The Schreiner Collection is a skeletal collection at the Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo. It includes material from the Stone Age up to the 19th century and has been built up over more than 150 years. However, the Institute’s present management does not think that the approximately 8.500 skeletons are of such interest that the collection should continue and remain as a valuable research potential. Instead, it is now in the process of being divided and spread to various museums. Despite the fact that the collection has been internationally known and visited by researchers from all over the world, the board of the institute does not want to maintain bioanthropological activity as a research field at the University of Oslo anymore.
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Ever since the University of Oslo was founded in 1811, bioanthropology has been a field of research, closely related to anatomy. At that time, there were strong national feelings, both in Norway and in many other European countries, and often both nature, landscape, and types of people were carefully described with regard to distinctive features and characteristics. There was still no real research, and often Franz Joseph Gall’s (1758-1828) phrenology was accepted as ‘science’ [].
Soon the archaeologists came to make use of the services and information the anthropologists could provide via collected skeletal material, mainly excavated on Norwegian medieval cemeteries, as we can see from our older catalogues [22Schreiner Collection, Anthropological library, University of Oslo.].
A ‘silent agreement’ existed: anthropological information – such as the skeletons’ sex, age, pathology, etc. – was given free of charge in exchange for the anatomical institute in Oslo to keep and store the skeletal material. The formal owner was, however, the Norwegian state.
The institute’s skeleton collection grew significantly, especially in the interwar years. In 1972 it was named ‘The Schreiner Collection’ after its first curator, Professor Kristian Emil Schreiner (1874-1957) [33Carried by the Senate of the University of Oslo, at the request of the professors Fred Walberg, Øivind Larsen, and Johan Torgersen.]. It has since been internationally known under that designation and has over the last decades been visited by more than 50 prominent anatomists and anthropologists. Currently, it comprises approximately 8.500 feature numbers, dating from the Stone Age and up to the early 1800s [44Schreiner Collection. Digital Skeleton base.]. In 1990 it was moved to new environments with adapted air conditioning, X-ray equipment, and workplaces for visiting researchers.
From the early 1980s, a cooperation agreement was entered into with the police and forensic authorities in Norway, so that analyses of skeletal finds in criminal cases could go through the institute. This collaboration eventually also came to include facial reconstructions and photo analyses. From 1982, the undersigned was employed as curator of the collection.
Nevertheless, problems arose along the way. First and foremost, the anthropological department was understaffed, as the curator alone was expected to lecture and teach anatomy to the medical students, as well as to conduct anthropological research. The institute’s leadership was constantly made aware of the conditions and that one or more employees were strongly needed. But there were still no new hires.
Anthropological research on the collection’s Sámi material was significantly reduced when in 1999 the university accepted the Sámi population’s demand that any research on such material should first be approved by the Sámi political authorities.
At the same time, it was decided that the Sámi skeletons should be held separately from the other material. That a political organization should be allowed to decide whether or not research could take place – approved by a university – seems to be rather unusual.
Also, an ethics committee (‘National Committee for Research Ethics on Human Remains’), which should pre-approve all anthropological research on skeletons in Norway, regardless of age or origin, was established in 2008.
It is obvious that these provisions were a significant obstacle to further and free anthropological research. As the curator of the collection was approaching retirement age, and no successor had yet been appointed, the police, the forensic authorities, and the archaeologists sent written inquiries to the university with strong requests that the anthropological service had to maintain.
Unfortunately, that did not happen. On the contrary: the institute’s daily manager, Professor Philippe Collas, a biochemist, not a medical doctor, has stated that anthropological activities will no longer be carried out at the institute – without any explanation [55Fossum S, Holck P, Benestad HB. Historien om Anatomisk Institutt. Et moderne universitet blir til. Oslo: Pax forlag; 2023.]. It is my sincere hope that other universities around the world have a more differentiated view of the value of this science and that their leaders are able to see the possibilities that lie in today’s analysis methods.
