Dagfinn Mannsåker was a Norwegian archivist and historian.

He was born in Ullensvang

Ullensvang

Ullensvang is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre is the village of Kinsarvik....

, and was the brother of Bergfrid Fjose

Bergfrid Fjose

Bergfrid Fjose was a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party.She was born in Ullensvang as the daughter of priest and politician Jon Mannsåker, and was the sister of Dagfinn Mannsåker. She enrolled as a student in 1935, took the teacher's examination in 1938 and worked as a teacher...

. He took the dr.philos. degree in 1955, on the thesis Det norske presteskapet i det nittande hundreåret. Sosialhistoriske studiar. He worked as a school teacher from 1954 to 1959, lecturer at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 from 1959 to 1965 and director of the National Archival Services of Norway

National Archival Services of Norway

The National Archival Services of Norway is a Norwegian government agency that is responsible for keeping state archives, conducts control of public archiving and works to preserve private archives. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs and consists of the National...

 from 1965 to 1982. He edited the academic journal Historisk Tidsskrift for many years, and contributed to Norsk Biografisk Leksikon

Norsk biografisk leksikon

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia.The first edition was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles...

. From 1966 to 1972 he chaired the Norwegian Historical Association

Norwegian Historical Association

The Norwegian Historical Association is a Norwegian historical organization.It was founded in 1869 by Michael Birkeland and Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae. Its purpose was to publish the academic journal Historisk Tidsskrift, which it commenced in 1871...

.

Publications (selected)

• Jacob Aall: liv og gjerning før 1814, Oslo 1944.
• Det norske presteskapet i det nittande hundreåret. Sosialhistoriske studiar, 1954.
• Norsk samfunnslære, with Hans Aarnes, 1956.
• Norsk samfunnslære for realskolen/realskulen, with Hans Aarnes, 1959.
• Nyare forsking omkring 1814, in the booklet 1814 og 1884, Oslo 1968.
• Diskresjonsspørsmål og personvern i lokalhistoria, in Heimen, 1977
• Dei religiøse folkerørslene og samfunnet ca. 1750 - 1850, in Streiftog i Kirkehistorien, Oslo 1996.
• Vegen til Kringsjå. Byggesaka til Riksarkivet fram til 1965, in Arkivmagasinet 1/1998