Kolsrud Collection

Church Historian Oluf Kolsrud (1885-1945) was a professor at the University of Christiania/Oslo and an avid book collector with a particular focus on research literature within history, religion and linguistics. He mastered a number of languages, including Norse, Latin, Church Slavonic, Finnish, Sami, Russian and Polish. He collected highly targeted special prints of journal articles, religious pamphlets and local historical literature published during his time, as well as rare antiquarian works about e.g, the Reformation and church history in various countries. Towards the end of his life, he also acquired the book collection of the theologian Sigurd Odland, which primarily covers exegetic literature. After the death of Kolsrud, the entire collection came to Northern Norway, more specifically the Central Library for Northern Norway in Tromsø. The Municipal Library of Tromsø and the Tromsø City Archive still have a number of the Kolsrud titles in their collections, but, after the University Library was established in the 1970s, the majority of the titles ended up here.  View a list of the Kolsrud Collection in Oria. View a list of the Odland Collection in Oria.

The Kolsrud Collection and the Odland Collection have now been inventoried and are located in a dedicated, locked, climate-regulated room in the Psychology and Law Library. Documents from the collections can be borrowed for use in the reading room. It is also possible to request digital copies.

Please contact Andreas Klein for further information about the Kolsrud Collection.