Norway Periodicals

Overview
A periodical is a regularly published magazine, newsletter, or journal. Several valuable periodicals concerning Norway genealogical research exist. Many genealogical and historical societies publish magazines and newsletters. The articles in these periodicals often include the following:
 * Family genealogies and pedigrees
 * Helpful articles on research methodology
 * Transcripts or indexes of biographical sketches, censuses, church records, migration lists, military records, obituaries, wills, vital records, and more
 * Historical background
 * Current and historical maps
 * Information about local and national records, archives, and services
 * Interesting articles about social life and customs
 * Book advertisements and book reviews
 * Advertisements of professional researchers
 * Queries or requests for information about specific ancestors that can help you contact other interested researchers

Periodicals
The periodicals are usually written in Norwegian and mainly contain compiled genealogies of native families and articles on local history. They are an excellent place to publish queries or advertisements for information about a Norwegian ancestor.

The following are some helpful periodicals for Norway:


 * Norsk Slektshistorisk Tidsskrift (Periodical of Norwegian Family History) 1928-. Oslo, Norway: Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening..


 * Norwegian Tracks 1976-. Published by Vesterhiem Genealogical Center : Norwegian American Museum. This is a quarterly periodical to assist genealogists with Norwegian and Norwegian-American research..


 * Norway—Periodical Index up to 1996 1998. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . This index of surnames and localities is available in the Norwegian periodicals at the Family History Library's Scandinavian register table. An addendum is in process and includes 1996-2000.

How to use the Norwegian Periodical Index
This is an index to material containing genealogical information from articles found in Norwegian Genealogical and Historical Periodicals that are part of the Family History Library collection. There are two Periodical Indexes.

1. The first one indexes periodicals from early 1900 – 1996. 2. The addendum of the Periodical Index indexes periodicals printed from 1997 to the present. The index is divided into three sections: • A key to the abbreviations used for the periodical, followed by the FHL call number. • Locality Index. A locality may be any kind of jurisdiction, such as a farm, parish or county. • Name Index.

The Norwegian Periodical Index is not an index to every name and place mentioned in all the articles in the different publications. It would be too extensive. However, efforts have been made to include the articles with enough information to be of interest to a genealogical researcher.

For each entry the index gives an abbreviation for the name of the periodical where the article is published, followed by the year, volume, and page number. In a few places in the column for volume the letters “sup” and “jub” appear. “Sup” is an abbreviation for supplement, “jub” is an abbreviation for a special anniversary issue. For full name and FHL [Family History Library] call numbers for the periodicals, see below.

There are a few volumes from 1982, 1999, 1994 and 1996 included in the addendum that were left out when the original index was made. The index is alphabetized according to the standard modern Norwegian alphabetical order. The Norwegian language has three additional letters: Æ, Ø, and Å. These three additional letters are filed alphabetically after the letter “Z”.

For some entries the page number listed in this index is the page the name or locality appears on. For most of the entries the page number listed refers to the beginning page of the article in which the name or locality appears.

The following is an example of how to use the abbreviation key.

Locality Index (example)

Name Index (example)

Find information in the Locality or Name index section of the Norwegian Periodical Index. Example: choose Rogaland, Sjeleregister 1758 from the locality section. The abbreviation key is ÆH for Ætt og Heim, Rogaland in the Abbreviation key section. The year of the periodical is 1958; this is a supplement issue, then page 1. Find call no. 948.31 H25at which is the call number for Ætt og Heim-Rogaland, then look for volume 1958 supplement. Look for page 1. Here you will find an article with the 1758 Census for all the parishes in Rogaland County, Norway. The information is listed by parish, then name of the farm, and then each household starting with the name of the father, then his wife, then the name of their children, servants etc. Besides the name of each person, their age, occupation, stand in the family and in some cases miscellaneous information is also given.

Obtaining Periodicals
Copies of periodicals are available from the local societies that publish them. Major archives with genealogical collections will have copies of many periodicals, particularly those representing the area they serve. The Periodical Source Index, or PERSI, is the largest subject index to genealogy and local history periodical articles in the world. PERSI is available online and is especially useful because it refers to countless items published in thousands of family history periodicals worldwide. Learn more at the PERSI wiki page here: Once you locate an article in a periodical, check the FamilySearch Catalog and regional or local libraries for available copies. The Family History Library has collected many periodicals, with some available in digital format and accessible online. Norway periodicals may be found in the FamilySearch Catalog with a Place and Subject search, as found here: Norway-Periodicals. They can also be found by using: Also find Periodical resources available at other libraries via WorldCat. As with the FamilySearch Catalog search, search WorldCat using society names, locality names, and periodical title names. Learn more about how to search WorldCat and the FamilySearch Catalog on our Wiki pages.
 * Periodical Source Index (PERSI). Ft. Wayne, Indiana: Allen County Public Library Foundation, 1987-. (Family History Library book ; 40 fiche (1847-1985); 15 fiche  (1986-1990). Partially indexes over 5,000 family history periodicals. The microfiche indexes are cumulative; book indexes since 1986 are year-by-year. For further details see the PERiodical Source Index Resource Guide (34119).
 * Find My Past Researchers can use the Internet edition of this index at Family History Centers via their site.
 * Place Search of the country, state/province, and county
 * Title Search of the periodical
 * Keyword Search for the publishing society name.