Search the collections – Get started!

In the field ‘Beskrivelser af arkivmaterialerne’ (Description of archival records), you search all descriptive data:

• Notes and descriptions of the archive/dataset and information about the creator of the material
• Name of the archive creator
• Title of the archival material (archive series or archival version)

You can write as many words as you want, and write parts of a word, but it’s a good idea to start by searching broadly with few words.

Search structurally by using multiple search fields:

• Archive creator’s name: You can write the name of an archive creator. An archive creator is an authority, company, association, or person who has created an archive.

Title of archival material: You can write the name of an archive series. An archive series is a grouped collection of archival records. An archive series can be very small, e.g., a register in an accounting protocol, to very large, e.g., 3000 journal cases.

If your search yields too many hits, try to narrow your search:

• Write more words in multiple search fields.
• Limit the period. Write one or more years in the ‘from’ and ‘to’ fields. You can just write a start year or an end year, and don’t need to limit to day and month.
• Use filters to limit:
  • Availability: Choose if you only want to see results available online via Arkivalieronline or via dataset download.
  • Result type: Choose if you only want to see archive creators or only archive series/archival versions.
  • Format: Choose if you only want to see digitally created data or archival records created on paper.

If your search yields 0 hits, try to expand your search:

• Use fewer search fields. Maybe you’ve narrowed your search to too short a period or chosen a word in ‘Archive series title’ that doesn’t exist, e.g., if you’re looking for a ‘name register’ which in the particular archive is instead called a ‘roll book’.

Write only part of the word. Accommodate spelling errors and different spellings, e.g., by only writing ‘Overpræs’ if you’re looking for ‘Copenhagen’s Overpræsidium’.

You can do date searches in two different ways.

Limit with the ‘From’ and ‘To’ fields

If you use “From” and “To” to limit the period, you get all hits that in some way temporally fall within or overlap the time interval you specify.

You don’t need to fill in both fields, but can, for example, just enter a date in ‘From’. An empty ‘To’ field is interpreted by the system as the year 9999. An empty ‘From’ field is interpreted by the system as the year 1.

Limit the period via free text

If you write dates in the free text field ‘Descriptions of archival materials’, you only get hits that exactly match the date you have specified. If you know the precise date, it can be advantageous to write the date in the free text field, as it will give fewer hits than if you write the date in ‘From’ and ‘To’.

If you have written the date as free text and don’t find what you’re looking for, try writing the date in either the ‘From’ field or the ‘To’ field or both fields instead.

In the search field and in the filter bar, you can choose to check the box ‘Tilgængeligt online’ (Available online). This will only give you search results with material you can view online.

This is either scanned material found on Arkivalieronline or datasets that are freely available for download in .csv or various statistical formats.

Precise spelling: Use Exact match

If you only want to see search results with a specific spelling, you can choose to check the ‘Exact match’ box. For example, if you want to see all entries with ‘Johanne’, but not entries with ‘Johannes’.’Exact match’ affects all search fields at once and gives you only search results with the exact spelling of all the words you have written in the search fields.

Unsure of Spelling: use ‘?’ as wildcard

If you’re unsure whether a person is named ‘Peter’ or ‘Peder’, for example, you can write ‘Pe?er’, and you’ll search for both spellings.You can use multiple ‘?’ if you’re unsure about several letters in a word, and ‘?’ can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.Note: ‘?’ cannot be used if you’re also using “Search for exact match”.

You’ll find 3 categories of filters that you can use to refine your search.

Tilgængelighed (Availability)

Choose ‘Online’ if you only want to see results that are available via Arkivalieronline or via download.

Resultattype (Result type)

• ‘Arkivserie’ (Archive series): gives all relevant archive series and archival versions.
• ‘Arkivskaber’ (Archive creator): gives all relevant archive creators and information about the number of relevant archive series in the archive.

Format

Choose whether you only want to see digitally created data or archival records created on paper.

