Ada Nilsson

{{Short description|Swedish doctor (1872–1964)}}

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| name = Ada Nilsson

| image = Ada Nilsson 1935.jpg

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| birth_date = September 21, 1872

| birth_place = Södra Säms

| death_date = May 23, 1964

| death_place = {{ill|Julita (parish)|lt=Julita|sv|Julita socken}}

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| nationality = Swedish

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Ada Konstantia Nilsson (September 21, 1872 – May 23, 1964) was an early Swedish woman medical doctor. She was one of the founders of the campaigning magazine Tidevarvet in 1923.

Early life and education

Nilsson was born in Södra Säms in 1872. She was brought up in a farmhouse. Her father, who helped to run the textile workers cottage industry, died when she was thirteen and she went to live in Stockholm.{{Cite web|url=https://skbl.se/en/article/AdaNilsson|title=skbl.se - Ada Konstantia Nilsson|website=skbl.se|access-date=1 October 2019}} In 1891 she was one of the first women to take medical training, initially in Uppsala and mainly in Stockholm. She met Lydia Wahlström and Alma Sundquist who were also female pioneers.

Career

File:Fogelstadgruppen (sq cropped).jpg (sitting), Honorine Hermelin and Elin Wägner ]]

Nilsson and Julia Kinberg, another physician, founded a feminist organization, Frisinnade Kvinnor, in 1914.{{cite thesis

|author=Merle Weßel|title=An Unholy Union?: Eugenic Feminism in the Nordic Countries, ca. 1890-1940|location=University of Helsinki|pages=37–38|degree=PhD|year=2018|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10138/233107|hdl=10138/233107}} She was a member of the Liberal Women's National Association.{{cite book|author1=Karl Erik Gustafsson|author2=Per Rydén|title=A History of the Press in Sweden|date=2010|publisher=Nordicom

|location=Gothenburg|isbn=978-91-86523-08-4|url=http://presshistoria.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-history-of-the-Press-in-Sweden.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213232250/http://presshistoria.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-history-of-the-Press-in-Sweden.pdf|archive-date=13 February 2015}}

The magazine Tidevarvet was founded in 1923{{cite web|title=Tidevarvet 1923|url=http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinn/digtid/08/1923/index.xml

|work=Göteborgs Universitetsbibliotek|access-date=1 October 2019}}{{cite news|title=Tidevarvet cover page|url=http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinndata/digtid/08/1923/tidevarvet1923_1.pdf|access-date=1 October 2019|date=24 November 1923|work=Tidevarvet}} by Kerstin Hesselgren, educator Honorine Hermelin, Ada Nilsson, Elisabeth Tamm, a liberal politician, and Elin Wägner, an author.{{cite news|author=Lene Buchert|title=Hesselgren, Kerstin (1872-1964)|url=http://www.performancemagazine.org/thinkers-on-education/hesselgren-kerstin-1872-1964/|access-date=30 December 2016|work=Performance Magazine}}{{cite web|title=Tidevarvsgruppen (The Age Group), Fogelstad-gruppen (The Fogelstad Group) and the newspaper Tidevarvet (The Age.)|url=http://user.tninet.se/~uzt234e/Tidevarvet.htm|work=Hjördis Levin's homepage|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828113234/http://user.tninet.se/~uzt234e/Tidevarvet.htm|archive-date=28 August 2007|url-status=dead}} The founders had a liberal political stance and were known as the Fogelstad group. Nilsson was one of the principal funders of the project and became editor-in-chief with her new friend Elin Wägner as its first editor. The magazine was to publish until 1936 and for three years (1925-28) the magazine ran a free consultancy but it was difficult to fund.

Nilsson met Aleksandra Kollontaj, a Russian diplomat and later ambassador to Sweden in the early 1930s. Nilsson cared for Kollontaj when her health started to decline and their correspondence is extant.{{Cite web |title=skbl.se - Aleksandra Mikhajlova Kollontaj |url=https://skbl.se/en/article/AleksandraKollontaj |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=skbl.se |language=en}}

Death and private life

Nilsson had a very close relationship with Honorine Hermelin. During the last year of her life Nilsson went to stay at Fogelstad with Hermelin.{{Cite web|url=https://www.skbl.se/en/article/HonorineHermelin|title=skbl.se - Honorine Louise Hermelin|website=www.skbl.se|access-date=28 November 2020}} Nilsson died in {{ill|Julita (parish)|lt=Julita|sv|Julita socken}}. She was near blind and poor. She was buried in a cemetery near her birthplace. Her life is one of those celebrated in Stockholm's Östermalmstorg metro station by Siri Derkert.

References

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Further reading