The purpose of this essay is to critically review the archival investigation report to conclude what suggestions the investigation has led to, what criticism it has met, and if it is possible to identify any flaws with the investigation. I have made a text analysis of the report and the responses from referral bodies. The investigation concludes that there is need for a new and modernised archival law to follow the changes in a more digitalised society. The report also highlights the importance to include private archive institutions in the new law to protect their records for future research and as a part of our cultural heritage. There is a focus on mass digitising of analogue records from 1970 and onwards, to be able to make them available in digital form. The investigation also states that all archives should report information about their stocks to the National Archives Database. To finance the suggested changes, the investigation proposes a redistribution of funds. The referral bodies agree that a modernised archival law is important, since the current one is over 30 years old. They concur that the private archives need protection and want all archives to be included in the new law, not just the ones that are funded by state funds. A majority criticise a mass digitisation of the older archives. They state that it is more important to implement e-archives and make solutions for long-preservation of the information that is “born digitally” today. Otherwise, there is a risk that the information will be lost for future research. The Swedish National Archives, Riksarkivet, is suggested to be given the task to improve the national archives database to make it more user-friendly and easier for governmental authorities and private archives to provide information about their stocks in a national information system. The referral bodies also agree that the funds presented in the report are not enough to implement the changes suggested. Even though the name of the report is From Here to Eternity,” my conclusion is that investigation fails to present suggestions for long-term preservation of digitally born information and how to ensure that the information will be accessible in the future.

Introduction. The aim of this thesis is to examine how Swedish private archival institutions perceive the possibility of being included in the Archival Law. At present the Archival Law of 1990 only applies to official documents from the public sector. Recently however a proposal to change the legislation so that it in part also applies to private archives has been made in the newly published Archival Inquiry commissioned by the government. A more far-reaching proposal to include the private archives in the law has also been made by the Swedish National Archives. Method. We conducted a qualitative research study using semi-structured interviews with 10 informants from 8 different private archival institutions in Sweden. Analysis. By presenting what has been said regarding legislation for private archives in previous archival inquiries, government propositions and other official reports we frame the idea of legislation for private archives by putting it in its culturalpolitical context. An important concept that permeates this thesis is the concept of cultural heritage and how it relates to private archives. The transcriptions from the interviews were analysed by the use of force-field analysis which has its roots in Karl Lewin’s field theory. Results. By collecting the informants thoughts concerning a new legislation for private archives and analysing them as forces working for (driving forces) and against (restraining forces) change we show the complexities surrounding this issue. Conclusion. In many cases uncertainty of what the consequences of the new legislation will be for the private archival institutions prevents them from supporting the change. Our informants also feel that the Swedish National Archives has a top-down perspective which prevents them from listening to and learn from the private sectors experiences. Collaboration between the public and the private sector seems to be the way forward. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science