktor Ada Nilssons föreläsning, refererad av Inga Jonsson och Rut Höglund. Forts.kursen 1947. (The joy of a human being’s birth. Doctor Ada Nilsson’s lecture, reported by Inga Jonsson and Rut Höglund. Advanced course, 1947.)

Minutes

Protokoll. Ett urval från Medborgarskolans fortsättningskurs 1930. (Minutes. A selection from the College’s Advanced course, 1930.)

Documents

Till Styrelsen för Stiftelsen Karin och Ernst August Bångs minne. 24 april 1929. (To the Board of the Foundation in memory of Karin and Ernst Bång. 24 April 1929.)

Speech

Fröken Elisabeth Tamms tal vid Sommarkursens avslutning 1926. (Miss Elisabeth Tamm’s speech at the Summer course Speech Day, 1926.)

Parties, plays etc.

Persson, Ruth, Samhällsrättvisan. Ett anarkistiskt drama. Höstkursen 1927. (Social Justice. An anarchistic drama. Autumn course 1927.)
Sommarfest. Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad. 1926. (Summer party. The Women´s College for Civic Training at Fogelstad. 1926.)

Songs

Fogel-sången. (The Bird-song)
Från Stockholm vi kommo så blyga.... Av A.K. (From Stockholm we travelled so shyly … By A.K.)
Sång till Fogelstad Medborgarskola. Text och musik av Maja Åkesson. (Song to the Fogelstad Women´s Civic College. Text and music by Maja Åkesson.)
Vaknen. Tillägnad Medborgarskolan av kompositörern Elfrida Andrée, ord af Viktor Rydberg. (Awaken! Dedicated to the Women´s Civic College by the composer Elfrida Andrée, words by Viktor Rydberg.)
Waknen, text och noter. (Awaken! text and music.

Komtemåtta

Civic knowledge was an important subject at Fogelstad. It was vital that the participants learned how a municipality worked, in order to be able to be active citizens and also themselves undertake municipal assignments. The teacher in social sciences, the legal system and similar was Ebba Hol-gersson.

The participants were registered as citizens of the municipality Komtemåtta, in which they were allotted different roles, for example as the Rev. Grolle, the Dean, or Angelika Rosenhane, who ran a boarding-house for better-off ladies. Ebba Holgersson used to take on the role of the administrator Erik Holgersson.

In Komtemåtta, people were first and foremost concerned with municipal and political affairs, but there also existed a housewives’ association, a sports club and a temperance lodge. Municipal life consisted of meetings in various councils and on various boards, like the school council, the board of the poorhouse, the child welfare committee, the church council, the civic board, and the munici-pal council. At the meetings, they wrote minutes that provide a living picture of the municipal is-sues. Komtemåtta was a pedagogical idea for teaching municipal knowledge and meeting tech-niques, but it also served as a model municipality. The aim of the school was to achieve ”a connec-tion between the work of the hand, brain and heart, between the world of the home and the world of the community”.

In an article in "Tidevarvet" (The Era) in 1930, signed Devinez (Elin Wägner), there is a hint that Komtemåtta could also be seen as a parody of male social life and its ”intricate ceremonies, its forms, its shuttle traffic of documents, its speeches, club badges and strategems”.

Materials on Komtemåtta

Förslag till utgifter och inkomster. För Komtemåtta kommun för år 1929. (Proposal on expenditure and income. For Komtemåtta Municipality for the year 1929.)
Karta över Kom Te Måtta. 1931. (Map of Kom Te Måtta. 1931.)

Komtemåtta Kuriren. Midsommarnummer 1928. (The Komtemåtta Courier. Midsummer issue 1928.)

Protokoll hållet vid extra Kyrkostämma i Komtemåtta kommun den 6-5-33. (Minutes kept at the extra Church meeting in Komtemåtta Municipality 6 May 1933.)

Course members

During the thirty years of the College’s existence, it was attended by about two thousand participants in courses. They were between twenty and eighty years old, from different parts of the country and from different social classes. Teachers were in the majority among these participants, and then came women who worked in the home and industrial workers. The College had its own scholarship fund so that economy would not be a hinder to participation in a Fogelstad course. Funds came from foundations, organisations and private persons.

An important starting point was that everyone had something to contribute. This was why partici-pants were called ”course members” and not ”students”. At the so-called home evenings, they gath-ered out in the countryside or by the fireside, depending on the season. One of the participants then had to give an impromptu account of some experience or other, without any preparation.

Materials on the members

Kursdeltagarnas yrken under 10-årsperioden 1925-1934. (The occupations of the course members during a ten-year period 1925-1934.)

Further reading

Kvinnliga medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad.
Lästips. Litteraturlista sammanställd till Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan vid Fogelstad 1925-1954, minnesutställning på Göteborgs universitetsutställning 2005.
Förteckning över Kvinnliga medborgarskolans och Fogelstadsförbundets arkiv, KvinnSam