Agnes Geijer (1898–1989)

Agnes Geijer was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the only child of Karolina and Reinhold Geijer, a professor of theoretical philosophy. At the University of Uppsala, she studied textiles and archaeology. Her 1938 doctoral thesis concerning the textiles found in the diggings at Birka island, an important Viking Age trading center in Lake Mälaren, was considered of international importance, and made her a well-known figure in textile history and conservation. In 1930, she had already begun working at the Pietas textile conservation studio; she took over as director from her aunt, Agnes Branting,a pioneer in Swedish textile arts. For the next 17 years at Pietas, she undertook research and made major contributions to the conservation of historical textiles. In 1949, Pietas became a state institution and the textile studio was transferred to the Riksantivarieämbete (Swedish National Heritage Board) in Stockholm. Agnes Geijer became head of the textile department, and remained in that position until 1965. She was also involved in setting up the Centre International d’Etudes des Textiles Anciens at Lyon in 1954. Along with colleagues from around the world, she developed an internationally valid terminology for historical textile techniques. Among her many publications was A History of Textile Art, published in 1972, which was translated into several languages and is still used today in university classes.