[1][2][3] It was named after the goddess Idun in Norse mythology, who appears with her basket of apples on its masthead.

Idun's target audience was always the educated woman of the bourgeois family, initially aimed at women in the home.

[4] Idun was founded by newspaper man Frithiof Hellberg [sv] and C. E. Gernandt in 1887.

Its content later took on a more general character, with reportage, opinion pieces and extensive fictional features.

In 1980, falling circulation figures forced it to a monthly cycle, and it was renamed Månadsjournalen (meaning 'Monthly Record' in English).