Elna Mygdal

Elna Mygdal (2 June 1868 – 1 February 1940) was a Danish textile artist, museum curator and writer. She is remembered in particular for her interest in Hedebo embroidery and for her collection of folk costumes and folk textiles. In 1930, she published the authoritative two-volume Amagerdragter: Vævninger og Syninger on the history of costumes and textiles from Amager, an island adjacent to Copenhagen.

Biography Born on 2 June 1868 in the Nørre-Snede Municipality, Mygdal was the daughter of Jes Mygdal (1819–1891) and his wife Charlotte (née Thorkildsen) (1832–1871). She attended Copenhagen's Arts and Crafts School for Women, where she studied embroidery and free-hand drawing. She also learned weaving at John Lenning's school in Norrköping, Sweden, graduating in 1895.

In 1919, Olsen finally persuaded Mygdal to give up teaching at the Arts and Crafts School and move to the Folk Museum as an assistant curator. Her duties included teaching, acquiring textiles, cataloguing, and contributing articles to journals. These were mainly about tablecloths, church textiles, weaving and related techniques. In particular, she contributed articles to the Danish Tourist Board's yearbooks writing about costumes from various parts of the country, with titles beginning with Lidt om Dragter fra... followed by the region. In 1932, she published an authoritative, self-illustrated book on Amagerdragter, Vævninger og Syninger. She chose to write about costumes and textiles from Amager as she was able to cycle there to carry out her research. She retired from employment at the museum in 1935, as she suffered from poor health.

Elna Mygdal died in Frederiksberg on 1 February 1940 and is buried in Solbjerg Park Cemetery.