For my advanced degree in archival science, I have organised and catalogued two family archives; man Family Archives ("Gardtmanska släktarkivet") and the Hamnström Family Archives ("Hamnströmska säk- tarkivet"). Though both could be labelled "family archives", there were many differences between the two. The Gardtman Family Archives contained the records of several family members from a period of several centuries, spanning from the early 17th century, to the early 20th century. It was by far the larger of the two archives. A substantial part of the records consisted of documents regarding various agricultural estates the family had owned or been involved with in one way or another. The Hamnström Family Archives was smaller than the Gardtman Family Archives. It was of a more recent date. It contained also contained records from a more con- densed period of time; most of the records were from the 20th century. A large part of the material consisted of photographs from the early 20th century.    The different nature of the two archives made different organising and cataloguing principles suitable. I organised the Gardtman Family Archives more or less chronologically. My judgement was that other organising principles would destroy the provenance too much. I organised the Hamnström Family Archives according to the Martin Grass scheme for personal archives. Though it contained records from more than one person, it had many of the characteristics of a personal archive, since the persons lived during a relatively brief period of time.    In a final, theoretical part of this essay, I discuss some theoretical issues surrounding family archives, with special focus on provenance and appraisal.

For my advanced degree in archival science, I have organized and catalogued the Blomqvist family archive.  The Blomqvist family archive consists of records from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21th century. The records in the archive depict and describe different aspect of the Blomqvist familys life and work. Specific problems and theoretical questions that appeared during the cataloguing of the Blomqvist archive were related to the great presence of objects and photographs in the archive. A discussion concerning the role of objects in archives and within archive institution took place. The problem with cataloguing photographs as well as the problem of searching for photographs in archives, were also discussed.

This essay has its background in the work I’ve been conducting organizing and cataloging two personal archives concerning the life and work of two vicars, Johan Axel Björkman and P.A. Björkman. The time span of the papers stretches from 1823 to 1982. The main problems I’ve been confronted with during this work have to do with respecting provenance and original order. I discuss these principles in relation to the experiences I’ve had with the vicar archives as well as to the special character of personal archives in general. I also discuss the use of Martin Grass’ scheme for personal archives. The essay constitutes my one year master’s thesis in archival science.

Arkiv från myndigheter som upphört ska överlämnas till den myndighet som övertagit verksamheten. Delar av arkivet införlivas ibland i den nya myndighetens arkiv då handlingarna fortsatt behövs i verksamheten, medan huvuddelen av arkivet avslutas och överlämnas för förvaring utan att införlivas. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur överlämnande och införlivande av arkiv i samband med att myndigheter upphör kan förstås i förhållande till proveniensprincipen. En enkätundersökning har genomförts med myndigheter som mottagit handlingar från en annan myndighet som upphört. Uppsatsen visar att det finns en brist i myndigheternas kunskap om regelverket kring överlämnande och införlivande av handlingar. Detta leder till att sambandet mellan handlingarna och den ursprungliga arkivbildaren inte upprätthålls eftersom tillräckliga åtgärder inte görs. Resultatet visar att det finns en bristande dokumentation kring överlämnade och införlivade handlingar vilket leder till att det blir svårt att förstå ordningen i arkiven. Myndigheternas bristande medvetenhet gör att de inte kan lämna uppgifter om arkiv och handlingar som de förvarar och ansvarar för. Uppsatsen visar också att handlingarnas format påverkar hur de hanteras vid överlämnande och införlivande. Databaser och system införlivas i högre grad än handlingar av annat format utan att tillräckliga åtgärder görs för att upprätthålla proveniensen. Vidare visar uppsatsen på hur den förändrade myndighetsstrukturen, där myndigheter ofta läggs ner men verksamheten fortsätter hos en ny myndighet ger upphov till nya frågor kring tolkningen av proveniensprincipen. Den traditionella tolkningen att en myndighet utgör en arkivbildare är inte alltid tillämpningsbar då gränsen för när en myndighet upphör ofta är oklar.

The object of this two years master's thesis has been to study a specific genre of personal archives by examiningthe archives of nine parents who have lost one or several infants. Using internet-based methods, (e-mail, Skypeand digital photographs), I have conducted qualitative research using a general interview guide technique. Usingresearch from archival theory as well as other fields, my material has been arranged and analysed according tothemes and recurring thoughts picked up from my informants during the interviews.My main theoretical aid has been that the role of parent who has lost a child is the starting point for the creationof the personal archives. Another important theory is my definition of the term “document” as not dependent onmedium and format, but on usage: if an object has been used as a part of an archive, it is a document. I also claimthat study of personal archives is a way to help the archival profession and Swedish archival theory to becomemore democratic and inclusive, since especially the former is mandated to reflect all of society's many manifestationsof culture and memory. The results show that the archives contain a large selection of documents in differentformats and mediums, but that they also have many similarities. This is an effect of the fact that the parentshave all had roughly the same document-creating contacts with their relatives and friends, the authorities and theother parts of society often involved in the events proceeding the child's birth and death (or sickness and death).The reasons to create and maintain a personal archive are to preserve the memories of events, people, places,thoughts and feelings associated with the child and whatever time the parents got to spend with him or her. By remembering,the parents are also confirming the child's existence and place within the family, and helping themselvesconfirm their newly acquired role as parents who have lost a child. The archives and their constituent partsare used as physical and psychological “linking objects”, to help the parents feel (at least temporary) closer totheir child by watching, touching or talking about the most important documents. These are often the ones displayedon special memory shelves, on family photo walls or in memory boxes. It follows that arrangement of thedocuments is based mostly on the emotional attachment of the parent to the individual document, and that destructionof records are extremely rare in the studied archives. Their growth diminished with time, but does notstop completely since the parents, other relatives and friends still create new documents, mostly to observe holidaysand anniversaries. Furthermore, the way the parents use their archives and its constituent parts change astime passes. Individual documents may also change their emotional and cultural significance to the parent, orgain additional ones. Some of the underlying factors behind these findings are my informants views on creating,keeping and destroying documents. They all express a need to “save everything”, and most also want to “documenteverything”. The latter, their wish to create new documents to complement the ones created primarily byothers and as a result of specific events and processes, comes from a feeling of not having enough documents inthe archives. It can also be the result of dissatisfaction with those that do exist. Finally, as is commonplace amongpersonal archives, the archives in my study have multiple record creators within the immediate family and outsideit, even though my informants are usually the main creators. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive,Library and Museum studies.

This essay is based on the work of arranging and making an inventory for an archive consisting of records from the Board of Education (Utbildningsnämnden) within the administration of the County Council in Uppsala, Sweden. This archive is kept at the County Councils Archives in Uppsala where I have done the work. I have documented the process and discussed the complex of problems relating to it. In this particular case the issue of limitation of the office of origin and the respect of the fonds, or the principle of provenance, have been of interest. This is due to the fact that the records had been rearranged and mixed with records with other origin related to the Board of Education. Records from the early existence of the board have previously been arranged and an inventory had been made. This earlier work covered the period of 1971-1978, when the board of education had a secretariat. The aim of the work was to arrange the records of the board during the period of 1979-1997. After this period the board ended being an independent body. With support from theories of respect of fonds my conclusion is that the Board of Education is a coherent office of origin for the fonds during its entire period of existence dur - ing the years 1971-1997. I decided to make the first inventory a part of the new one in order to keep a logical continuity of the records and the inventory. Creating a subordinate archive with its own inventory would make the whole seem badly arranged and complicate the finding of records. Based on the respect of fonds I used the previous inventory to a large extent. The knowledge and understanding I gained thanks to the fact that I was able see the complete fonds made me do some changes. The archive consist of files based on journals to a large ex - tent, which makes a large part of the records easy to find. The work in combination with the essay constitutes my one year master’s thesis in archival science.

The text deals with the process of reorganizing and cataloging the archival material emerging from State secondary grammar school in Falun, which appears to have been poorly managed for a number of years. The work was done with consideration to former ways of organizing the material, and a great deal of research was needed in order to establish the outer provenance of the archive.The theoretical discussion goes deeper into the questions of provenance and appraisal in regard to the work,and some choices, especially the decision to reorganize the archive, are motivated with reference to Swedishrules and regulations concerning state authorities' archival management and their duties towards Swedish citizens.

The investigation analyzed the implementation and application of the Swedish National Archives' new Process-Oriented Archives Description Model to activities of the hierarchical, function-oriented and decentralized university organizations. The basic reason why a new archive description has evolved is because documents are becoming more and more digital. It requires a new interpretation of how evidence is secured for their reliability and authenticity, and a new way of looking at provenance, for the purpose of describing and searching electronic documents. The new archive description model's logical structure is based on business processes. The relationship between the new archive description and a function-oriented organization's activities can be seen from the different outlooks of processes between archive activities and activities of the organization. It is also reflected in the modification that all universities have made ​​of the new archive description model to be more flexible and pragmatic to fit a function-oriented organization. The relationship between provenance and process-oriented archive description is mainly the link between documents and business processes that produce them. For that reason, provenance with greater clarity fulfills the Archives Act and the Freedom of the Press Act. But provenance is often undermined by the identification and mapping of processes and by the classification of documents. A consequence for the introduction of process-oriented archive description is that both archival description and the role of the archivist have been recognized of a higher importance in the organization today. There are also other types of records and information issues that have been identified and considered. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.

<p>I have for my one year master's thesis worked on arranging and cataloging the archives from the missions stations of Musana, Congo-Brazzaville and Sundi-Lutete, Congo-Kinshasa, belonging to the Swedish Missions Church (Svenska Missionskyrkan). The archives contained records written in Swedish, French and Kikongo, from primarily the years 1910 until 1961. Records have though been found that adhere from both prior to and after these years. These archives are deposited at the Swedish National Archive and it was therefore important to take the opinions and regulations of both parties into consideration, as well as relying onto archival theory.</p><p>The archives were initially scattered and had in some parts been organized by an archivist without formal schooling. The major difficulties in this work has therefore been to establish the provenance – to which creator the documents belonged to, and also to decide to which degree the principle of the original order should play a part. After considering different theories, I decided to respect the secondary order for the correspondence, since rearranging it would disrupt the concordance in the work already done by researchers.</p><p>To still make the archives accessible for the users in its existing order it required me to be aware of whom the user of the archive is, probable areas of research and how these archives are used. This information was then used when writing the archival description and the scope notes in the inventory. I have also taken decisions based on what is practically possible; it has because of regulations not been possible to physically bring the archive to one unit. Also, the circumstances of a shared custody of the archives also determined, in practice, how the inventory could be written.</p><p>This is a one year master's thesis in Archival Science, at the university of Uppsala, Spring semester of 2010.</p>

I have for my one year master's thesis worked on arranging and cataloging the archives from the missions stations of Musana, Congo-Brazzaville and Sundi-Lutete, Congo-Kinshasa, belonging to the Swedish Missions Church (Svenska Missionskyrkan). The archives contained records written in Swedish, French and Kikongo, from primarily the years 1910 until 1961. Records have though been found that adhere from both prior to and after these years. These archives are deposited at the Swedish National Archive and it was therefore important to take the opinions and regulations of both parties into consideration, as well as relying onto archival theory. The archives were initially scattered and had in some parts been organized by an archivist without formal schooling. The major difficulties in this work has therefore been to establish the provenance – to which creator the documents belonged to, and also to decide to which degree the principle of the original order should play a part. After considering different theories, I decided to respect the secondary order for the correspondence, since rearranging it would disrupt the concordance in the work already done by researchers. To still make the archives accessible for the users in its existing order it required me to be aware of whom the user of the archive is, probable areas of research and how these archives are used. This information was then used when writing the archival description and the scope notes in the inventory. I have also taken decisions based on what is practically possible; it has because of regulations not been possible to physically bring the archive to one unit. Also, the circumstances of a shared custody of the archives also determined, in practice, how the inventory could be written. This is a one year master's thesis in Archival Science, at the university of Uppsala, Spring semester of 2010.