• ‘Papir’ (paper): shows only material created on paper, including scanned material on Arkivalieronline.
• ‘Digitalt skabt’ (Born-digital data) shows only material that is digitally created; e.g., electronic registers, ESDH systems, E-journals, and datasets.

Search results are by default sorted alphabetically by the archive creator’s name (Arkivskaber A-Å).

You can change the sorting order and instead choose to sort by:

• Reverse alphabetical order by archive creator’s name (Archive creator Å-A)
• Alphabetically by the entry’s title (archive series title A-Å)
• Reverse alphabetically by the entry’s title (Archive series Å-A)
• Chronologically by the archive series’ outer years (Oldest first)
• Reverse chronologically by the archive series’ outer years (Newest first)

Use Filter: ‘Digitalt skabt’ (Digitally created)

When searching for digitally created data, you often get 2 search results regarding the same data by default. They are named differently:

• ‘Arkiveringsversion’ (Archival version): This entry leads you to the individual archival version in Digidata, e.g., ‘The Danish Election Survey 2019’.
• ‘Arkivserie’ (Archive series): This entry leads you to the registration in Daisy of the entire archive series, which can contain many archival versions, e.g., ‘The Danish Election Survey, 1971-2019’.

Use the ‘Digitalt skabt’ filter under ‘Format’. This will only show you the born-digital archival versions and archive series.

Some datasets you can download

Datasets that are freely accessible can be downloaded. Use the ‘Available online’ filter under ‘Availability’ to only see search results with data you can download.

What can I find in born-digital data?

• Authorities’ administrative data: Data from IT systems that authorities have used in connection with their case processing and other activities. These are, for example, specialized systems, electronic registers, accounting systems, and ESDH systems (i.e., Electronic Case and Document Management Systems).
• Research data and surveys: Denmark’s largest collection of research data and questionnaire surveys.

Digitally created data consists of databases with one or more tables. You search in metadata at an overall content level and down to table level when you search for digitally created data.

There can be several reasons why your search doesn’t yield any hits or gives a different result than desired.

Different word – same meaning

A subject may have changed names over time. For example, ‘faderskabsag’ (paternity case) was previously called ‘alimentation’.

Archive series – naming

Perhaps you’ve written a designation for an archive series that doesn’t correspond to what’s registered in the systems. If you know another name, try that instead. For example, “marriage” instead of “wedding”.

Archive creator – naming

Archive creators may have had different names over time, and perhaps the name you’ve written isn’t yet registered in the systems. If you know another name, try that.

Use Singular

Have you written the designation for the archive series in plural? In the systems, most designations for archive series are written in singular, e.g., “Copybook”, not “Copybooks”. Try writing the archive series name in singular.

Dates

If you’ve written a date as a free text search, and don’t find what you’re looking for, try instead writing the date in either the from- and/or to-field or vice versa.

Are the Archives Delivered to the National Archives?

Perhaps the archive creator you searched for hasn’t delivered archives to the National Archives.

Old/New Spelling

Maybe you haven’t written the name of the archive creator or archive series in the same way it’s registered in the systems. In the systems, most names are registered with modern spelling.

Order is Irrelevant

You can write multiple words in the search field. The order of the words is irrelevant: Whether you write “Hove Parish” or “parish hove” makes no difference.

Same Word – different meaning

A word can have multiple meanings – also over time. For example, “expulsion” can mean people being expelled from Denmark, but in forestry, it can also mean marking (expulsion) of trees for felling.

Older References

If you’re searching based on an older reference, it may happen that the archives have been re-registered. Try searching for the archive creator’s name.

The transcripts are typically in a tabular format, and a specific template matching the content of the archive (called source type) has been created for each type of transcript.

