Other activity

Short overview

  • Coordinator of a session on personal sources and the role of the individuals in history at the First Icelandic Historical Convention in Reykjavik in May 1997.
  • Served as an instructor for numerous B.A.-theses, M.A.-theses and Ph.D. doctoral dissertations at the Department of History in the University of Iceland from 1995 to the present.
  • Served on a committee for the Ministry of Education which was developing new History Standards for secondary schools and high schools (gymnasium) in 1999. Was appointed by the Minister of Education.
  • Was appointed in the year 2000 by the Minister of Education as a board member of the “Educational Network” (Menntanetið), operated by the Ministry of Education.
  • The founder, co-editor and co-publisher of a book series called Anthology from Icelandic Popular Culture (Sýnisbók íslenskrar alþýðumenningar) which is published by the University Iceland Press since 1997 to the present (one or two books a year). See homepage: www.sia.hi.is
  • One of the founders and a member of editorial board (one of five) until 2001 of the book series Atvik (Incidence) which is published by the Reykjavík Academy and Bjartur the publishing house.
  • Was one of two editors of the book Microhistory – Conflicting Paths which was published by the University of Iceland Press in 1998 (co-editor: Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir). The authors of the papers in the book had been participating in a seminar on the importance of egodocuments for historical writing for two years, and the results of this dialogue was the publication of the book. The editors ran the seminar which was held at the National Library of Iceland every third week.
  • Was one of two editors of an online publications (book) called: Rumors, Scandals and Trials: Eight Review Essays. Kistan.is. It was the work of my students which came out of a coursework at the University of Iceland with the same name.
  • Took part in founding and developing the Reykjavík Academy (RA), an independent research institute located in the West End of Reykjavík. Was on the preliminary board from 1997 and the chair of the first board of the RA from 1998 to 2000. Ten scholars participated at the beginning, but 80 scholars belong to RA at the end of the year 2002 and took part in its daily function. Over 700 scholars have been part of the RA for longer or shorter time since it was established. They are from the humanities and the social sciences. It is funded by the City of Reykavik, the Icelandic Parliament and the Ministry of Finance. I left the RA in 2010 after 12 happy years and took a research position at the National Museum of Iceland. See home page of the RA: www.akademia.is.
  • Was the founder and the coordinator of the Luncheon Lecture (Hádegisfyrirlestrar Sagnfræðingafélags Íslands) of the Icelandic Historical Associations (IHA) from January 1998 into the spring of 2001. Put together and arranged 64 lectures for this function in cooperation with other board members of the Icelandic Historical Association during my tenure as the chair of the IHA.
  • Was the co-founder and the coordinator of on-line web-forum called Gammabrekka for the Icelandic Historical Association from January 1998 to the present. Over 400 hundred members participate in the web-forum.
  • Arranged and was in charge of numerous conferences and meetings for the Icelandic Historical Association and the Reykjavík Academy during my tenure as the chair of both institutions, in Reykjavík, Ísafjörður, Hafnafjörður, Viðey and Sauðárkrók.
  • Was the co-designer of the home page of the Icelandic Historical Association (www.akademia.is/saga) – which is still developing – and the home page of the Reykjavík Academy (www.akademia.is).
  • Was the chairman of a committee that worked on an ethical code for historians from 1998–2000 on the behalf of the Icelandic Historical Association. The code of conduct was passed in September 2000 in a general assembly of the Icelandic Historical Association in its annual meeting.
  • Had the initiative of putting together a committee on the behalf of the Icelandic Historical Associations which worked from 1997 on two books that included the genealogy of all Icelandic historians in the twentieth century, their professional records, and an overview over the development of the discipline of history in this time period. I was the chief editors for this project; the first part of it was published in 2002 under the name of “Historians in Iceland” (Íslenskir sagnfræðingar) and the second part was published 2006 with the focus of the development of the Icelandic school of history.
  • Was the chief coordinator of a national wide campaign called “the Day of the Diary”, held the 15th of October 1998. Icelandic citizens were asked to keep a dairy for that particular day and to send it to the National Museum of Iceland, the Department of Ethnology. The general public was also asked to donate old manuscripts, such as letters, diaries, autobiographies or other source material to the Manuscript Department at the National Library. The campaign was a great success and over 3% of the nation kept a dairy that day and over one hundred individuals donated old manuscripts to the National Library of Iceland, some of which were very valuable and others part of large private collections. Ten months after the national campaign the committee published a “best of” the diaries book. The book was called The Diaries of Icelanders (Dagbók Íslendinga) and was published by the publishing house Mál og menning. The preparation for the campaign took five months and was done voluntarily.
  • Wrote a 50 page report on the execution of “the Day of the Diary” campaign called: “The Day of the Diary: Behind the scenes: A Report form the Committee. Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon”.
  • A founder and currently the chair of the Center for Microhistorical Research at the Intitute of History at the University of Iceland which runs an online web called microhistory.org, organises meetings and seminars, publishes book series like the ‘Nameless series’, the ‘Anthology of Icelandic Pupular Culture’ and participates in research projects relating to the use egodocuments in historical studies.
