Valfrid Palmgren

Who is Valfrid Palmgren?

Alfhild Valfrid Matilda Palmgren, as married Palmgren Munch-Petersen, was a Swedish pedagogue and politician. She reformed the Swedish library policy and introduced the free public libraries in Sweden.

Valfrid Palmgren was the daughter of Karl Edvard Palmgren. She was educated at her fathers school Palmgrenska samskolan, the first co educational school in Europe, and was herself active there as a teacher in 1896-1907. She graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy in Roman philology from the University of Uppsala in 1905, and was employed as a Teaching assistant at the Kungliga biblioteket.

In 1910, Palmgren was elected in to the Stockholm City Council. Valfrid Palmgren worked for reforms in the policy of the Swedish library's: she demanded the public libraries to be open for all; that the loans were to be free of charge; that there should be a public library accessible in each city; and that the libraries should be free from political, commercial and religious censorship. She managed to have all her demands met and introduced to government policy, and is mainly remembered for this.

She married the Dane Jon Julius Munch-Petersen in 1911 and moved to Denmark. She became the mother of Gustaf Munch-Petersen. In Denmark, she became a member of the board of the public libraries in Copenhagen in 1918.