Haakon Nyhuus (28 November 1866 – December 1913) was a Norwegian

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

. Haakon Nyhuus was born in

Trysil Municipality Trysil is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inn ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

, Norway as the son of Ole Olsen Nyhuus (1827–1874) who was mayor of Trysil and a Member of Parliament from Hedmark. Both of his parents died early. Nyhuus spent much of his childhood living with an uncle in Sweden. He returned Christiania (now Oslo) in 1885 to become a student at the Otto Anderssens skole. He traveled to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1890. Haakon Nyhuus worked at

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wo ...

under

William Frederick Poole William Frederick Poole (24 December 1821, Salem, Massachusetts – 1 March 1894) was an American bibliographer and librarian. Biography He graduated from Yale University in 1849, where he assisted John Edmands, who was a student at the Brothe ...

, chief of the catalog department at the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the Chicago, City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, three regional libraries, and branches distributed thr ...

. He returned to Norway in 1897. From 1898, he headed Deichman library, the main branch of the

Oslo Public Library Oslo Public Library (officially called in Norwegian ''Deichman bibliotek'', Deichman Library) is the municipalities of Norway, municipal public library serving Oslo, Norway, and is the country's first and largest library. It employs over 300 peo ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He was chief editor of the six-volume encyclopedia ''Aschehougs Illustreret norsk Konversationsleksikon'', published from 1906 to 1913. He also introduced

Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (pronounced ) colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. ...

into the library system of Norway. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

in 1912.''Aschehougs Illustreret norsk Konversationsleksikon''
(Nasjonalbiblioteket)

References

External links

''Haakon Nyhuus'' (Munchmuseet)
1866 births 1913 deaths People from Trysil Norwegian librarians Norwegian encyclopedists Norwegian expatriates in the United States Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal {{Norway-bio-stub