Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 24

22
A DANE AND THE DAWNING OF FAROESE ARCHAEOLOGY
Fig. 12. Anton Degn (1871-1950) was born in Tórs-
havn. Due to the earlv death of hisfather he hacl to
leave school al an early stage in order to providefor
tliefamily. During the years 1906-1912 he was direc-
tor of tlie public telephone service. The service, due to
the recession after World War 1, went into liquidation
in 1925 and Degn was without work. He was, how-
ever, offered the position as 'archivist, which was going
to be established a few years later in connection with
tlie building ofcombined offices for the national
library and archives. He spent the following 5-6 years
at the Danish State Archives in Copenhagen in order
to make himself acquainted with the archives service.
While in Copenhagen he copied early documents on
Faroese history. On July lst 1932 he was appointed
archivist of the Faroe Islands atul he now started
collecting and recording Faroese documents. He lutd a
political career in the Faroese Parliament 1906-1908
and in the Tórshavn City Council during the years
1909-1922 (the last two years as chairman), represent-
ing the Sambandsflokkurin (Unionist Party). Degn
published a number ofbooks and articles on topics of
Faroese history (Davidsen, 1979). Photo: Føroya
Fomminnissa vn.
The following day, Saturday October
22nd, Liitzen took Hatt to the islands of
Koltur and Hestur. Also with them was An-
ton Degn (1871-1950), the archivist of the
Faroe Islands (Fig. 12). They arrived at the
settlement Velbastaður and from here a
small motorboat took them across to
Koltur. After a number of coffee-visits at
the farms at Koltur they went on to Hestur
bel'ore they returned to Tórshavn. In the
evening librarian Jacobsen paid them a vis-
it and they had a chance to buy some
Faroese books. They were also informed
that the vessel ‘SS Lyra’, which was taking
them to Bergen, was expected the follow-
ing day.
Sunday October 23rd, then, it was time
to say goodbye. Hatt stated in his notebook:
‘We visited the librarian and his mother,
Liitzen, the agricullural adviser, Niclasen,
the editor, Degn, the archivist and they took
a last leave of each other.’
‘SS Lyra’, however, was delayed and the
Hatt couple only left the Faroe Islands on
Monday October 24th. In Bergen they vis-
ited the museum and met with the col-
leagues Haakon Shetelig (1877-1955), the
professor of archaeology at the University
of Bergen, and Johannes Bøe (1891-1971),
another archaeologist and curator at the
Bergen Museum [5]. After a short stay in
Bergen the couple arrived at Copenhagen
October 28th. By then they had spent al-
most fíve months in the North Atlantic.
In his report to the Carlsberg Foundation
Hatt summarised his visit to the Faroe Is-
lands as follows: ‘October 15th we left Ice-
land and arrived at the Faroe Islands Oclo-
ber 17th. We stayed here for six days and I