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Jens Nyholm (1900-1983) Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 9/4/1

Scope and Contents

The Jens Nyholm Papers fill twenty boxes and are arranged in six subseries, plus two additions: biographical materials, education files, correspondence, professional organization files, research and consulting, files, and publications. These papers comprise Nyholm's personal files; the records documenting his service as university librarian at Northwestern may be found in University Archives' Series 9/4, Records of the University Librarian.

The biographical materials include curricula vitae, biographical entries from reference works, a long biographical article from the Winnetka Talk (Nov. 28, 1963), and Nyholm's U.S. Certificate of Citzenship (Dec. 8, 1937). Also included are numerous small notebooks in which Nyholm irregularly recorded his expenses as well as occasional personal and professional activities. A substantial folder of testimony, correspondence, and insurance records pertains to an accident suffered by Nyholm and his wife, Amy, on Sept. 27, 1973. Additional material relating to this incident may be found in Box 18, Folder 1.

Also found among the biographical materials are financial records relating to Nyholm's stock investments and to his accounts in Danish and American banks. Two folders include records and correspondence pertaining to Nyholm's two ventures into the bookselling business.

Finally, there are five folders of material by or about Jens' wife, Amy, and fourteen folders of biographical and genealogical material relating to the Nyholm family. Filed here are several published books on the family, a lengthy manuscript of a genealogical work, and a diary kept between 1855 and 1897 by Edvard Ludvig Bartsch, Nyholm's maternal grandfather. The "family newspapers" (Box 5, Folder 6) are handwritten documents, sometimes edited or with articles written by Jens as a youth.

The education files include some of Nyholm's student papers. Two folders contain correspondence, notes, and drafts of his M.A. thesis. A bound volume of the thesis is included in the University Archives' collection of books written by Northwestern University faculty.

The general correspondence includes letters to and from Nyholm written in both English and Danish. Many, especially in the years before 1940, are between Nyholm and his close friends, including the Swedish librarian and journalist, Barbro Hallendorf, to whom Nyholm was engaged in the early 1930s. Many letters are between Nyholm and members of his family. Some of the early letters relate to Nyholm's work in various libraries and to his attempts to obtain employment both in and out of the library field.

Arranged at the end of the general correspondence are a few folders of subject correspondence between Nyholm and J. Christian Bay, librarian of the John Crerar Library; between Nyholm and his brother, Axel; and correspondence relating to the Library of Congress as well as the universities of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara.

The professional organizations files include correspondence, reports, and a few publications relating to organizations with which Nyholm was associated.

The major item in the research and consulting files is the folder pertaining to Nyholm's consulting on the development of a collection management policy for the University of Pittsburgh. The folder includes Nyholm's correspondence and notes made while surveying the library and the university's teaching programs. Not included is a draft or final copy of Nyholm's report.

The publication files comprise approximately one quarter of the papers. This large amount of manuscript, typed and printed material, much of it in Danish, has been divided into sections for prose and for poetry.

Nyholm wrote for newspapers, magazines, and professional journals. Where possible reprints have been filed with the related manuscripts. Nyholm wrote a few articles for Danish newspapers on Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 1936 American presidential election as well as other contemporary events. Most of his articles on library matters, including several about Danish libraries and librarians during World War II, are in English. Nyholm's numerous book reviews pertain mainly to Danish historical or bibliographic works while reviews of Nyholm's own work concern his Danish poetry. A few plays are fragments from Nyholm's years in secondary school.

Up to his late 30s Nyholm expressed himself frequently in poetry. Manuscripts, mostly in Danish, exist on a wide variety of topics and, occasionally, in several revisions. His major translations of works from Danish into English include several poems by Klaus Rifbjerg.

The major items in the poetry section of the publication files relate to his books, Portal til Amerika and Amerikanske Stemmer.

The final box of the series, legal size, includes various oversized materials drawn from several subseries. Records pertaining to the Nyholm's accident, to the purchase and sale of their houses, and a scrapbook of Nyholm's newspaper articles and poems may be found here.

Dates

  • 1855-1983

Creator

Language of Materials

Approximately a quarter of the material in the Nyholm Papers is in Danish.

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored at a remote campus location and requires two business days advance notice for retrieval. Please contact the McCormick Library at specialcollections@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3635 for more information or to schedule an appointment to view the collection.

Extent

20.00 Boxes

Abstract

Northwestern University Librarian Jens Nyholm's personal papers fill twenty boxes and are arranged in six subseries with two additions: biographical materials, education files, correspondence, professional organization files, research and consulting, files, and publications. These papers comprise Nyholm's personal files; the records documenting his service as university librarian at Northwestern may be found in University Archives' Series 9/4, Records of the University Librarian. Approximately a quarter of the material in the Nyholm Papers is in Danish.

Arrangement

Nyholm's personal papers are arranged into: biographical materials, education files, correspondence (chiefly arranged by date, plus a few subject folders), professional organization files, research and consulting, files, and publications (divided into prose and poetry).

Method of Acquisition

Donated to the Northwestern University Archives by Mr. Nyholm's sister-in-law (Accession #83-81).

Related Materials

Records of the University Librarian, Jens Nyholm, Series 9/4

http://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/catalog/inu-ead-nua-archon-813

Related Materials

The records documenting Nyholm's service as University Librarian may be found in University Archives' Series 9/4, Records of the University Librarian.

Separated Materials

Several linear inches of photographs have been removed to the University Archives' photograph collection. Nyholm's diploma for his B.S. from Columbia; matriculation certificate for the University of Copenhagen; and a tabular sheet of information on national and trade bibliographies, probably done for a course at Columbia's School of Library Service, have been separated to an oversize storage folder.

Four and one-half boxes of records relating to Nyholm's service as University Librarian at Northwestern have been separated to University Archives' Series 9/4. A substantial amount of material not pertaining directly to Nyholm was transferred to the Northwestern University Library Special Collections Department. Pertinent duplicates of material in the Nyholm Papers were donated to the Danish-American Heritage Association Archives at Grandview College in Des Moines, Iowa.

Processing Information

William K. Beatty; August-October, 1984.

Title
Guide to the Jens Nyholm (1900-1983) Papers
Author
William K. Beatty
Date
01/08/1984
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Repository Details

Part of the Northwestern University Archives Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Dr.
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635
https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/6/resources/413
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