Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1943, Blaðsíða 30
LE NORD
24
Weibull was to be president, von Sydow vice-president, myself
secretary, and Herbert Petersson librarian.
It was now up to von Sydow and myself to secure charter
members. Through Carl Swartz, the University Chancellor, who
will long be remembered for his generosity, we got one charter
member, Per Swartz of Norrköping, in addition to himself. Ed-
win Berger, a philantropist from Halland and a personal friend
of mine, also consented to become a charter member, and so did
the amiable Wilhelm Westrup, whom we made acting treasurer.
The work proceeded at a rapid pace, and on May 6, when
the “Vetenskapssocieteten” of Lund (The New Society of Letters
at Lund) was formally established, we already had ten charter
members. Thanks to the rule that the first annual subscriptions
of the charter members were to be at our immediate disposal,
we had a sum of 10,000 kr. on hand, which amply sufficed for
the publication of Herbert Petersson’s book.
The New Society of Letters at Lund was a great success. It
stimulated research and made possible the publication of many
scholarly works. Its financial status continued to improve, thanks
to the subscriptions of the charter members. At the present moment
its aggregate capital is probably well over a quarter of a mil-
lion kr.
II.
I remained secretary of The New Society of Letters at Lund till
1928, when I removed to Uppsala. Having been professor at
Lund during the first half of 1930, I got a chair in Uppsala from
July 1, 1930. This caused my connection with the Lund Society
to be almost completely broken off.
But I missed the stimulating atmosphere of the Scientific
Society, and I thought that it would be a good thing if Uppsala
could have a similar institution.
After having thought the matter over carefully for some
time, I came to the conclusion that I would try to found an
Academy for the study of folk culture. In confining the
sphere of the proposed institute to this particular field, I was
guided by the consideration that Uppsala already possessed an
Association for the Study of the Humanities, and that plans were
afoot to transform the Academy of Letters, History and Anti-
quities into an institute for all branches of the humanities.