Dear Members and Friends of the International Rasmus Malling-Hansen Society!
- This is the very latest photograph we have found of Rasmus Malling-Hansen. It is a section of a group photo of the three Hansen brothers. The picture appeared with a recently deceased relative of Jørgen. It is not dated, but a good assumption, if we compare with other early photographs of Rasmus, should be about 1860/61. In that case, it means that Rasmus is about 25 years old in the picture. Photo: Private.
2021 is coming to an end, and once again the worldwide pandemic has blocked our possibilities to organise a society meeting. We had great hopes – and advanced plans – to meet this year and to coordinate our coming together with a Malling-Hansen exhibition at the Danish Design Museum in Copenhagen. After receiving the mini-writing ball, the museum agreed that it would exhibit it as an outstanding example of Danish design, and would include it in an informative and illustrative exhibition, featuring Malling-Hansen’s creative genius. We understand that the museum is set to reopen next year, and provided that the pandemic situation allows it, we would suggest to hold a general meeting in the second half of 2022. That is: if our members and friends are interested and able to attend!
In spite of us having to cancel the 2020 meeting, our society has remained as active as ever – as a research group, focusing on all aspects of the life and achievements of Rasmus Mallling-Hansen! This year alone, we have published no less than 124 new articles – on average a new article every third day! And each one represents a new finding of a document and/or relevant illustrations. We have by no means exhausted the research possibilities! As the digitalisation process is spreading and developing in libraries and archives all over the world, we are, luckily, able to access more and more documents, publications and illustrations.
As always, we very much welcome comments and suggestions from our members and friends. It will also be very much appreciated if members do some research digging in their respective countries and language areas. For instance, we have, so far, no articles or publications in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and many other European languages.
In the last few days a new treasure trove of photos, letters and articles have come to light from one of the relatives of my great-grandfather, the youngest brother of Rasmus Malling-Hansen, and we look forward to sharing it with you on our website www.malling-hansen.org
Even if this newly discovered material – and many other documents in our previous research – is in Danish language, non-native speakers will still be able to enjoy the illustrations, which Sverre Avnskog always finds with his usual skill and efficiency.
We continue to function with the same board members: Dieter Eberwein and Sverre Avnskog as vice-presidents, Lars Mathiesen as treasurer, Jane Skou, Uwe Breker and Paul Bech, and the undersigned as president.
On behalf of the Board of the International Rasmus Malling-Hansen Society I wish you and your family a very happy festive season and a better year ahead!
Jørgen Malling Christensen
President