World War 1

• ‘Danksindede sønderjyske krigsdeltagere’ (Danish-speaking South Jutland soldiers)
• ‘Faldne’ (Died in the war)
• ‘Krigsfanger kartotek’ (Prisoner of war register)
• ‘To Løvers desertør-kartotek 1916′ (Two Lions’ deserter register 1916)
• ‘Erindringsmedaljer’ (Commemorative medals)

Commemorative medals

• ‘Ansøgninger fra hhv. Marinen, Sverige og Norge, Sønderjylland’ (Applications from the Navy, Sweden, and Norway, South Jutland)
• ‘Sank Helena medaljen navneregister’ (St. Helena medal name register)
• ‘Dannebrogsmænd’ (Dannebrog men)

‘Dødsattester’ (Death certificates)

Prison and Punishment:

• ‘Arrestjournaler (1846 – 1917)’ (Arrest journals (1846 – 1917))
• ‘Strafferegistre’ (Criminal records)
• ‘Stamruller navneregister’ (Rolls name register)
• ‘Fangefortegnelser’ (Prisoner lists)
• ‘Fangefotografier (Horsens)’ (Prison photographs (Horsens))

Censuses:

• ‘Aabenraa’ (Aabenraa)
• ‘Vestindien’ (West Indies)
• ‘Folketællingskort, Kongeriget Preussen, 1885’ (Census cards, Kingdom of Prussia, 1885)

Fødselsstiftelsen (the Royal Maternity Hospital)

• ‘Fødsel-hovedprotokol’ (Birth main protocol)
• ‘Udsætterprotokol’ (Outplacement protocol)

Lists of enlistments

• ‘Lægdsruller, register’ (Rolls, register)
• ‘Haderslev Landråd, Alfabetiske Lister’ (Haderslev Land Council, Alphabetical Lists)

Passports and Travel Books:

• ‘Pasprotokoller – Udstedte Markedspas’ (Passport protocols – Issued market passes)
• ‘Pasprotokoller – Udstedte vandrebøger/pas’ (Passport protocols – Issued travel books/passports)
• ‘Pasprotokoller – Viserede vandrebøger/pas’ (Passport protocols – Visas for travel books/passports)

‘Psykiatrisk hospital Risskov – patienter’ (Psychiatric hospital Risskov – patients)

Danish West Indies:

• ‘Ankommende og bortrejsende personer’ (Incoming and outgoing persons)
• ‘Kopibog for skrivelser til kongen’ (Copy book for letters to the king)
• ‘Kort og tegninger’ (Maps and drawings)
• ‘Mandskabsruller for Gendarmerikorpset’ (Personnel rolls for the Gendarmerie Corps)
• ‘Mandtalslister og Zahlruller over tropper’ (Census lists and troop rolls)
• ‘Matrikler of landlister’ (Land registers and land lists)
• ‘Menighedsindberetninger om døde, fødte, konfirmerede og viede’ (Congregational reports on the dead, born, confirmed, and married)
• ‘Politiretsprotokoller og Politijournaler’ (Police court protocols and police journals)
• ‘Slavelister (Matrikeloplysningsskemaer)’ (Slave lists (Land registration forms))
• ‘Soldaterbøger’ (Soldier books)
• ‘Stambog for befalingsmænd i gendarmeriet’ (Service book for officers in the gendarmerie)
• ‘Stambogsblade for menige i gendarmerikorpset’ (Service records for privates in the gendarmerie corps)

Soon you can also search in all transcripts from the Danish Demographic Database, including census records, Nygaard’s slips, and probate inventories.

You can perform a free text search in the ‘Search’ field. This can be, for example, a person’s name or a place.

You can write one or more words in the search field. The order of the words is irrelevant: Whether you write “Hove sogn” or “sogn hove” makes no difference.

It’s a good idea to start by searching broadly with few words.

By default, you search in all source collections. Source collection refers to the template/form that an archive is structured after.

You can choose to search in a specific source collection in the dropdown menu ‘Select source collection’. It is not possible to select multiple specific source collections at once.

