More of this Feature • Introduction • Research in America      Personal Documents      Public Documents • Research in Sweden      Parish Records      Court/Civil Records      Emigration Records      Research Difficulties      Swedish Archives      Swedish Societies      Research Centers

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Research Difficulties

A word of warning should be given to those who may wish to do research in Swedish archives, but who do not have a knowledge of the language or, even if conversant with Swedish, have no experience working with ancient documents. The manuscripts are often recorded in the old German script generally in use in Sweden until the end of the eighteenth century. Furthermore, the penmanship varies from parish to parish. Though one may find beautiful examples of handwriting, the opposite is all too often true. It can thus be quite frustrating to attempt to decipher the records. Under such circumstances, it would be advisable for you to enlist the services of a trained genealogist used to working with Swedish documents.

Usually each archive can provide a list of reputable and trained researchers, who would be willing to take on commissions for those who may not have the time or training to do this themselves. The fees are not exorbitant, but an agreement should be reached beforehand, so that before any search is started, the genealogist and the client are agreed mutually as 
to the size of the task and the fee to be paid. This will avoid many a misunderstanding.

Images © 2000 Kimberly Powell.  All Rights Reserved.
Article reprinted with the kind permission of the Swedish Information Service.