  • A co-editor with István M. Szijártó of a new book series, ‘Microhistories’, published by Routledge from 2018.
  • Participated in an international research project with scholars from Iceland, Hungary and Norway named: “Working out the curriculum of a joint MA program ‘Microhistory’”, financed by Tempus Public Foundation in Hungary (partners: Eötvös University, Budapest, the University of Iceland (Reykajvík), Volda Unversity College (Norway) and the Reykjavík Academy (Iceland)).
  • Reading and Writing from Below: Toward a New Social History of the Nordic Sphere During the Long Nineteenth Century was a Scandinavian research project that had a fairly long history. I took part in it’s establishment at the beginning and lead the Icelandic team for few years. It was based on informal collaboration between Icelandic and Finnish scholars, which dates back to the beginning of the 21st century. Among other things, an application was made for a preparatory grant to NorFa to formulate an application for a three-year research project under the title Coming into Writing: The Culture of Manuscripts in the Nordic Countries in 2003 and preparatory meetings were held in Reykjavík and Helsinki in 2004. – In 2008, the group, led by Martyn Lyons and Anna Kuismin, attended the Ordinary Writings and Scribal Culture seminar: On the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Writing on the 11th International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI). Finland July 28-2. August 2008. The same year, the Nordic Co-operation Committee for Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) applied for funding for exploratory worshops. The project “The Common People and the Processes of Literacy in the Nordic Countries: Excursions to the Scribal and Print Cultures in the 18th and 19th Centuries” received funding to hold two seminars in 2009, in Helsinki and Copenhagen. In 2013, a collection of articles was published, which was made up of errands that were transferred to these seminars; White Field, Black Seeds: Nordic Literacy Practices in the Long Nineteenth-Century by Matthew J. Driscoll and Anna Kuismin. – In addition to the research of individual scholars, a new application was submitted to the NOS-HS for research funds. A part of the group subsequently held the third meeting in Reykjavík on 26-27. February where an application was made in the NORDCORP program for the Nordic Co-operation Committee for “Reading and Writing From Below: Toward a New Social History of Literacy in the Nordic Sphere During the Long Nineteenth Century”. As can be deduced from the title of the research project, the subject matter of the social history of literacy (reading and writing) in the Nordic countries from the end of the 18th century until the first decades of the 20th is emphasized. As a result, the research project received a grant of 600,000 euros for four years 2011–2014. The principal applicant was Dr Professor Tara Nordlund at the University of Helsinki and Anna Kuismin, who had a research position at the Helsinki Collegium.
  • Research Grants and Awards:
    – The President’s Fund Award for European Research, CMU 1987.
    – Research Grant from the Institute of History, University of Iceland 1989.
    – Research Grant from the Icelandic Council of Science (Vísindasjóður) 1991, 1992, and 1994.
    – Research Grant from the Icelandic Research Council (Rannís) 1995–1996;1998 and 1999; 2001–2002.
    – Research Grant from the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) 2003–2004;2005–2008; 2014–2017.
    – A grant awarded by the Cultural Fund in Iceland (Menningarsjóður) 1997;2004; 2005.
    – The Award of the Library Fund of Authors (Bókasafnssjóður höfunda) for historical research 1999.
    – Research Grant from the University of Iceland Science Fund (RannsóknarsjóðurHáskóla Íslands) 1999; 2014–2019.
    – Research Grant from the Icelandic parliament – Althingi – The Republic Fund(Lýðveldissjóður) 1999.
    – The Award of the President’s Jón Sigurðsson Fund (Verðlaunasjóður gjafar Jóns Sigurðssonar) for Scholarly Monographs 1999; 2002; 2012; 2014; 2016; 2018.
    – Research Grant from Hagþenkir – Association of Non-fiction Writers 1998; 2000 and 2002.
    – Fulbright-scholar in USA for six months 2002.
    – Grant from the Writing Fund of Authors (Launastjóður rithöfunda) 2004.
    – Grant from the Writing Fund of Scholars (Launasjóður fræðirithöfunda) 2004.
    – Research Grant and an Apartment at the Cultural House of Jón Sigurðsson (Jónshús) in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005 and 2014.
    – Dr. Kristján Eldjárn Research Fellow at the National Museum of Iceland from 2010–2013.
    – Visiting scholar at the Danish Institute of Local, Regional and Inter-Governmental Studies – KORA from January 2013 to September 2013. Awarded a scholar housing grant from Danmarks National Bank for the same time period at Nyhavn 19, Copenhagen.
    – Visiting scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) at the Department of History from 2016–2017.
  • I am a PI of Grant of Excellence from the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) for a project called: “My Favourite Things: Material Culture Archives, Cultural Heritage and Meaning” from 2018 and for the next three years (see: www.hh.hi.is).
  • I am one of the leaders of a Grant of Excellence called „Disability before Disability“ runned by Dr Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir (PI) from 2017 and for the next three years.
  • Served as secretary of the board of a industrial factory in Iceland, called Harpa paint (a family company), from 1994 to 2004.
  • Currently a Professor of Cultural History at the Department of History and Philosophy, University of Iceland.