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Anna Söderblom
Anna Söderblom on her 60th birthday in 1930
Born	Anna Olivia Forsell (1870-09-24)24 September 1870 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	16 August 1955(1955-08-16) (aged 84) Uppsala, Sweden
Burial place	Uppsala Cathedral
Nationality	Swedish
Alma mater	Uppsala University
Spouse	Nathan Söderblom
Parent(s)	Carl-August Forsell, Axeline Åberg
Relatives	John Forsell (brother), Beda Helena Forsell (sister)
Awards	Illis Quorum, 1940

Anna Olivia Söderblom, born Forsell, (24 September 1870 – 16 August 1955) was a Swedish teacher, writer and public speaker. She was married to Archbishop Nathan Söderblom.

Early life

Anna Forsell was born in Stockholm on 24 September 1870, to Carl-August Forsell, a ship's captain, and Axeline Forsell, née Åberg. Her older brother was the opera singer and director John Forsell, and she had a younger sister, Beda Helena Forsell. After a few years at elementary school (småbarnsskola) she studied at Åhlinska skolan and subsequently at Wallinska skolan, graduating in 1890 after going through the studentexamen.

Education

In 1890, she enrolled as a student at Uppsala University, where she studied history. Her teacher was Harald Hjärne. Together with her school friend from Wallinska skolan, Lydia Wahlström, she co-founded the Uppsala Women's Student Association (Uppsala kvinnliga studentförening) in 1892. There were 19 female students registered at Uppsala University at the time, and 15 of them joined the association. The association trained its members in public speaking and intellectual discussion, and was actively engaged in furthering women's rights, fighting for the female students' rights to wear a student cap, and against the use of a female form of the word "student" (studentska) since that could be used to limit the rights of female students to participate in the university life. As the female students were still excluded from many of the entertainments that the male university students could enjoy, the Women's Student Association also arranged spex performances and other forms of entertainment for its members.

She was interested in the arts and enjoyed music. She also started to become noticed as a writer, and as a student, she wrote a short biographical sketch of Joseph Hardy Neesima based on Arthur Sherburne Hardy's Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima, which was published by the Student's Missionary Association in Uppsala in 1893. In the following year, she translated the German theological work Im Kampf um die Weltanschauung. Bekenntnisse eines Theologen into Swedish. Viktor Rydberg wrote a foreword to the translation.

Anna Forsell received a BA in philosophy and aesthetics from Uppsala University and worked as a teacher for a short time, at a girl's school in Halmstad and at Wallinska skolan.

Marriage and family

In 1891, she met Nathan Söderblom, a student of theology, at the home of a mutual friend. A year later he described her in a letter to another friend as having a "sound intelligence, strong spirit, pure and delicate femininity". They were married in April 1894.

The couple had twelve children, ten of whom survived until adulthood:

• Helge Söderblom, 8 Januari 1896–7 January 1932, journalist
• Brita Söderblom, 31 December 1896–16 January 1989, wife of Archbishop Yngve Brilioth
• Sven Söderblom, 24 January 1898–1976, businessman
• Ingrid Söderblom, 10 February 1899–23 October 1900
• Staffan Söderblom, 14 July 1900–11 December 1985, diplomat
• Lucie Söderblom, 16 January 1902–10 December 2002, wife of bishop Arvid Runestam
• Yvonne Söderblom, 30 October 1903–8 January 1990, wife of bishop Algot Anderberg
• Jan Söderblom, born and died 24 January 1905
• Jon Olof Söderblom, 27 June 1906–15 January 1981, political administrator
• Carl Söderblom, 7 April 1908–15 February 1967, businessman
• Lag Söderblom, 4 June 1912–14 March 1989, teacher
• Gustaf Söderblom, 6 July 1914–27 June 1998, army officer and clergyman

France, 1894-1901

Anna Söderblom in 1894. Painting by Ingrid Ehrenborg.

