Arkiv Digital AD AB is a Swedish company that produces and provides color photographs of

historical record Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world his ...

s, along with digital indexes of names for historical research. These resources cover a time span from the 1600s to the 1900s. The company's primary clientele includes

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural history, cultural and social history, social aspects of history. Local history is not mer ...

researchers Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

, libraries and associations. Arkiv Digital operates as a

privately-held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the company's stock is ...

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

with its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

located in

Lyrestad Lyrestad is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 479 inhabitants in 2010. In Lyrestad the Kinnekullebanan railway crosses the Göta Canal. References

Populated ...

, within the

Mariestad Municipality Mariestad Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the stad (Sweden), city of Mariestad. The present municipality was formed in 1971, when the ''City of Mari ...

, Sweden. The ''Family Tree Magazine'' has for over a decade, including in 2024, listed Arkiv Digital as one of the world's top 101

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

s for genealogists.

Photographed historical documents

Since its founding in 2005, Arkiv Digital's

competitive advantage In business, a competitive advantage is an attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors. A competitive advantage may include access to natural resources, such as high-grade ores or a low-cost power source, highly skille ...

has been the ability to offer newly photographed color images of Swedish historical records, unlike its competitors, who mainly offer black-and-white images digitized from microfilms and microfiche. Color photographs enhance

readability Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. The concept exists in both natural language and programming languages though in different forms. In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content ( ...

, particularly when dealing with discolored documents or text that has been crossed out. Arkiv Digital photographs historical documents in public

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

institutions across Sweden, including the

National Archives of Sweden The National Archives of Sweden (, RA) is the official archive of the Swedish government and is responsible for the management of records from Sweden's public authorities. Although the archives functions primarily as the government archive, it al ...

and its regional archives, the

Military Archives A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a di ...

, and the city archives of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. Their image database, as of the end of 2023, contains nearly 97 million color images of

historical document Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology. Significant historical docume ...

s, many of which are spreads. In general, the primary sources for Swedish genealogical research are the church books ( parish registers) kept in the parish church archives, now stored in the regional archives under the National Archives. This is because up to 1991, most of the Swedish

population registration in Sweden Population registration in Sweden () is the civil registration of vital events (e.g. births, deaths, and marriages) of the inhabitants of Sweden. The data is kept in the population registry () and is administered by the Swedish Tax Agency (). The ...

was legally managed by

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

on a per

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

basis. Among the key types of records Arkiv Digital has photographed are the following: * Church books: Virtually all Swedish church books up to approximately 1950. * Swedish-American church books from ten states in the USA. * Estate inventories (''bouppteckningar''): All estate inventories up to around 1960, complete with name indexes. These inventories specify the heirs of the deceased and may include additional genealogical information. * The ''mantals'' tax records (''mantalslängder'') 1642–1820. These were created annually per parish. They list the taxes levied on individuals meeting specific criteria, primarily based on age. * Military rolls dating from 1620 onward, along with naval rolls, general muster rolls, and service records. * Genealogical collections: A significant portion of older

genealogies Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

in the

Swedish House of Nobility The House of Nobility () in Stockholm, Sweden, is a corporation and a building that maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility. Name The name is literally translated as ''House of Knights'', as the knigh ...

, spanning the 1600s to the 1800s, and the entire Genealogica collection in the National Archives, with genealogies compiled during the 1500s and 1600s. The image database also includes

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

documents, mostly court records and land registration protocols, as well as a considerable number of other archival series, such as

prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

rolls, and archives related to “seaman's houses” (''sjömanshus'', state institutions for mustering and registering seamen in mercantile shipping). Among local materials is an extensive collection of digitized historical records from the regional archive of the Swedish-speaking

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Name indexes

Arkiv Digital has since 2016 been launching a number of large name indexes to historical records. By the end of 2023, the total number of index entries reached 262.3 million. Among the key name indexes are: * The Swedish Population (''Befolkningen i Sverige'', BiS) 1800–1947: This is the largest name index, containing over 133 million entries. It covers the entire Swedish population based on

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

al household records (''husförhörslängder'') and congregation records (''församlingsböcker''). (Created in collaboration with

MyHeritage MyHeritage is an online genealogy platform with web, mobile, and Genealogy software, software products and services, introduced by the Israeli company MyHeritage in 2003. Users of the platform can obtain their family trees, upload and browse thro ...