The names of the source collections are based on the content of the respective archive group. Thus, all source types about World War I are first named World War I followed by the topic, e.g., prisoner of war index. Similarly, all source types concerning the Danish West Indies are collected, except for censuses from the Danish West Indies, which are collected under censuses.

Special note on death certificates

Note that there are five different source collections with death certificates. This is because the transcription templates for death certificates have changed over time, and you must thus try all five source collections before you have searched whether a death certificate has been transcribed for the person you are looking for.

You can make very detailed searches when you search in a specific source collection.

Click on ‘Avanceret søgning’ (Advanced search). Now a series of different search fields open up, which are specific to the selected source collection.

Here you can fill in one or more of the fields if you have specific information, e.g., date of birth, place of birth, occupation, parish, or district. The advanced search is closed again by clicking on “færre søgefelter’ (Fewer search fields).

Precise Spelling: Exact match

If you only want to see search results with a specific spelling, you can choose to check the ‘Exact match’ box. For example, if you want to see all entries with ‘Johanne’, but not entries with ‘Johannes’.

‘Exact match’ affects all search fields at once and gives you only search results with the exact spelling of all the words you have written in the search fields.

Unsure of Spelling: ‘?’ as a wildcard

If you’re unsure whether a person is named ‘Peter’ or ‘Peder’, for example, you can write ‘Pe?er’, and you’ll search for both spellings.

You can use multiple ‘?’ if you’re unsure about several letters in a word, and ‘?’ can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

Note: ‘?’ cannot be used if you’re also using “Search for exact match”.

If your search yields too many hits, try to narrow your search:

• Write more words in multiple search fields.
• Limit the search temporally. Write one or more years in the ‘from’ and ‘to’ fields. You can just write a start year or an end year.

If your search yields 0 hits, try to expand your search:

• Write part of the word. This can be used, for example, if there is uncertainty about the spelling of a name (can be Pedersen or Petersen). The search engine ONLY searches for the word/spelling that actually appears in the archive.
• Use ‘?’ as a wildcard if you’re unsure about the spelling.

If the source contains dates, these are used – otherwise, the dates from the image series or archive series are used.

You can do date searches in two different ways.

Limit with the ‘From’ and ‘To’ fields

If you use “From” and “To” to limit the period, you get all hits that in some way temporally fall within or overlap the time interval you specify. You don’t need to fill in both fields, but can, for example, just enter a date in ‘From’. An empty ‘To’ field is interpreted by the system as the year 9999. An empty ‘From’ field is interpreted by the system as the year 1.

Limit the period via free text

If you write dates in the free text field ‘Descriptions of archival materials’, you only get hits that exactly match the date you have specified.

If you know the precise date, it can be advantageous to write the date in the free text field, as it will give fewer hits than if you write the date in ‘From’ and ‘To’.

A date in the free text field will also make it possible for you to find incomplete dates that are described in the source as e.g., ‘January 1843’. Again, be aware that you only find the entries where it is written exactly as in the archive – so a search for ‘january 1845’ does not find a ‘Jan. 1845’.

If you have written a date in e.g., “Free text”, and don’t find what you’re looking for, try instead writing the date in either the from- and/or to-field or vice versa.

Search results are by default sorted alphabetically by the person’s first name (Title A-Z).

You can change the sorting order and instead choose to sort by:

• Reverse alphabetical order by archive creator’s name (Archive creator Z-A)
• Alphabetically by the entry’s title (archive series title A-Z)
• Reverse alphabetically by the entry’s title (Archive series Z-A)
• Chronologically by the archive series’ outer years (Oldest first)
• Reverse chronologically by the archive series’ outer years (Newest first)

Note that for source collections that do not have a person as the focal point or person, sorting may be misleading.

Likewise, the sorting may seem misleading if nothing has been entered in the field for the name in the source or where the ‘main person’ is anonymous and registered with a number or similar.