Wanny Woldstad
Wanny Woldstad (* 15. January 1893 in Sommarøy ; † 26. October 1959 in Sørkjosen ; actually Ivanna Margrethe Ingvardsen ) was the first polar bear hunter on Spitsbergen .
Growing up on a northern Norwegian island Wanny Woldstad moved at the age of 15 years from Tromso to there as a nanny to work. In 1915 she married Othar Jacobsen (1891-1918), who owned a shop in Kvitnes on Hinnøya . Together they had two sons, Alf and Bjørvik Jacobsen. Othar died at the age of 27, presumably from the Spanish flu . Wanny started working as the first female taxi driver in Tromsø. Through this work she came into contact with many fur hunters who came to Tromsø from Spitzbergen.
In 1932 she was asked if she wanted to take part in an expedition led by Anders Sæterdal (* 1894). She spent the winter from 1932 to 1933 and the four following winters in Hyttevika and Isbjørnhamna on the Hornsund to hunt polar bears. Her two sons also became seasoned trappers .
After the Second World War she moved to Lenvik and gave many lectures about her experiences on Svalbard. In 1956 she published the book Første kvinne som fangstmann på Svalbard ( The first woman as a fur hunter on Svalbard ). It is one of the few autobiographical descriptions of game hunting on Svalbard.
She died in Sørkjosen in 1959 in a car accident. The polar museum in Tromsø dedicates part of the exhibition “Famous Polar Explorers” to Wanny Woldstad. She shares room 7 with "polar bear king" Henry Rudi .
literature
- Ingrid Urberg: "Svalbard's Daughters": Personal Accounts by Svalbards Femal Pioneers (PDF; 781 kB). In: Nordlit nr. 22, Arktisk Litteratur, University of Tromsø 2007, pp. 167–191 (English). ISBN 82-90423-75-6
Web links
- Brief Biography Norsk Polarinstitutt (Engl.)
- Asbjørn Jaklin : Hva gjorde egentlig en kvinnelig drosjesjåfør i isødet on Svalbard? Norsk polar history (norw.)
- Historical photo of Wanny Woldstad on Hornsund
- Norwegian Hunting and trapping Svalbard Museum (Engl.)
- About the polar bear hunting in Svalbard (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Museum guide of the Tromsø Polar Museum (PDF; 453 kB, English), accessed on January 24, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Woldstad, Wanny |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | first female polar bear hunter on Svalbard |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 15, 1893 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sommarøy |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 26, 1959 |
| Place of death | Sørkjosen |