Professional

Space reserved for being serious is hard to come by in a modern society,
whose chief model of a public space is the mega-store
(which may also be an airport or museum)

Susan Sontag

I hold an MA in history and philosophy and a PhD in history from University of Copenhagen. My PhD was about industrial work and modernity, using the Danish textile industry 1895-1940 as an example. It can be downloaded from publications.

My place of work since 2000 is the National Museum of Denmark, where I’m currently holding a position as curator and senior researcher at the department of Danish modern history. My job is to collect, research and present in the areas of labour- and industrial history.

My complete CV can be found here.

Presently and recent

In the period from mid 2009 to mid 2010 I am primarily engaged in my personal research project, called “Assembly lines or socialism? – technical and political reception of Fordism in Denmark 1919-1939″.

Until may 2009 I was engaged, together with a number of colleagues, in the creation of Brede Works – museum of industrial culture. Brede Works is a new, permanent exhibition on Denmark as an industrial society, situated in a former textile mill in Brede, just north of Copenhagen. One of my areas of responsibility was Fabrikken, an interactive exhibition on work in the textile industry.

During 2007 I was chairman of the Year of Industrial Culture, a national initiative promoting the cultural history of the industrial society.

Research and publications

My main research has been in labour history and the history of industrial work life. I have also written a bit about museology, especially in relation to these issues.

Most recently I have, together with Søren Kolstrup and Anette E. Hansen, published the book Arbejdernes historie i Danmark 1800-2000 (Workers history in Denmark 1800-2000).

As you will see from my list of publications, most of my writings are in danish. However, I have made two contributions in English to the forthcoming publication A Global History of Textile Workers 1650-2000. The book is scheduled to be published from Ashgate – but meanwhile the manuscripts are available from the project web site.

…the small print

Even though many of the texts and comments on this web site has been written as part of my professional work, this is a personal web site. Neither my employer, my mother or my cat can be made responsible for any content on this site.

Unless otherwise stated, the copyright of any material on this web site is mine alone. You may use my text and pictures – but only under those conditions stipulated here.