Bernt Askevold - tintypes

This set comprises 54 tintypes from the private archive after Bernt Askevold (1846-1926). We hope you’ll appreciate the subtle beauty of these portraits, some of which are hand tinted. Unfortunately all most all of the names of the depicted persons have been lost during the course of history. We greatly appreciate any help you might offer in regards to identifying them! The images are dated to ca 1856-1900.

Bernt Askevold was born in the municipality of Askvoll in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He was a farmer’s son, and after finishing school he worked at his father’s farm for three years. Then, in the years 1864-1866, he studied to become a teacher and subsequently got a position on the island of Bømlo in Hordaland. In 1869 Askevold moved to Bergen, but he only stayed there for 4 years. In 1873 Askevold emigrated to the US. In the US Askevold worked as a teacher until 1880 when he started studying towards becoming a priest. In 1882 Askevold graduated from Luther College, Iowa. He then went on to work as a priest for 14 different congregations in the US – his last position was in Brooklyn, New York, in the years 1917-1920.

In 1922 Bernt Askevold returned to Askvoll and Norway for good. He quickly got involved in the activities of the local congregation. Before passing away in 1926, Askevold donated his book collection to Askvoll municipality. The collection, covering a wide variety of subjects such as religion, language, teaching, geography and history, is today publicly available at the local library in Askvoll.

Bernt Askevold also left behind 6 large handwritten volumes comprising writings on the subject of “myself, my family, my home town, and some of the things I have otherwise heard and seen”. In addition to this The County Archives in Sogn og Fjordane also, on behalf of Askvoll municipality which formally owns the Askevold archive, takes care of a collection of letters, postcards, photos and other papers Bernt Askevold left behind. The tintypes presented here come from this much larger collection of archive materials relating to the life of Bernt Askevold.