1883.07.09 English

Anders Petersen, 1827-1914. Photo: The Royal Library

THE ROYAL                                       From the collections of Otto Lind[1]

 

INSTITUTE FOR

 

THE DEAF-MUTE

 

IN COPENHAGEN

 

 

 

July 9, 1883

 

 

 

 

                                               Dear friend

 

 

 

This is the information I have been able to collect:

 

 

1. Frederik Castberg was born on 1st of November 1812, son of Professor Peter Atke Castberg, MD, founder of the Royal Institute for the Deaf-Mute. Presumably he was admitted at Jonstrup as a student in 1829. By royal decree his mother was that year granted 100 Rix-dollars per year for his admission. in 1833 he passed his A-levels; but it seems he did not pursue his studies. He is said to be married to a lady who is running a school in this town and used to be a teacher in Copenhagen. This is all I know. I have written to a member of the Castberg family for further enquieries, and in case I receive more information, I shall pass it on.  ____

 

 

2. Peter Sørensen Holm was a teacher at the Royal Institute for the Deaf-Mute from July 1, 1829 until November 26, 1830, when he passed away at the general hospital suffering from consumption[2] . He was single. This is all I can find about him.

 

 

3. C. S.(?) Svendsen I do not know. _____

 

 

 

Kindest regards from your devoted

 

R. Malling-Hansen

 

 

[1] CB: Everything in this letter was written by hand. We have 3 letters from the collections of Otto Lind. The fact that the word ‘collections’ (‘samlinger’ in Danish) was written with the initial letter in lower case shows that this comment was made after 1948 (before that time all nouns were written with the initial letter in upper case). SA: I have recently discovered that all the letters from Otto Lind’s collection originally was written to a teacher named Anders Petersen. How his correspondance came in the possession of Otto Lind, I don’t know.  Anders Petersen is obviously and old acquaintance of Malling-Hansen from the Jonstrup time. His correspondance can be found in the Danish National Private Archive, and is dated from 1856 until 1913. Petersen lived from 1827 to 1914.

[2] JMC: Most likely it was tuberculosis, in Danish at the time called ‘brystsyge’ (literally: ‘sickness of the chest’). In 19th century England ‘consumption’ was one of several expressions for this disease.