INVENTORY OF THE ANDREAS OLDEBERG PAPERS, circa 1940-1975
Finding Aid prepared by Ann Harrison
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
Phone: (310) 440-7390
Fax: (310) 440-7780
Email requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/
©2007
J. Paul Getty Trust
INVENTORY OF THE ANDREAS OLDEBERG PAPERS, circa 1940-1975
Accession no. 930009
Finding Aid prepared by Ann Harrison
Getty Research Institute
Contact Information:
- Getty Research Institute
- Research Library
- Special Collections and Visual Resources
- 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
- Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
- Phone: (310) 440-7390
- Fax: (310) 440-7780
- Email requests:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/reference_form.html
- URL:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/library/
- Processed by:
- Ann Harrison
- Date Completed:
- Apr 2008
- Encoded by:
- Ann Harrison
©2006 J. Paul Getty Trust.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Andreas Oldeberg papers
Dates: circa 1940-1975
Collection Number: 930009
Creator:
Oldeberg, Andreas Emil, 1892-
Extent:
5.5 linear
ft.
(21 boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: Authority on ancient Scandinavian metalwork and metallurgy. The Andreas Oldeberg papers are comprised of research data for
metal artifacts from Sweden dating from the Bronze Age through the Middle Ages, as well as a small amount of analysis relating
to these objects.
Language: Collection material is in
Swedish.
Adminstrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Andreas Oldeberg papers, circa 1940-1975. Research Library, The Getty Research Institute,
Accession no. 930009
Acquisition Information
The archive was acquired in 1993.
Biographical/Historical Note
Andreas Emil Oldeberg (1892-1980) was an authority on Scandinavian metalwork and early metal technology.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Andreas Oldeberg papers form a research archive for the study of ancient metalwork and metallurgy in Scandinavia. The
archive consists primarily of Oldeberg's research data for metal artifacts from Sweden dating from the Bronze Age through
the Middle Ages. There is also a small amount of analysis relating to these objects.
Oldeberg's basic research data on metal archaeological artifacts from Sweden, as well as a small number of related wooden
artifacts, comprise the first series. Inventory cards form the majority of the material. This inventory, either on actual
card stock or slips of plain paper, records data for each artifact and usually includes a photograph or sketch of the object.
The cards provide varying combinations of data relating to current location, original findspot and context, national registration
number, dimensions and description, as well as occasional information on metallurgical analysis and bibliography. A wide
range of objects are documented on these inventory cards including jewelry and decorative metalwork, household and agricultural
implements, weaponry and horse trappings, as well as the molds and matrices used in their production. The remainder of the
research materials in this series are loose photographs of such objects, many with some data added.
Much of the data collected in Series I served as the basis for Oldeberg's three major synthetic monographs,
Metallteknik under forhistorisk tid (1942-1943),
Metallteknik under vikingatid och medeltid (1966), and
Die altere Metallzeit in Schweden (1974-1976), and many of the images found in the archive are published within these volumes. The time frame of these publications
provides a rough date for the material in Series I, and indeed for the archive as a whole.
The second, much smaller, series in the archive contains materials related specifically to the analysis of metal artifacts.
The majority of the material here consists of another group of cards with data and photographs. These cards include much
of the basic identifying data mentioned above, but the focus is metallurgical. Most cards include detailed metallurgical
analysis and the photographs attached to each card document the metal itself, through photomicrographs or radiographs, rather
than the finished object. Also included are several heavily illustrated laboratory reports on samples submitted for testing
by Oldeberg.
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Topics
Archaeology, Medieval—Sweden
Bronze Age—Sweden
Iron Age—Sweden
Metal-work—Sweden—History
Metallurgy—Sweden—History
Viking antiquities—Sweden
Subjects - Places
Scandinavia—Antiquities
Sweden—Antiquities
Genres and Forms of Material
Gelatin silver prints
Photomicrographs
Photographic prints
Research notes
Series I.
Artifact research data,
1940-1975
Physical Description:
4.7 linear feet
19 boxes
Scope and Content Note
The organization and sequencing of the materials in this series preserves Oldeberg's original arrangement. His inventory of
artifacts falls into three initial groups. The bulk of the material is a group of cards cataloging objects made from a variety
of metals. The metals represented here include gold, silver, iron, bronze, copper and lead. This main group of objects is
supplemented by a separate, small group of silver objects, as well as a group of related wooden objects. Oldeberg's large
initial grouping of general metal objects is further subdivided into four chronological and cultural groups. Each box in the
container list below holds the contents of one of Oldeberg's original boxes. The original boxes were labeled with a chronological
period, but the intended order of the multiple boxes for each period and the precise relationship of the cards within each
of these boxes remains unclear.
Box 1
Bronze Age
Physical Description: 191 items
Box 2-7
Iron Age
Physical Description: 1346 items
Box 8-13
Viking Age
Physical Description: 1072 items
Box 14-17
Middle Ages
Physical Description: 696 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes 5 frames of negatives and 1 color transparency.
Box 18
Silver objects
Physical Description: 140 items
Box 19
Wooden objects
Physical Description: 204 items
Scope and Content Note
Arranged geographically, from south to north.
Series II.
Analysis of metal artifacts
1952-1965,
undated
Physical Description:
0.8 linear feet
2 boxes
Box 20, Folder 1-4
Photomicrography and radiograph images of objects,
undated
Physical Description: 224 items
Box 21, Folder 1-2
Reports on analyses of metal objects,
1952-1965
Physical Description: 60 leaves
Scope and Content Note
Reports on the microscopic analysis of metal objects from the Institut för Metallforskning.
