Mina Thiis
Who was Mina Thiis?
Norwegian houshold teacher and cookbook writer (1871–1965)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Mina Thiis (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Mina Thiis was born on January 3, 1871, in Fredrikstad, Norway, to Jens Schanche Thiis and Hanna Cassandra Finne. She lived almost 94 years, passing away on January 28, 1965, in Oslo. Her life saw major changes in Norway, from before independence in 1905 through two world wars and into post-war modernization.
Thiis received a rare international education for a Norwegian woman of her time, attending schools in the Netherlands, Scotland, and France. This exposure to various culinary and domestic practices abroad influenced her teaching and writing later on. Back in Norway, she applied this knowledge to household education, which gained more focus in Scandinavia in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
From 1908 to 1918, Thiis taught at Berles girls school, established in 1894. After a decade, she opened her own school, Mina Thiis' household school, in Inkognitogata, Oslo. She ran the school independently for about ten years until around 1930, when she handed it over to others. The school offered practical training in cooking and household management to young Norwegian women when such skills were crucial for adult life.
After leaving teaching, Thiis focused on writing, publishing four cookbooks in 1932. These books drew from her extensive experience both abroad as a student and in Norway as a teacher. They appealed to Norwegian households, providing practical advice on cooking and household management suited to the times.
Thiis was a notable professional woman in early 20th-century Norway: educated internationally, independent in founding her own school, and influential through her published works that continued to impact after her teaching career ended. Her nearly 94 years allowed her to see the shift in Norwegian domestic culture from the late Victorian era to the mid-20th century.
Before Fame
Mina Thiis grew up in Fredrikstad, a port city in southeastern Norway. Her parents were Jens Schanche Thiis and Hanna Cassandra Finne. In Norway, the late nineteenth century was a time when formal domestic education for women was becoming more important, with household schools and cooking lessons being seen as valid professional training. In this setting, Thiis pursued a broad education by traveling to the Netherlands, Scotland, and France, where she learned both continental and British styles of cooking and managing a household.
This international education made Thiis stand out from many of her peers and gave her a strong foundation for her career as a teacher and writer. By the time she joined the Berles girls' school in 1908, she had gained a wide range of knowledge and practical experience that few Norwegian educators in her area could match. Her travels abroad were a crucial experience that influenced everything she accomplished in her professional life.
Key Achievements
- Founded and ran Mina Thiis' household school in Inkognitogata, Oslo, from approximately 1918 to 1930
- Taught domestic science and cookery at the Berles girls school for ten years, from 1908 to 1918
- Authored four cookbooks, all first published in 1932, based on her extensive teaching experience
- Completed an international education spanning the Netherlands, Scotland, and France, bringing continental culinary knowledge to Norwegian domestic education
Did You Know?
- 01.Thiis attended schools in three different countries — the Netherlands, Scotland, and France — before beginning her professional career in Norway.
- 02.She founded Mina Thiis' household school in Inkognitogata, a street in Oslo known for its association with well-to-do residents, reflecting the social milieu of her work.
- 03.All four of her cookbooks were first published in the same year, 1932, suggesting a concentrated and deliberate literary effort following her retirement from active teaching.
- 04.Thiis lived to be 94 years old, having been born in 1871 and dying in 1965, meaning she outlived her mother Hanna Cassandra Finne, who died in 1933 at the age of 92.
- 05.She taught at the Berles girls school for exactly ten years, from 1908 to 1918, a period that coincided with the entirety of the First World War.