SOURCES and GUIDES for Swedish Genealogical Research

01. Riksarkivet - The National Archives and the Regional State Archives of Sweden - English language homepage.
Archives for central government records since the 17th century (regional records are contained in regional archives).

Search the archives collections in English

Krigsarkivet, The Military Archives was founded in 1805, and keeps military records from the 16th century onwards. in English

SVAR - Svensk Arkivinformation (see below) is a Department of this Archives>

(Thanks to Karen for the following 4 database links & descriptions):

02. SVAR - Svensk Arkivinformation - Department of the National Archives of Sweden (search page in English) Includes Parish Records, Court Archives, Estate Inventories, and other databases. (Note: If the page you see is in Swedish, go to the Languages menu item at the top to change to English.)

Generic index name search is free, but paid subscription is required for access to information (varying access periods/rates). Data on CD’s also available for purchase.

Parish Registers - Church Archives (Note: Use Search to see available parishes under "Ecclesiastical Archives" heading.)

Swedish Censuses for 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900.

Emigration database search

Other databases include: Seamen's database; Convicts database; Fire Insurance records; Court Records; Church Records; Military Records.

03. ArkivDigital - Swedish Church and other Historical Records, newly photographed in color and available online for a fee (varying access periods/rates). This database is now available FREE at the L.A. Family History Library (where our Scandinavian group holds its meetings).

A member of the Nordic Genealogy Society can help you get started using this wonderful research resource. Members often come to the library early, before our meetings, and we usually allow time after our meetings to aid others with research - let us know in advance if you would like assistance and we will try to arrange for one of our knowledgeable members to meet with you before or after our meeting.

Swedish Church Records. New direct digital scans in color. It has an easy online user interface, and contains Over 28 million images!

Other Historical Records, also scanned in color.

While fee-based, ArkivDigital.net is a superior collection of scanned online Parish Register images for Sweden. It is currently considered by many to be the preferred source for Swedish parish records, Estate Inventories, and Many other Swedish genealogical resources. They also have a Ship Manifest database Passenger ship manifests for emigrants leaving from G�teborg and Malm� ports are available on ArkivDigital online. These lists include information such as the name of the ship, departure date, name of the emigrant and age and often you will find birth place or residence in Sweden and final destination.

04. Sl�kdata www.sl�kdata.org/ Family Data - This is a non profit organization which is indexing parish registers and making them available FREE to genealogists. (Note that this is an incomplete collection.)

You can use Google Translate to translate this page into English.

For Birth/Marriage/Death search (via Google Translator) click on “Free searchable Database of Genealogy”, or on “Registerliste” tab.

Some data is in Excel (typed) format and downloadable; other information is only available for purchase in CD format from the Swedish Genealogy Association bookstore.

Their news section includes tips on new items available through OTHER online sites - and older “news” lists are also available to review! There are also links to other Swedish research sites (e.g. graves).

05. Ancestry.com has purchased the Swedish collection of Genline, containing scanned Parish Records of varying quality.

The Genline collection contained older scanned and partially indexed Swedish Church Records, including Birth/Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, and Household Examinations (church households censuses). The more newly scanned images at ArkivDigital (subscription database) are considered superior, but the Ancestry records may be available to you free at a local FHC or library. Civil Birth, Marriage, and Death records for 1897-1937 were being added from the Statistics Sweden (SCB), a Swedish government agency.

06. Research Archives of Ume� University, including the 1890 Swedish Census for specified counties. Click on British flag at top for English

1890 Swedish Census (selected counties available online).

07. Demografisk Databas S�dra Sverige is a free database (partial) for church records of births, marriages, and deaths in Southern Sweden - Sk�ne, Blekinge and Halland. Their goal is to include all church records for the period 1650-1900. Click on British flag at top for English

08. Central Soldier Register The project is run by Garnisionsmuseet of Sk�vde and the project Centre for Local History at the University of Link�ping. Their database is based on materials from the (1682-1901) Classification Board. At present, the database has 210,723 records of soldiers and sailors. The database is updated several times a year.

10. Computer Genealogy Society of Sweden

Above webpage translated to English via Google Translate

The Society website includes Blogs, a Forum (part in English), and an Archive where members can store their family research online (uploaded via GEDCOM and access by the public is apparently at the member's choice). Our Nordic Genealogical Society member Paul Wahlquist published articles in their E-Zine Rooted in Sweden which was for English-Speaking genealogists.

11. Reading Gothic Handwriting for Swedish Genealogy Videos.
Geoff Morris of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah has created a 3 video set of his wonderful lessons about reading Gothic handwriting for Swedish genealogy . Geoff is an excellent teacher.

Part 1 - Reading Gothic Handwriting for Swedish Genealogy Part 1

Part 2 - Spelling and Phontics for Swedish Genealogy

Part 3 - Reading Gothic Handwriting for Swedish Genealogy

12. Swedish Genealogy Guide website. Contains Guides and Tips for doing Swedish research.
(sponsor of the above Youtube videos).

13. Swedish American Newspapers. Browse Issues or use the database to look for relatives mentioned in newspapers.

14. Visit Sweden The official tourism guide for Sweden, including travel tips, cultural information, and other facts of interest.

More Links coming soon from our members.

Note that for websites written in Swedish, you can use Google Translate to translate the text of the page into English (text in images will not be automatically translated - you will need to type in such text manually).
Also, when using Google Translate, note the small typewriter icon - click on this typewriter to select Swedish letters not found in the English keyboard, to be included in the text you are typing as input for Google translation.