.) * Census of Sweden (''Sveriges befolkning'') 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985 and 1990, covering the entire Swedish population these years. * Indexes of births (1750–1840), marriages (1750–1840), and deaths (1750–1799) for all Swedish counties. * Index of digitized estate inventories, with nearly 6.2 million entries. * The Stockholm Population (''Befolkningen i Stockholm'') 1945. * Swedes in the USA (''Svenskar i USA'') 1940. * Index of all

Swedish emigrants Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

departing from Stockholm, Gothenburg,

, and

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

. (Created in collaboration with

Ancestry.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

.) * Index of general muster rolls 1660–1887, with approximately 4.37 million searchable entries from the Military Archives for

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

and

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

. * Index of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

cards (''stamkort''): Around 2.4 million entries for men enlisted between 1902 and 1950. All of these index entries – except for Census of Sweden for the years 1950 and 1960 – have direct links to the original sources. For subsequent years of Census of Sweden, the indexes themselves are the original, digital sources from the Swedish authorities.

History

Origins and business idea

In 2004, Mikael Karlsson in Mariestad started the business that later became Arkiv Digital. An investment memorandum from 2008 summarizes the origins: “The initiative to establish the company Arkiv Digital was taken by Mikael Karlsson, Gabriel Wallgren, Magnus Näslund and others in the summer of 2005. One year prior, Mikael Karlsson had already started taking digital photographs of the church books for Bohuslän county; Gabriel Wallgren, with years of genealogical research experience, had been a partner of Genline B where Magnus Näslund had been working as a software engineer and was a partner as well. In the fall of 2005, their cooperation was formalized, leading to the establishment of the limited liability company Arkiv Digital AD AB. In the summer of 2008, Arkiv Digital AD AB merged with HH DigiArkiv AB (formerly GH Microscan, founded in 2001) and acquired all the shares in the company. This was an important step in creating a genealogy research company for the future.” (Translated from Swedish.) The business idea was to “digitize historical source material with the highest possible quality using the latest technical equipment available and sell these digitized images to genealogists, associations, libraries, and other researchers.”

Distribution and growth

Initially, CDs were used to distribute the photographed documents. However, Arkiv Digital soon developed its own image format and

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

for internet distribution of images. This image viewing program integrated images, archival information, and catalog entries (mainly sourced from the National Archives Database, NAD), with images registered down to the page level. In 2007, Arkiv Digital launched a

subscription service The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. The model Publication by subscription, was pioneer ...

, allowing researchers to access the company's entire image database via the internet. This service quickly became the company's primary source of revenue, a status it still holds. (According to the 2023 annual report, 98.4% of net turnover is from subscription sales, while 0.8% comes from book sales.) In 2011, Arkiv Digital reported a positive result for the first time. The company received the financial newspaper Dagens Industri's “Gasellpriset” (“Gazelle Award”) for rapid and profitable growth in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Diversifying

In the early years, Arkiv Digital mainly served Swedish genealogists. The early annual reports emphasized that it was “founded by genealogists for genealogists,” and the company's focus was on documents in church archives. By the end of 2011, Arkiv Digital achieved its goal of digitizing the most relevant types of church books for genealogists, covering records up to around 1900. This achievement allowed the company to offer photographs of the same church books as the then

competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

s Genline and SVAR, but with the added benefit of color. (SVAR was the department within the National Archives responsible for digitizing archival materials. These were made available on the digital platform SVAR, for a subscription fee.) Around 2013, Arkiv Digital started broadening its range of source materials to appeal to new user groups, and the company began marketing itself in other Nordic countries and in the US to diversify beyond reliance on the Swedish market. In 2014, the company began adding a number of features that were missing on the SVAR platform. One of these was the service called “order photography”, introduced in 2015. With this service, users could pay to have specific volumes digitized and added to the image database. Another example of diversifying was the acquisition in 2016 of several million older

aerial photographs Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

, depicting farms and houses of all kinds across Sweden, from the company Svenska Aero-Bilder AB. These photographs date from the 1950s onward and were released in 2021, organized by map locations. After some years of public debate, the digitized materials on the SVAR platform became a completely tax-funded service, free of charge, on February 1, 2018, and the platform was renamed “Digital Research Room.” That meant the National Archives became a strong competitor of Arkiv Digital. The main clientele of Arkiv Digital are still the genealogists, and Arkiv Digital has since 2009 been the main sponsor for ''Släktforskardagarna'', a Nordic, annual genealogy fair described as one of the largest assemblies for genealogists in the world, according to the company's annual reports.

