The digiarchives contain material that genealogists will find interesting. E.g. communion and childrens books are easily available for researching at home.
All the publicly accessible material in the archives is older than 125 years. E.g. the newer church records (100-125 years old) can be used through our search database by our members.
The digitizers are genealogists who digitize material that they're interested in. The digitized pictures are scaled to a good size to show online (500-1500 kb). We recommend a broadband connection for viewing the site.
A great deal of the pictures are digitized from microfilms of the original archived material. They've been digitized by using a microfilm scanner after which they've been uploaded to the site. Possible double pictures on the microfilms have been left out. Some of the sources have been photographed from the original church records by our volunteers. The aim is to increase the share of the pictures taken from the original material due to their good quality.
A majority of of the material has been indexed and for example many communion books have an index with names of villages and houses. These names are written as found on the original documents and they might contain mistakes, but they help you find the picture you're looking for faster. Anyone who's familiar with the parishes or has a good knowledge of old handwriting can send additions or corrections to the information already up on the site. We also welcome microfilm indexes.
If you're not familiar with the different types of books, we suggest reading through the church records part of the Finland Research Guidance on the The Federation of East European Family History Societies website.