Axel Drolsum

Who was Axel Drolsum?

Axel Charlot Drolsum was a Norwegian librarian, who headed the University Library of Oslo from 1876 to 1922.

He was born in Christiania as a son of military officer and businessman Truels Nicolaisen Drolsum and his wife Christine E. Knudsen. In May 1872 he married Therese Wurschmidt.

His eyesight prevented him from becoming a military officer like he wanted to, and after his examen artium in 1864 he also ruled out law studies. He instead studied Old Norse, and after four years of working with source texts he was hired by Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae at the University Library of Oslo. Together with Daae he edited the six-volume work on global history, Illustrert Verdenshistorie released between 1876 and 1880. He was promoted to chief librarian in 1876, and remained so until 1922. He worked to improve the library, and between 1911 and 1913 the building which is today the National Library of Norway was raised. He also worked for reinstating the legal deposit, greatly improving the library's collections; the endeavor was successful as the Parliament of Norway passed the act Lov om Afgivelse af Tryksager til Bibliotheket in 1882.