Nathan Söderblom had received his ordination in the Church of Sweden in 1894, and soon after the wedding the couple moved to Paris where he served as pastor for the community of expatriate Swedes. He was also responsible for the Swedish Seamen's churches in the port cities of Dunkerque and Calais, and the family moved between these cities and Paris.

As a clergyman's wife in France, Anna Söderblom had to keep the home presentable for visits by members of the congregations, visiting friends, and others; she also gave French lessons to newly arrived Swedish workers. She and her husband had friends among the Swedish artists in Paris, including Anders Zorn and his wife Emma. Söderblom herself became especially close with some of the female artists, such as sculptor Ida Matton and painters Julia Beck and Ingrid Ehrenborg. John Forsell, Söderblom's brother, also came to stay with them for some time.

One of the members of the Swedish congregation in Paris was the engineer and inventor Alfred Nobel. Nobel had moved to San Remo in Italy in the early 1890s, but he still owned a house in Paris until his death in 1896, and he formed a friendship with the Söderbloms. Anna Söderblom was given the task of proof-reading Nobel's drama Nemesis. The play was published shortly after Nobel's death, but Söderblom thought that it would reflect badly on Nobel's memory as it contained many references to sexual abuse, torture, and religious fanaticism, and she and her husband advised Nobel's family to destroy the entire print run except for a few copies.

In 1901, the family moved back to Sweden, to Uppsala where Nathan Söderblom had been appointed Professor of theology at Uppsala University.

Uppsala, 1901-1912

In Uppsala, the Söderblom family with Anna, Nathan and their four children moved into the rectory at Stabby (Stabby prästgård) which belonged to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where Nathan Söderblom became the rector.

The rectory was small and not very comfortable. Nathan Söderblom's mother Sofia lived on the property, together with her daughter Hanna who took care of her, and for Anna Söderblom it was often difficult to deal with having her deaf mother-in-law and her sister-in-law so close, in addition to a growing number of children and a husband who was often travelling. She had a number of maids, however, which allowed her to continue pursuing her intrests in reading, writing, and music. Nathan Söderblom did not approve of her doing housework or embroidery, preferring her to spend her time reading, and once a week, 15 students were invited to the rectory for an evening of music and discussion, when she would read aloud from contemporary books to the company.

She also read and critiqued her husband's sermons, and participated in the public discourse on women's suffrage, a topic hotly debated in Sweden during the first decades of the 20th century. She was a vocal opponent to the right of women to vote, and argued that the natural place of women was in the home.

References

• Andrae, Tor (1931). Nathan Söderblom. Uppsala: J. A. Lindblads Förlag.
• Berg, Mattias (8 October 2015). "Nobelkoden: Våndan att välja". Kulturnytt. Sveriges Radio. 4:48 minutes in. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
• Carlsson-Lénart, Mats (10 December 2012). "Den skjutglade svensken i San Remo". Vetenskapsradion. Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
• Frängsmyr, Carl (2010). Uppsala Universitet 1852-1916. Uppsala Universitets Historia 1793-2000. Vol. 2:1. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 9789155478346.
• Jonson, Jonas (2016). Nathan Söderblom: Called to Serve [Jag är bara Nathan Söderblom, satt till tjänst]. Translated by Norman A. Hjelm. ISBN 9780802873088.
• Strömholm, Gunilla (2000). "Lydia Wahlström och Uppsala Kvinnliga Studentförening". In Strömholm, Gunilla (ed.). Lydia Wahlström : till hundraårsminnet av hennes doktorsdisputation 1898. Opuscula Historica Upsaliensia (in Swedish). Vol. 25. ISBN 9150614169.
• Söderblom, Omi (2018). "Anna Olivia Söderblom". In Larsson, Lisbeth; Sjöberg, Maria (eds.). The Biographical Dictionary of Swedish Women (Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon). Translated by Alexia Grosjean. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg. ISBN 978-91-639-7594-3. Retrieved 30 June 2020.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

Category:1870 births Category:1955 deaths Category:Uppsala University alumni Category:Illis Quorum recipients