Heritage
Emigration took more than 1.2 million Swedes to North America - the movement of people stands out as one of the greatest emigrations from a European country. Sweden's intensity of emigration was exceeded only by that of Ireland and Norway, and one out of five Swedish-born people lived in the US in 1900.
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The Stockholm marina |
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Photo: www.imagebank.sweden.se/Christian Lagereek |
Few ethnic groups in North America have shown more interest in their history than the Swedes. Perhaps you are one of the people in America with Swedish ancestors? Today the search for history is easy.
Most of the original Swedish church records, census, emigration, probate and other records from approximately 1700 to the early 1900s are on microfilm and microfiche, which can be sent to the family history centers for research. Gazettes, maps and other search aids are also available.
Tracing can also be done online before traveling to Sweden. The Swedish Emigrant Institute, a national research center, helps clients find living relatives and establish contact with them. The Institute also arranges courses in genealogy and assists in the reading of old handwritten documents.
The Institute has Europe's largest collection of emigration history and has a 13,000 sq. ft. space for exhibitions, library archives and reading rooms. The collections cover the 1846-1930 period of Swedish overseas migrations, during which time 1.2 million people left Sweden. The archives contain approximately 6,000 ft. of materials, the library has over 20,000 titles, and the comprehensive database and church record inventories contain literally millions of names, dates, and places.
Make sure to start the research well in advance and to give as many details as you can about your ancestors to help the staff to prepare for your visit.