Elin Cederblom was a pedagogue, writer, and lecturer on pedagogy and social matters. Her publications include guidance for sexual education for schools. She also assisted her father who was a professor at the Teknologiska institute. She published several of his scientific articles after he died.
Elin Cederblom was born in 1869. She was the third child in a family of five. Her parents were Johan Erik Cederblom, professor at the Teknologiska institute (later the Technical college) and his wife Augusta Oterdahl. One of Elin Cederblom’s siblings was Gerda Cederblom who went on to become an assistant and expert of textiles and costumes at Nordiska museum.
Having gained her school-leaving certificate at the Wallin school in 1888, Elin Cederblom worked as a teacher at Vänersborg elementary school from 1889-1892. She then moved back to Stockholm where she taught at the Wallin school until 1894. She then appears to have begun to study at Stockholm college, where she gained her Bachelor’s degree in 1896. She spent a probationary year teaching at Stockholm advanced sciences school. In 1898 Elin Cederblom moved to Lungsund in Värmland to begin teaching at Lundsberg private school for boys and she remained there for six years. Then she returned to Stockholm.
A few years’ interruption to Elin Cederblom’s teaching followed. Instead she became her father Professor Johan Erik Cederblom’s assistant in his scientific work at the Teknologiska institute in Stockholm. Following her father’s death in 1913 she took on the responsibility of arranging and publishing his scientific works. She was awarded a medal by the Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademi (engineering science academy) in recognition of her efforts. She also dedicated herself to a comprehensive lecture series, mainly in educational, training, and social matters.
During her time at Lundsberg Elin Cederblom wrote Grunddragen av embryologien, which was published in 1902. A few years later, in 1909, she published a piece called Handledning i sexuell undervisning och uppfostran. She published it in two separate parts, one of which was intended for women while the other was aimed at men. The first part is sub-titled För mor och dotter samt för lärarinnor, whilst the second part was sub-titled För föräldrar och deras söner samt för lärare. That same year Julia Kinberg, a school doctor, and Alma Sundquist published a book called Handledning i sexuell undervisning och uppfostran. They were awarded first prize in the same competition where Elin Cederblom won second prize for her work. Kinberg and Sundquist’s book gained more attention than Elin Cederblom’s because they mentioned contraception. Elin Cederblom’s good grasp of issues regarding society and the family meant that in 1912 she was summoned by the legislative body in order to discuss revising the marriage law.
From 1915 onwards Elin Cederblom returned to teaching. This time she worked as a teacher at the Ateneum public school in Stockholm.
Elin Cederblom was a member of the Nya Idun society from 1905 onwards and a member of the board in both the Fredrika-Bremer association and the Moderata kvinnoförbund (Moderate party women’s association). Elin Cederblom never married and never had children. In 1908 she moved from Stockholm to Länna, where she remained until her death in 1923. According to the death records she was cremated and scattered at the Norra cemetery in Stockholm.