New trend results in name indexes

2022-10-27 18 10 18-ArkivDigital Anna Britta Darelius Bouppteckningsregister

In the 2014

annual report An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance. ...

, Arkiv Digital highlighted a new

trend A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period. Fads are objects or behaviors th ...

among younger users: They are less inclined to sift through large volumes of documents and expect instead easy searchability; otherwise, they tend to give up. As a

strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...

move, the company started creating name indexes for various types of historical records. In early 2016, Arkiv Digital could offer the indexes ''Census of Sweden'' for 1950 and 1960 respectively, and ''The Swedish Population'' (“Befolkningen i Sverige”) for 1880–1920. The same year, Arkiv Digital initiated collaborations with various genealogy associations to create searchable name indexes for all of Sweden's birth, marriage, and death records. The annual report of 2016 states that the three legs of Arkiv Digital are the archival materials, the indexes, and the

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...

. The

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

heavily limited the company's ability to photograph archival materials at state archives. According to the annual reports, much of the energy was instead spent on expanding the name indexes and improving the user interface.

Integrating family trees with historical records

In November 2019, Arkiv Digital added the feature of creating cloud-based family trees, manually or by uploading a

gedcom FamilySearch GEDCOM, or simply GEDCOM ( , acronym of ''Genealogical Data Communication''), is an open file format and the de facto standard specification for storing genealogical data. It was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

file. The purpose of this was to connect subscribers’ genealogical research directly with the company's digitized historical records and index entries.

Book publishing

In 2019, Arkiv Digital published Håkan Skogsjö's handbook ''Släktforskning på riktigt'', with an expanded edition 2021 and a further expanded one in 2024. For English-speaking researchers, an English version titled ''Explore your Swedish heritage'', was released in 2020, followed by an expanded edition in 2023. The handbook focuses on Arkiv Digital's digitized archival materials and name indexes while also describing traditional archives and research

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

AI technology?

In 2023, Arkiv Digital began exploring whether AI technology could be used to transcribe older handwritten texts, since many young people struggle to decipher handwritten texts even from the 1900s.

