Background
The son of a clergyman, Odhner"s mother was a sister of Nils Ericson and John Ericsson.
The son of a clergyman, Odhner"s mother was a sister of Nils Ericson and John Ericsson.
Uppsala University.
Odhner went to school in Skara and matriculated at Uppsala University in 1851, completing the degree of filosofie magister and becoming a docent of History in 1860. He taught at Lund University from 1865, as professor of history from 1870 until 1887, when he was appointed riksarkivarie, director of the National Archives, a position where he remained until 1901. Odhner was a productive writer, and the schoolbooks he authored were influential.
He was the main mover in the introduction of the new organisation of the archives for government agencies with a number of provincial archives (landsarkiv), to some extent subordinate to the National Archives.
Swedish Academy; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]
Odhner was a member of the Second Chamber of the Riksdag 1894-1897. He was elected Member of the Swedish Academy in 1885, and was member of several other learned societies.