This worn sofa had a central place in Alva and Gunnar Myrdal's home.
The Myrdals began their life together when they were young. When they met in 1919, Gunnar was 20 and and Alva 17. They married in 1924. In the 1930s, they collaborated on several important projects. Their most famous work is the book Crisis in the Population Question, which had a major impact on public debate and social policy. Alva and Gunnar Myrdal's joint efforts continued even as their careers went in different directions. Did they sit on this sofa when discussing their work?
The sofa was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2009 by Alva and Gunnar Myrdal's family.
This hat belonged to Gunnar Myrdal. It is a wide-brimmed felt hat, and he wore it in the 1960s.
The hat was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by the Myrdal family in 2008.
This pipe rack and its pipes belonged to Gunnar Myrdal. He had them during his time as head of the Institute for International Economic Studies, which used to be in the Wenner-Gren Center in Stockholm. The IIES was founded in 1962, when a professorship was created especially for Gunnar Myrdal. He was its director until 1967.
The pipes and the pipe rack was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by Gunnar Myrdal’s family in 2008.
In the 20th century, the telephone became an increasingly important way to keep in touch with colleagues. This phone belonged to Gunnar Myrdal, who had a wide network as a researcher and politician. In 1933, he became professor of economics, and the following year a member of the Swedish parliament for the Social Democrats.
Myrdal also worked internationally. He spent the years before and after the Second World War in the U.S., writing such works as the highly-acclaimed An American Dilemma, a study of race relations and the conditions of the African American population. He also received assignments from the United Nations. Myrdal's analyses focused not just on economic factors. He also wove in historical, social, political, and other aspects. In the latter part of his life, he became committed to fighting the unequal distribution of global resources between rich and poor countries.
The telephone was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by the Myrdal family in 2004.