References

{{Reflist, refs= Press release: {{cite web , url=http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/arkivdigital-foervaervar-miljontals-flygbilder-1761207 , title=ArkivDigital förvärvar miljontals flygbilder (Arkiv Digital acquires millions of aerial photos) , date=24 January 2017 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , format= , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323074559/http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/arkivdigital-foervaervar-miljontals-flygbilder-1761207 , archive-date=23 March 2017 {{cite journal , last1=Skogsjö , first1=Håkan , date= , title=Mycket material från Åland hos Arkiv Digital (A Lot of Material from Åland at Arkiv Digital) , language=sv , journal=Släkthistoriskt Forum , location= Solna, Sweden , publisher=Sveriges Släktforskarförbund , volume=2015 , issue=1 , pages=50, 51 , issn=0280-3984The types of archival material photographed for Åland are church books, ''mantals '' tax registers, estate inventories, land registration protocols, bankruptcy acts, and maps. {{cite web , url= https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2007/AD_Arsredovisning_2006.pdf , title=Arkiv Digital. Årsredovisning 2006 (Arkiv Digital. Annual Report 2006) , date=14 May 2007 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222252/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2007/AD_Arsredovisning_2006.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url= https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2008/AD_Arsredovisning_2007.pdf , title=Arkiv Digital. Årsredovisning 2007 (Arkiv Digital. Annual Report 2007) , date=9 June 2008 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222250/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2008/AD_Arsredovisning_2007.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url= https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2011/Arsredovisning_ArkivDigital_2010_2.pdf , title=Arkiv Digital AD AB – Årsredovisning 2010 (Arkiv Digital AD AB – Annual report 2010) , date=13 April 2011 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222302/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2011/Arsredovisning_ArkivDigital_2010_2.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2013/ARKIVDIGITAL_2012.pdf , title=Årsredovisning 2012 (Annual Report 2012) , date=22 April 2013 , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222309/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2013/ARKIVDIGITAL_2012.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=31 May 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2014/arsredovisning_webbversion.pdf , title=Vi satsar för framtiden. Årsredovisning 2013. Arkiv Digital AD AB (We invest in the future. Annual report 2020. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=28 April 2014 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422194808/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2014/arsredovisning_webbversion.pdf , archive-date=22 April 2024 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2015/Arsredovisning2014_webb.pdf , title=Mot nya tider. Årsredovisning 2014 Arkiv Digital AD AB (Towards new times. Annual report 2014. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=1 May 2015 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222251/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2015/Arsredovisning2014_webb.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2016/Arsredovisning2015_webb3.pdf , title=Grunden är lagd. Årsredovisning 2015 Arkiv Digital AD AB (The foundation is laid. Annual report 2015 Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=1 May 2016 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602175848/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2016/Arsredovisning2015_webb3.pdf , archive-date=2 June 2024 , access-date=2 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2017/ADarsredovisning2016.pdf , title=Titta vi flyger! Årsredovisning 2016 Arkiv Digital AD AB (Look! We're flying! Annual report 2016 Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=7 April 2017 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222255/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2017/ADarsredovisning2016.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2018/ADarsredovisning2017.pdf , title=Mot högre mål. Årsredovisning 2017. Arkiv Digital AD AB (Towards higher goals. Annual report 2017. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=9 April 2018 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222305/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2018/ADarsredovisning2017.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2019/ADarsredovisning2018.pdf , title=Vi breddar oss. Årsredovisning 2018. Arkiv Digital AD AB (We are expanding. Annual report 2018. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=9 April 2019 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222258/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2019/ADarsredovisning2018.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2020/A_rsredovisning2019.pdf , title=Störst vill bli större. Årsredovisning 2019. Arkiv Digital AD AB (The biggest wants to be bigger. Annual report 2019. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=28 April 2020 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222247/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2020/A_rsredovisning2019.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2021/AD_Arsredo2020_webb.pdf , title=Full fart framåt. Årsredovisning 2020. Arkiv Digital AD AB (Full speed ahead! Annual report 2020. Arkiv Digital AD AB) , date=21 May 2021 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222248/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2021/AD_Arsredo2020_webb.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024 The aerial photographs were acquired in 2016, and the digitization was completed in 2021. {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2022/AD_Arsredo2021_webb.pdf , title=Årsredovisning 2021 Arkiv Digital AD AB (Annual Report 2021) , date=3 May 2022 , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , page=5 , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222248/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2022/AD_Arsredo2021_webb.pdf , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=31 May 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2024/AD-arsredovisning2023-webb.pdf , title=Årsredovisning 2023 Arkiv Digital AD AB (Annual Report 2023) , date=5 April 2024 , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , page=1 , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530083042/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/investers/2024/AD-arsredovisning2023-webb.pdf , archive-date=30 May 2024 , access-date=31 May 2024 The now defunct Swedish company Genline AB scanned the Swedish church books from used

microfiche A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

copies of the black-and-white

microfilm A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

s that the Swedish company Rekolid produced from 1948 for the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded dur ...

. In 2010, Genline was acquired by

. {{cite web , url=https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/newsroom/press-releases/ancestrycom-to-acquire-swedens-genlinese , title=Ancestry.com to Acquire Sweden's Genline.se , date=14 June 2010 , publisher=Ancestry.com , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240528162046/https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/newsroom/press-releases/ancestrycom-to-acquire-swedens-genlinese , archive-date=28 May 2024 , access-date=1 June 2024 – The National Archives of Sweden is currently (2024) taking new color photographs of the 20th-century church books, previously only available in black-and-white. Generally, though, the National Archives has different priorities than Arkiv Digital regarding what to digitize. Parish priests were required by the Swedish church law of 1686 (which came into effect in 1688 and was in force, with amendments, until 1888) to register births/christenings, marriages/

banns of marriage The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town cou ...

, deaths/burials and people entering or leaving the parish in such church books. From the latter part of the 18th century, the household records – books detailing the annual and mandatory

examinations per household (“husförhörslängder”), where each individual publicly had to demonstrate their knowledge of all sections in Martin

Luther's Small Catechism Luther's Small Catechism () is a catechism written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Bapti ...

– began spanning between five or ten years per volume. They came to function as a compilation of the other church books on household level, with some additional data, like a continuous

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

. In 1895, the household records were replaced by congregation records (''församlingsböcker''), with similar information and format. {{cite news , last=Classon , first=Roland , date=28 January 2008 , title=Arkiv Digital ny uppstickare (Arkiv Digital new challenger) , url= http://www.hd.se/familj/slaktforskning/2008/01/18/arkiv-digital-ny-uppstickare/ , language=sv , work=Helsingborgs Dagblad , issn=1103-9388 , publisher=Sydsvenska Dagbladet AB , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130919084335/http://hd.se/familj/slaktforskning/2008/01/18/arkiv-digital-ny-uppstickare/ , archive-date=19 September 2013 , access-date=15 February 2015 ; – {{cite news , last=Classon , first=Roland , date=5 November 2012 , title=Arkiv Digital tar ny sats mot framtiden (Arkiv Digital takes a new approach to the future) , url= http://www.hd.se/familj/slaktforskning/2008/01/18/arkiv-digital-ny-uppstickare/ , language=sv , work=Helsingborgs Dagblad , location= , issn=1103-9388 , publisher=Sydsvenska Dagbladet AB , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130928054316/http://hd.se/familj/slaktforskning/2012/11/05/arkiv-digital-tar-ny-sats-mot-framtiden/ , archive-date=28 September 2013 , access-date=15 February 2015 {{cite web , url=https://familytreemagazine.com/best-european-genealogy-websites/ , url-access= , title=Best European Genealogy Websites (part of the list "101 Best Genealogy Websites") , last=Fryxell , first=David A. , year=2024 , series= , publisher=Yankee Publishing, Inc. , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615160933/https://familytreemagazine.com/best-european-genealogy-websites/ , archive-date=15 June 2024 , access-date=15 June 2024 , quote= Find your Swedish ancestors in the most-complete collection of Swedish church books, military records and more—over 97 million full-color scans—at this subscription site (about $37 per month). A growing collection of searchable indexes makes it easier than ever to get results. – David A. Fryxell, Aurora (Colorado), is the founder of ''Family Tree Magazine'' and the author of (among many other works) ''The Family Tree Scandinavian Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Ancestors in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway'' (published by Family Tree Books in 2019, {{ISBN, 9781440300752). A large number of further tax records and rolls from the 1500s and 1600s, such as land registers (''jordeböcker'') and annual tithing registers (''tiondelängder'') per parish, are available for free on the National Archives’ digital platform. {{cite web , url= https://sok.riksarkivet.se/digitala-forskarsalen , title=Digital Research Room (Digitala forskarsalen) , website= , publisher=National Archives of Sweden , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240327204311/https://sok.riksarkivet.se/DIGITALA-FORSKARSALEN , archive-date=27 March 2024 , access-date=1 June 2024 Press release: {{cite web , url=https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/gasellfoeretag-foer-tredje-aaret-i-rad-1260621 , title=Gasellföretag för tredje året i rad (''Gasell'' company for the third year in a row) , date=26 November 2015 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208144223/https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/gasellfoeretag-foer-tredje-aaret-i-rad-1260621 , archive-date=8 December 2015 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite journal , last1=Thunberg , first1=Ida , date=7 August 2015 , title=Släktforskningen förgrenar sig (Genealogy is branching out) (paywall) , url=https://www.di.se/di/artiklar/2015/8/7/slaktforskningen-forgrenar-sig/ , journal=Dagens Industri , language=sv , publisher=Bonnier News , publication-place=Stockholm , issn= 0346-640X {{cite book , last=Skogsjö , first=Håkan , date=2020 , title=Explore your Swedish heritage , location=Lyrestad , publisher=Arkiv Digital , isbn=978-91-981999-2-5 {{cite book , last=Skogsjö , first=Håkan , date=2024 , title=Släktforskning på riktigt. Revised and expanded edition , location=Lyrestad , publisher=Arkiv Digital , isbn=9789198199956 {{cite magazine , last1=Lundholm , first1=Michael , title=Ett släktforskarbibliotek 1–6 (A genealogy library 1–6) , magazine=Svensk Genealogisk Tidskrift (Swedish Genealogy Magazine) , editor=Lundholm, Michael , language=sv , location=Solna, Sweden , publisher=Genealogiska Föreningen , volume=2022 , issue=2 , page=123 , issn=1654-1731 , quote=The handbook is in my opinion the best introductory handbook to genealogy that has so far been written. (’Handboken är enligt min mening den bästa introducerande handbok i släktforskning som hittills skrivits.’) {{cite book , last=Skogsjö , first=Håkan , date= 2020, title=Explore Your Swedish Heritage , location=

Populated ...

, publisher=Arkiv Digital , pages=13–15, 53–61 , isbn=978-91-981999-2-5 Press release: {{cite web , url=http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/glaedjebesked-snart-fler-moderna-kyrkboecker-1298191 , title=Glädjebesked: Snart fler moderna kyrkböcker (Good news: Soon more modern church books) , date=22 January 2016 , publisher= Arkiv Digital , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160213071515/http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/glaedjebesked-snart-fler-moderna-kyrkboecker-1298191 , archive-date=13 February 2016 , access-date=1 June 2024 Press release: {{cite web , url= http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/nytt-aar-ny-logotyp-1113940 , title=Nytt år, ny logotyp (New year, new logotype) , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , language=sv , date=15 February 2015 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150517065658/http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/nytt-aar-ny-logotyp-1113940 , archive-date=17 May 2015 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite web , url=http://www.arkivdigital.se/pdf/Emissionsmemorandum_sammandrag_September_2008.pdf , title=Sammandrag av Investment Memorandum. Nyemission september 2008 (Summary of Investment Memorandum. New Share Issue September 2008) , author=Gabriel Wallgren (CEO) , date=September 2008 , publisher=Arkiv Digital , page=4 , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127014203/http://www.arkivdigital.se/pdf/Emissionsmemorandum_sammandrag_September_2008.pdf , archive-date=27 January 2009 , access-date=1 June 2024 {{cite journal , last=Skogsjö , first=Håkan , date= , title=Ny tjänst: Du beställer, vi fotograferar (New service: You order, we photograph) , language=sv , journal=Släkthistoriskt Forum , publisher=Sveriges Släktforskarförbund , volume=2015 , issue=1 , page=52 , issn=0280-3984 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/productcatalog/arkivdigital-productcatalog.pdf , title=Product Catalog October 2022 , date=October 2022 , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , language=en , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531162552/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/productcatalog/arkivdigital-productcatalog.pdf , archive-date=31 May 2024 , access-date=31 May 2024 {{cite web , url=https://resources.arkivdigital.se/productcatalog/arkivdigital-productcatalog.pdf , title=Produktkatalog Augusti 2023 (Product Catalog August 2023) , date=16 August 2023 , publisher=Arkiv Digital AD AB , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422194739/https://resources.arkivdigital.se/productcatalog/arkivdigital-produktkatalog.pdf , archive-date=22 April 2024 , access-date=31 May 2024 Press release. {{cite web , url= http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/mikael-karlsson-ny-vd-i-arkivdigital-772366 , title=Mikael Karlsson ny VD i ArkivDigital (Mikael Karlsson new CEO for Arkiv Digital) , publisher=Arkiv Digital , date=15 June 2012 , language=sv , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131113213738/http://www.mynewsdesk.com:80/se/arkiv_digital_ad_ab/pressreleases/mikael-karlsson-ny-vd-i-arkivdigital-772366 , archive-date=13 November 2013 , access-date=1 June 2024 , quote=Mikael Karlsson is 40 years old, and it was his interest in genealogy and a need for better copies f church booksthat gave birth to Arkiv Digital. Arkiv Digital began as a hobby project, the project grew, and in the fall of 2005 Mikael, together with others, founded the limited liability company Arkiv Digital AD AB. Mikael was a member of the company board 2005–2007 and 2010–2014, and his main task has been as responsible for the production at the different archives. – Mikael Karlsson served as Arkiv Digital's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

from 2012 to 2020. The most used Swedish church books by genealogists are primarily volumes with the following notations in the church archives: A I (household records) and A II (congregation records), B (moving records), C (birth books), E (marriage books), F (death books), H (attachments), K (parish meeting protocols) and L (church accounts). {{cite web , url= https://wiki.rotter.se/index.php?title=Arkiv_Digital , title=Arkiv Digital , author= , date=10 November 2022 , orig-date=February 2, 2015 , website=Wiki-Rötter , publisher=Sveriges Släktforskarförbund , language=sv , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110222257/https://wiki.rotter.se/index.php?title=Arkiv_Digital , archive-date=10 November 2022 , access-date=1 June 2024

External links

Official website
Swedish companies established in 2005 Online companies of Sweden Swedish digital libraries Genealogy websites