Paper Short Abstract:

Torfhildur Þ. Hólm (1845–1918) collected Icelandic folk legends, mostly from women. Her work was not published until 1962, after she had passed away, by Finnur Sigmundsson, who omitted stories that did not fit his idea of “folk legends.” This study examines her collection and the stories Finnur left out, highlighting gendered archival biases.

Paper Abstract:

Torfhildur Þ. Hólm (1845–1918) was one of Iceland’s earliest female authors and collectors of folk legends, gathering stories primarily from women within her community. Despite her significant contributions to the preservation of Icelandic folklore, her collection remained unpublished during her lifetime and was only made public in 1962 by Finnur Sigmundsson, head of the National Library of Iceland. In preparing the collection for publication, Finnur then curated the material according to his interpretation of what constituted as folk legends.

This paper examines Torfhildur’s folktale collection with two key objectives: first, to analyze the themes and narratives present in the stories she gathered, particularly those reflecting the voices and experiences of Icelandic women; and second, to explore the omissions in Finnur’s selection process and consider how his editorial choices reflect broader hierarchies of genre, gender, and knowledge production within the archive. By examining Torfhildur’s collection, this study seeks to shed light on the female voices within Icelandic folklore and to challenge the archival frameworks that have historically marginalized women’s contributions to cultural memory.