KvinnSam verksamhetsrapport 2025

Abstract

KvinnSam – National Library for Gender Research is a unique Swedish resource. Originally founded mainly as a women’s archive, it has grown into a library specializing in women’s history and gender research, staffed by university librarians, research coordinator and archivist, all with discipline-specific competence. In March 2018, KvinnSam was established as a university-wide research infrastructure following a decision by the University Vice-Chancellor. KvinnSam maintains the bibliographic database KVINNSAM, which is the largest database on gender research and women’s history in the Nordic region. Archival materials are catalogued in a separate database, Alvin. Other daily tasks include user and reference services, as well as archival work and providing assistance with research project development and management connected to the KvinnSam collections. In 2025 KvinnSam has carried out a number of activities according to the annual plan, such as launching a new KvinnSam website, and further developing the KVINNSAM database. Other activities have included the digitization of the Fogelstad College for Women’s Political and Civic Rights and Duties archival collection. KvinnSam held a presentation on the project at Gothenburg Book Fair. To mark the centenary of the school’s founding in 1925, several activities took place during the year. During the spring and summer of 2025, KvinnSam participated in two exhibitions: one at the Kin museum of Contemporary Art in Kiruna and another at Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm. 2025 has been a year full of research and project development. KvinnSam hosted two smaller conferences, both financed by Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. The first brought together researchers, archivists, and activists from Sweden’s 1968 and will result in a themed number in the journal Arbetarhistoria. The project “Gothenburg’s 1968: A working-class city in movement” also began collecting interview material in a pilot project funded by Anna Ahrenberg’s foundation. The second conference focused on jumpstarting research on the third wave of feminism in Sweden. A series of focus group interviews is currently being planned for 2026–2027, and the conference has also laid the groundwork for larger research applications. Lastly, the network “The future of women’s and gender research” had its final meeting funded by Royal Archivist Ingvar Andersson’s fund. The network will continue to meet once a year, co-driven by KvinnSam, Kvinnohistoriska in Stockholm, and the Women’s History Museum in Umeå. Finally, with funding from The National Library of Sweden and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, KvinnSam has digitized the entire archive of the Women’s Citizenship School in Fogelstad. Further digitization from the Fogelstad Association archive is planned for 2026. KvinnSam has been appointed to perform systematic searches with the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research. During 2025 two of KvinnSam’s university librarians worked with systematic searches focused on different topics with a gender perspective, for example literature searches ahead of a project proposal in collaboration between Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research and Nordic Welfare Center about sustainable, effective, and future-proof elderly care. Nordic Information on Gender (NIKK) initiated a project about Nordic legislation and policies on honor-related violence and oppression and the librarians conducted literature searches in databases focused on law and legislation.