Anna Christina Ulfsparre (1933-2010)
With the demise of the former regional archivist at the Regional State Archives at Lund, professor emerita Anna Christina Ulfsparre, one of the most versatile and colourful figures of the Swedish archival community, has left us.
Anna Christina personified the modernization that the archival sector of Sweden underwent during the last few decades of the 20th century. Few people have worked as untiringly as she to make the archival profession socially relevant.
Anna Christina embarked on a career at the Regional State Archives in 1959. Her background was typical for a national archival service career: studies of history at the university, leading to a doctorate in History of Administration in 1967. She became the director of the Regional State Archives in 1977, and thereby also the very first female regional archivist in Sweden.
Her early and purposeful focus on IT laid the foundation for the computer-based aids which are now indispensable to the Swedish archival community. Her interest in historical demography led to a fruitful collaboration between the Regional State Archives and the University of Lund. Through her work she also made a significant contribution to archives of the private sector. Through her networking and insistent informational work she was able to ensure that important archives of trade and industry and of estates in southern Sweden were saved for future academic research. This involvement also formed the basis for her international work for many years within the International Council on Archives. It was largerly due to Anna Christinas efforts that Archival Science in 1992 became a subject at the University of Lund, and in 1996 she capped her career by becoming the very first professor of this subject in Sweden. She was also the editor of Helsingborgs stads historia (History of the City of Helsingborg).
As a manager, Anna Christina gave her staff great freedom to develop their own ideas, and with her outgoing personality she encouraged participation in activities outside the walls of the Regional State Archives. Through her straightforwardness, thoughtfulness, and sense of humour she created a sense of openness, curiosity, and camaraderie. The Regional State Archives and the Swedish archival community of today owe her a great debt of gratitude.
On behalf of the Regional State Archives at Lund
Bengt Danielson, Lars Jörwall, Göran Kristiansson