Helen Engelstad (27 May 1908 – 5 March 1989) was a Norwegian author, art historian and educator.

Biography

Helen Wright was born in Elsinore,

Helsingør Municipality Helsingør Municipality (a variant English name: Elsinore Municipality; Danish: ''Helsingør Kommune''), is a municipality in the Capital Region on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipal ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Her childhood was characterized by prosperity and contact with the intellectual community. She continued her education at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. She later worked at the

Danish Museum of Art & Design The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodele ...

at the University for two years. She moved to Norway in 1930 when she married Norwegian art historian

Eivind Stenersen Engelstad Eivind Stenersen Engelstad (21 June 1900 – 16 February 1969) was a Norwegian archaeologist and art historian. Personal life Engelstad was born in Kristiania as the son of jurist Bjarne Engelstad (1872–1939) and grandson of engineer Jess ...

(1900-1969). Their marriage was dissolved in 1951. Helen Engelstad first worked as an assistant at the

Stavanger Museum Stavanger Museum is a museum of natural and cultural history established in 1877, located in the Norwegian city Stavanger. The museum's collections consist of several departments: the department of zoology, the department for cultural history (whi ...

. From 1946 to 1947 she was the manager of the museum at the

Royal Manor The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...

of Ledaal. From 1947 to 1976 she was the rector of the National Arts and Crafts Teacher's College, an entity now a part of the

Oslo University College Oslo University College (; HiO) was the largest state university college in Norway from 1994 to 2011, with more than 18,000 students and approximately 1800 employees.

.''Royal Manor of Ledaal'' (Stavanger Museum)
Helen Engelstad was appointed Knight of the 1st class

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 1975 and also received King's Medal of Merit in gold.

Selected works

*''Strikkeboken: praktisk veiledning i moderne strikning'', 1932 *''Norske navneduker'', 1938 *''Messeklær og alterskrud. Middelalderske paramenter i Norge'', 1941 *''Porselen og paramenter. Brukskunstneren Nora Gulbrandsens arbeider'', 1944 *''Alle tiders drakt og mote'', 1949 *''Vevkunst'', 1953 *''Dobbeltvev i Norge'', 1958 *''Vævninger fra det gamle Peru'', 1985

References

Other sources

*Engelstad, Helen (1952) ''Norwegian Textiles'' (F Lewis, Publishers. Leigh-On-Sea, UK) 1908 births 1989 deaths Norwegian art historians Rectors of universities and colleges in Norway Women heads of universities and colleges Danish emigrants to Norway 20th-century Norwegian historians University of Copenhagen alumni 20th-century Norwegian women writers Norwegian women historians Women art historians {{Europe-art-historian-stub