Dagny, 1886-1913

About Dagny

In 1884, Sophie Adlersparre founded the Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet (Fredrika-Bremer-Association). In the beginning, the Association used Tidskrift för hemmet as a mouthpiece for its communications, but during those first years it became clearer and clearer that it needed its own press mouthpiece. Thus 1886 saw the birth of Dagny : månadsblad för sociala och literära intressen (Dagny: Monthly Magazine for Social and Literary Interests) and Sophie Adlersparre was appointed, somewhat reluctantly, as the periodical’s first editor.

Dagny became in many ways the heir of Tidskrift för hemmet in which various women’s and social questions were discussed, such as the morality question and women’s salaries. The Woman Question played a significant part in the fiction of the day and apart from literary criticism, fictional texts were also published in the magazine.

The morality question aroused a great deal of discussion at the time and in 1887 Sophie Adlersparre distributed a supplement that reflected her own views on the matter. This led to a schism between her and the board of the Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet, who were of the opinion that the magazine ought rather to reflect the views and activities of the Association.

The whole thing led to Sophie Adlersparre’s resignation as editor in 1888. She was succeeded by Amanda Kerfstedt, and in 1891 Lotten Dahlgren took over the editorship which she held until and including 1907, when she was succeeded by Ellen Kleman.

At that same point in time, the periodical changed into a weekly, after having been a monthly periodical up until then. It was no longer only the mouthpiece of the Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet either. Dagny : tidning för svenska kvinnorörelsen (Dagny: Magazine for the Swedish Women’s Movement) was published by the economic association Dagny between 1908 and 1913, with support from several Swedish women’s organisations, one of which was the Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet.