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SVAR PARISH RECORDS/CATALOGS

PARISH RECORDS
The Swenson Center is the North American agent for SVAR (Svensk Arkivinformation). SVAR is a division of the Swedish National Archives and its main purpose is to preserve vital archival materials and make it accessible to libraries and institutions in Sweden. Amid this wealth of material are the Swedish parish records, which are frequently used by genealogists on both sides of the Atlantic. These records, along with others listed below (all on microfiche), are available for purchase in North America through the Swenson Center.

Please note that in order to use the fiche you need access to a microfiche reader in your area, and most public and university libraries have such readers available for public use. Note also that the records are in the original record-keeper's handwriting in the Swedish language and the quality of the handwriting varies from one record to the next.
E-mail us for a listing from your parish  (specify parish & county)

**Please remember to include your postal address in e-mails to us, particularly if you are asking us to send you information.

Mailing address:
Swenson  Center
Augustana College
639 38th St
Rock Island IL 61201-2296

Order form for microfiche and catalogs in HTML Format (use once you have a listing of microfiche available to purchase for your parish).

Order form (Adobe PDF Format)

Riksarkivet SVAR
*Swedish parish registers including records of births & baptisms, weddings, deaths & funerals, and household examinations (husförhörslängder, containing records of nearly all parish members) from the 17th century up to approximately 1895.

*Extracts from Swedish parish records (births, marriages, deaths) for the years 1860-1920 and the household parish record extracts (sometimes referred to as Census records) for the years 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930. All of this material is based on the originals at the Swedish Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB).

COUNTY CATALOGS
County Catalogs are available for purchase for all of the different Swedish counties (län). The county catalogs show the different types and numbers of microfiche available for all of the parishes in a give county. Prices currently range from $10 to $25, including sales tax, postage, and handling. Please note that the county catalogs do not contain actual parish records with names of people. For information about the actual parish records, see PARISH RECORDS above. Contact us at the e-mail address below for more information or for a price list/order form. The order form with County Catalog prices can be printed out from the box to the right.

Or, if you are only interested in the records from one or two particular parishes, please tell us which ones you need and we will gladly send you a photocopy from our master catalog, showing the microfiche available to purchase for those few parishes (no charge, no obligation). Please include your postal address and the names of the parishes in which you are interested (include the län).

PARISH CATALOGS
Parish catalogs are available for most of the parishes in the following län: Blekinge, Gävleborgs, Göteborgs och Bohus, Hallands, Jämtlands, Jönköpings, Kalmar, Kopparbergs, Kronobergs, Norrbottens, Skaraborgs, Södermanlands, Uppsala, Värmlands, Västerbottens, Västernorrlands, Västmanlands, Älvsborgs, and Östergötlands. The parish catalog prices range from $10.00 to $30.00, including sales tax, postage, and handling. Please note that the parish catalogs do not contain actual parish records with names of people. For information about actual parish records, see PARISH RECORDS above. The parish catalogs are indexes that tell you where on the microfiche (purchased separately) you will find a specific village or farm. They contain only names of farms and villages within a given parish. Note also that not every parish has a parish catalog available. To see which parishes have catalogs available and their prices, click here.

Parish catalogs also serve as handy lists of place names within parishes, which will help you when trying to decipher names of farms and villages within the records.