Jens Knudsen Maurseth (1863-1927)

Jens Knudsen Maurseth was a professional photographer born at Maurseth in Hornindal on the 8th of August 1863. He trained as a photographer in Bergen and set up business in Nordfjordeid ca. 1885. Five years later, in 1900, he moved his business to Stryn, an important tourist destination at the time (as well as today).

Maurseth produced photos for both the tourist market, photographing the hotels, cruise ships and natural sights in the Nordfjord region, as well as servicing the local market producing wedding photos, portraits and photos for companies in the region. He was a very skilled and productive photographer.

Maurseth never married and when he died on the 29th of September 1927 all of his belongings were auctioned off. However, no one wanted to buy Maurseth’s large 18 x 24 cm glass plate negatives. The 18 x 24 plates were stored in his old house until ca. 1944-45 when the house was put up for sale. A large portion of the glass plates were then moved to Anders Vik’s workshop as his son Ola wanted to use the plates to build a green house. The green house never materialized, and in 1950 all of the plates, except a box containing 310 plates which was forgotten, were driven to the dump. In the 1970s, these 310 plates as well as 331 additional 18 x 24 cm glass plate negatives were recovered and donated to Stryn library. Later ca. 1500 of Maurseths 9 x13 cm plates, fragments of his portrait archive, were also recovered. In 1992 all the surviving negatives were moved to safe storage at Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane.

In this album we present a selection of the 641 preserved 18 x 24 cm negatives. We hope you enjoy this peek into Nordfjord ca. 1910 as seen through the lens of photographer Jens Knudsen Maurseth!