‘Do Not Let Anyone See This Ugly Scrawling’: Literacy Practices and the Women's Household at Hallfreðarstaðir 1817–1829

Abstract

In 1817 an 11-year-old boy, Páll Pálsson (1806–1877), left his childhood home in eastern Iceland, to be fostered and educated by a friend of the family in another part of the country. Immediately a correspondence started between him and his family. Most of these letters have been preserved and give invaluable insight into the literacy practices of Páll Pálsson's family and friends over 60 years. Pálsson's grandmother, mother, and two younger sisters played a central role in this correspondence during the time that they were all alive. This article focuses on the 104 preserved letters written by these four women in the period of 1817 to 1829. Grounding its argument in theories on correspondence and literacy practices this article addresses the complicated nature of letter writing, such as the indistinct lines between individual and collective letter writing. The article shows how the skill of writing was disseminated within the family and how it was utilised, not only to keep in touch but also to strengthen networks and power relations. Furthermore, special attention is paid to gendered aspects of learning to write, and of the writing of letters, in the 1820s.

Keywords:

• literacy practices
• gender
• letters
• writing
• Iceland

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank professor Liz Stanley, The University of Edinburgh, for inspiring discussions on letters during my stay there as a visiting scholar in 2013–14.

Funding

This on-going research is supported by RANNIS, The Icelandic Research Fund [grant number 130811-051].

Notes

[1] All quotations from letters are literally translated by the author and do not necessarily reflect the old style or the grammar of the native language, Icelandic.

[2] As is customary in Iceland, I refer to a person by her first name, not her surname. Thus Sigríður Pálsdóttir is Sigríður (or when necessary Sigríður Pálsdóttir). Furthermore, the general rule of the Icelandic naming system is that girls and boys are called the daughter or son of their father. Sigríður Pálsdóttir's father was Páll Guðmundsson, she is therefore Sigríður Pálsdóttir (daughter of Páll, dóttir meaning daughter). Her brother Páll however is the son of Páll, Páll Pálsson. Their mother was Malene Jensdóttir. Her mother, the children's grandmother, is Sigríður Ørum (using her Danish husband's surname).

[3] When Páll Guðmundsson died in 1815, 56 titles of various kinds were registered in the estate. When Malene died in 1824, the titles numbered were 10 and when her mother died in 1828 there were four.

[4] Here she uses a Danish word, levemåde, which can be translated as ‘way of life’ or good conduct/manners. Refinement seems to capture her meaning.

[5] Pack ice or sea ice from Greenland and the Arctic Sea drifts regularily to Iceland. It depends on the weather conditions whether it is just small pieces of ice or icebergs and unbroken ice that fill fjords and bays. A severe ‘sea ice year’ means extreme cold, which affects nature, e.g. the growth of grass/haymaking. In the rural society of former ages, this could be catastrophic, animals died of hunger, which again meant hunger and a dire situation for most of the population. Therefore the ice was dreaded in Iceland. Sometimes polar bears came with the ice and the grandmother wrote about one such visit and how the bear was hunted down.