Project: Bergman

Project: Bergman examines the emergence, professionalisation, and institutionalisation of Classical Archaeology in Sweden c. 1850–1950, alongside the formation of a Swedish research and educational presence in the Mediterranean.

The project takes its starting point in a comprehensive study of Johan Bergman (1864–1951)—classical archaeologist, popular educator, and temperance advocate—and his wide-ranging career. The investigation draws on a diverse body of source material, combining published works (such as Bergman’s own writings, contemporary press, and parliamentary records) with Swedish and international archival sources, including correspondence, institutional and personal files, course materials, and photographs—some of it previously unexplored.

Johan Bergman was professor of Latin and classical archaeology, a popular educator, and a member of the Swedish parliament (Liberal Party). He earned his doctorate in 1889 and belonged, together with fellow students Sam Wide and Lennart Kjellberg, to the pioneer generation of Swedish classical archaeology. Internationally, his scholarly work earned considerable recognition — not least as a contributor to the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (1894–1899) and through the research commission he carried out for the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna from 1900 to 1926. That work resulted in his magnum opus, the critical edition Aurelius Prudentius Clemens Carmina (1926), which laid the foundation for modern Prudentius scholarship. In Sweden, by contrast, he found himself in what may be described as a position of academic exclusion and is chiefly remembered for his extensive work in popular education and as a leading figure in the temperance movement (IOGT). He was also a highly productive author and worked as an editor and translator of classical literature.

In 1898, Bergman became the first Scandinavian to conduct archaeological courses in Italy. The courses drew on his experience with the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Rome and Athens. During a research stay in Rome in 1895, he was granted special permission to take part in the institute's otherwise closed archaeological courses in Rome and Pompeii, after which he travelled on to Athens. There he served as a guest archaeologist at DAI and, in that capacity, took part in Wilhelm Dörpfeld's excavations in Athens and accompanied him on his Peloponnesreise and Inselreise in 1896. Bergman's own courses were held mainly in Rome and Pompeii, but in 1905 he also became the first Scandinavian to conduct archaeological courses in Greece and Turkey. Alongside Bergman, other regular lecturers included distinguished archaeologists such as Christian Hülsen, Walther Amelung, and August Mau. With the exception of a break during the First World War, the courses were held regularly until 1937 and, from 1927, were based at the then newly established Swedish Institute in Rome.

Research into Johan Bergman's life, activities, networks, and correspondence is ongoing in Swedish and international collections.

Do you hold, or care for, letters, photographs, course programmes, or other documents connected to Bergman or his network — or do you hold stories about him through family or association, for instance as a descendant of one of the roughly 250 participants in the historical-archaeological summer courses? Feel free to contact the project's Principal Investigator, Svante Hellberg, at svante[at]teustes.se.

Leads regarding new material are highly appreciated and will be prioritised.