Anne Mette Seines

• Seines, Anne Mette (2023). Om forpleiningen av «sindssyge» på Agder før åpningen av Eg asyl i 1882. In Vadum, Kristoffer; Grødum, Kjetil & Olsen, Thomas (Ed.), Utenforskap, stigmatisering og fremmedfrykt på Agder: 1860 til i dag. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202825812. doi: 10.23865/noasp.201. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study, based on financial records, investigates the care of the «destitute insane» in the Lister and Mandal region (now Agder) between 1860 and 1882. In 1848 Norway’s first mental health act was passed, initiated by Dr. Herman Wedel Major. He had identified 4290 insane persons in Norway, of which 3939 were also destitute. Only 147 public «beds» were available for this group in Norway, most of which could be described more accurately as «cages» or «cells». Some in the group suffered from illnesses like Huntington’s and epilepsy. However, «mentally ill» is an anachronistic term, so the contemporary word «insane» (sindssyg) is applied. Using historical empathy when investigating these stories is necessary, as many contemporary practices were not rooted in malice but rather desperation. The 1848 law gave the district doctors authority to assess and modify care practices for the insane in private housing. The early public initiatives were optimistic and progressive, based on a belief that 80 % could be cured at asylums (1855). Of the 98 insane persons from the Lister and Mandal region who were sent to asylums, only 5 were cured; such experiences disproved the optimistic cure-rate. High costs made asylum treatment an option mostly reserved for severe cases that local citizens could not, or would not, care for. Thus, asylums filled up with «unreturnable», uncurably, insane persons. As a result, 70 % of the region’s insane persons were housed privately in their home villages, of which 23 % were kept restrained, locked in, or put in straitjackets. Still, minor improvements due to the district doctors’ new authority occurred. Some patients were moved from unheated barns to proper housing, and others had chains replaced with ropes. But most importantly this group’s stories were documented in detail in the county’s financial records, which have enabled this research and generated new knowledge about Norwegian psychiatric history.

• Søisdal, Åse Marie; Seines, Anne Mette & Nielsen, May-Brith Ohman (2023). Rovdyr, gift, skudd og statistikk. En undersøkelse av lokale arkiver som kilde til problematisering av norsk skuddpremie- og rovdyrstatistikk. Heimen - Lokal og regional historie. ISSN 0017-9841. 60(3), p. 111–134. doi: 10.18261/heimen.60.3.2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Artikkelen diskuterer norsk historisk rovdyrfellingsstatistikk med utgangspunkt i en rekke nasjonale og lokale arkiver fra det sydlige Norge. Den nasjonale statistikken har bygget på utbetalte og innrapporterte skuddpremier for ulike arter. Skuddpremiene var ledd i de nasjonale utryddingskampanjene for rovdyr mellom 1845 og 1976. Arkivstudiene våre viser at ikke alle dyr som ble drept for dusør, havnet i denne nasjonale samlestatistikken, at det var en betydelig andel giftdrepte dyr i dette premiematerialet, og at begrepet «skuddpremier» derfor er misvisende. Artikkelen diskuterer ulike sider ved de historiske skuddpremiepraksisene, skuddpremieregistreringer og skuddpremiestatistikken. Den avdekker også at store deler av det historiske kildematerialet som var underlag for statistikken, ser ut til å ha forsvunnet fra lokale arkiver i forbindelse med utarbeidelsen av statistikken, og at det ikke kan gjenfinnes i Arkivverket. Dette er problematisk for forskning på norsk natur- og miljøhistorie så vel som for forskning på lokalhistorie, kulturhistorie og gifthistorie. Oppsummert kan vi konstatere at norsk fauna var langt rikere, utryddingskampanjene var mer omfattende og metodene mer problematiske enn kunnskapsstatus basert på eksisterende nasjonal statistikk vitner om.

• Nielsen, May-Brith Ohman & Seines, Anne Mette (2018). Poison to the Beasts: Changing Poisons and Poisoning Practices in Campaigns to Kill Norwegian Birds and Mammals, 1845–1967. Environment and History. ISSN 0967-3407. 25(3), p. 321–364. doi: 10.3197/096734018X15217309861595. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Between 1845 and 1967 deadly poison was often used to kill and eradicate unwanted wild animals in the Norwegian fauna. The major targets of these poison practices were rats, predators and crows. This article presents the main types of poisons used, the main methods of poison administration and the legislation covering the poisoning-practices in regards to the various species, as well as negotiations over the killing methods and wildlife eradication programmes. Examining the changing social and political organisation of these eradication campaigns brings new insights into the cultural history of poison, into the cultural relations between man and nature and into changing human ideas of safety and danger. We suggest that practices of intentional killing by poisoning of larger animals impinged upon attitudes towards direct or indirect poisoning of insects and concern over toxic risks.