There is hardly any doubt that the anthropological activities at our institute – the only one of its kind in Norway – have contributed to shedding light on the Norwegian population of the past: their way of living and state of health, which more than 500 publications (most of them naturally in Norwegian) testify to [66Willerslev E, Margaryan A, et al. Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature. 2020;585:390-6.,77Brødholt ET, Gautvik KM, Benedictow OJ. Female skeletal health and socionomic status in medieval Norway 11th-16th century: analysis of bone mineral density and stature. Int J Osteoarchaeol. 2023;33(1):83-93.]. In comparison, it has drawn lines towards people of today and today’s health problems [88Brødholt ET, Günther CC, Gautvik KM, Sjøvold T, Holck P. Bone mineral density through history: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in archaeological populations in Norway. J Archaeol Sci Rep. 2022;36:102792,99Drew R, Madden G. Loss of identity in nineteenth-century Norway: Oslo’s House of Correction. J R Anthropol Inst. 2023;29(52):94-115.]. It has also been a necessary help for the police, especially with regard to photo identification, but also helps with analyses of cremations and other skeletal remains in a forensic sense.
Today, the laboratory and the associated office spaces are empty. The bookshelves in the corridor have been removed – allegedly for safety reasons in the case of fire – even though the department is situated on the ground floor. The skeleton collection still exists, but is about to be split up and distributed to the surrounding archaeological museums. It is just sad to see and know that more than 150 years of continuous anthropological activity have come to an end. Exit Schreiner Collection.
Holck P. Galls frenologi. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 1983;103:1805-7.
Schreiner Collection, Anthropological library, University of Oslo.
Carried by the Senate of the University of Oslo, at the request of the professors Fred Walberg, Øivind Larsen, and Johan Torgersen.
Schreiner Collection. Digital Skeleton base.
Fossum S, Holck P, Benestad HB. Historien om Anatomisk Institutt. Et moderne universitet blir til. Oslo: Pax forlag; 2023.
Willerslev E, Margaryan A, et al. Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature. 2020;585:390-6.
Brødholt ET, Gautvik KM, Benedictow OJ. Female skeletal health and socionomic status in medieval Norway 11th-16th century: analysis of bone mineral density and stature. Int J Osteoarchaeol. 2023;33(1):83-93.
Brødholt ET, Günther CC, Gautvik KM, Sjøvold T, Holck P. Bone mineral density through history: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in archaeological populations in Norway. J Archaeol Sci Rep. 2022;36:102792
Drew R, Madden G. Loss of identity in nineteenth-century Norway: Oslo’s House of Correction. J R Anthropol Inst. 2023;29(52):94-115.
Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Address Correspondence: Per Erling Holck, Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Email: p.e.holck@medisin.uio.no
How to cite this article: Holck PE. Exit Schreiner Collection. IgMin Res. . September 19, 2024; 2(9): 768-769. IgMin ID: igmin245; DOI:10.61927/igmin245; Available at: igmin.link/p245
Holck P. Galls frenologi. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 1983;103:1805-7.
Schreiner Collection, Anthropological library, University of Oslo.
Carried by the Senate of the University of Oslo, at the request of the professors Fred Walberg, Øivind Larsen, and Johan Torgersen.
Schreiner Collection. Digital Skeleton base.
Fossum S, Holck P, Benestad HB. Historien om Anatomisk Institutt. Et moderne universitet blir til. Oslo: Pax forlag; 2023.
Willerslev E, Margaryan A, et al. Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature. 2020;585:390-6.
Brødholt ET, Gautvik KM, Benedictow OJ. Female skeletal health and socionomic status in medieval Norway 11th-16th century: analysis of bone mineral density and stature. Int J Osteoarchaeol. 2023;33(1):83-93.
Brødholt ET, Günther CC, Gautvik KM, Sjøvold T, Holck P. Bone mineral density through history: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in archaeological populations in Norway. J Archaeol Sci Rep. 2022;36:102792
Drew R, Madden G. Loss of identity in nineteenth-century Norway: Oslo’s House of Correction. J R Anthropol Inst. 2023;29(52):94-115.