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• Seines, Anne Mette (2023). Revegiften og reveåtets historie fra 1845 til 1975. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2023). Revegiften og reveåtets historie. 1845-1945. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2023). Fra arsenikk og stryknin til fosformos og sovemiddel – giftbruk fra 1796–1972. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2022). Gate-keepers of Poison. Pharmacies' historic role in governing the sales of poisons to private citizens in Scandinavia. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Harmful substances are part of our lives, our environment, and our bodies - they have been for centuries. The growing awareness of how harmful substances enter our bodies through food, clothes and even breast milk cause concern and spur research. However, this is not a new trend. Arsenic and mercury were widely used substances in the 19th- and 20th-centuries, and just like today, these harmful substances entered human bodies through food, medicines and clothing. Dating back to the 18th-century pharmacies in Scandinavia were given the role of governing the sales of substances, then recognised as poisons, to private citizens. This proposed session will examine the background and consequenses of these practices. The session will also demonstrate how records from the pharmacies' poison practice, not exclusive to Scandinavian pharmacies, can be used as lenses to local communities of the past. The session will tie into the topic proposed in "Same Planet, Different World": Environmental histories of public health and public policy Pharmacy poison protocols, when meticulously analyzed, offer a multifaceted glimpse into past poison practices, past understanding of poisons and the persons who bought them. The information in these records can be quantified to generate data on demographics, gender, literacy, seasonal trends, individuals, professions and in some cases, the intended application of the poisons. This list is not exhausted; different recordkeeping practices in time and place change the variables. Even though countries like Great Brittain, France, Germany and America all have had similar record-keeping practices, I have only been able to find two other studies of such records -both single-record studies. (R. Richardson, 2001) (P. Delaveau, 1884) It follows that this session will present not only the consequences and motivations behind appointing the governance of poisons to Scandinavian pharmacies but also the untapped potential that exists in the records they generated.

• Seines, Anne Mette (2022). Poison at the Pharmacy - Arsenic as a local and global multi-tool. (The decline an fall of the arsenic empire.). Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2022). Poison at the Pharmacy. The precarious nature of legal poison 1619 - 1937. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2022). Om smarte rotter, gift og et sidespor i karrieren. [Internet]. Fædrelandsvennen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Episode i podcast serien "Det Ho Sa" Flere opplever at rotter er mer synlige under pandemien. I denne podkast-episoden kan du høre UiA-historiker Anne Mette Seines fortelle om rottekriger, sikring av hus og hvorfor hun fascineres av disse smarte gnagerne.

• Seines, Anne Mette (2022). «Sinnssyke» – utenfor, midt blant alle: Om 1800-tallets fattige sinnssyke, deres diagnoser, muligheter og plass i samfunnet i tiden før psykiatri, psykofarmaka og store behandlingsinstitusjoner». Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2021). Grenser for giftsalg og giftkonsum. Skandinaviske giftprotokoller som kilder til ulike nasjonale og lokale giftpraksiser. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2021). Rottesikring - en tapt kunnskap? Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2020). Brukte kvikksølvsalve mot skabb og lus. Agderposten. ISSN 0805-3723. p. 32–35. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2019). Timing Rats. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2019). Mercuriale tilstander. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2018). Gift i Skandinavia - presentasjon av forskningsprosjekt innen Deadly Dreams nettverket. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2018). Deadly Dreams for Sale. Giftprotokollene som kilder til kjøp av giftstoffer til hverdag og fest. Full text in Research Archive
• Seines, Anne Mette (2018). Deadly Dreams for sale - Poison Protocols as a Source to Trade With Poisons. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In my Ph.D.-project Poisoning Scandinavia? I am using the pharmacies records of the sale of absolute poisons such as arsenic, phosphorus and cyanid can give us a unike insight into who took part in this trade, which poisons did they use for what and based on what knowledge did they make their decisions.

• Seines, Anne Mette (2018). «Deadly Dreams, giftstoffer til hverdag og fest». Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Presentasjon av ph.d.-prosjektet mitt Forgiftning av Skandinavia? En studie av giftprotokoller, gift og giftpraksis fra 1800 - 1960 på sesjon 19 under Norske historiedager 2018.

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