Material indices of the Archives
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Material indices of the Archives
Online Indices
Finnish Heritage Agency’s Archive Service
The Archive Service contains metadata for materials created by the Finnish Heritage Agency and the State Archaeological Commission. The service's materials are mainly from 1884–2013. The service also includes metadata for materials archived by person and, for example, research reports produced by other actors.
Some of the materials have been digitised and can be accessed directly through the Archive Service. The service has two interfaces for customers: a public interface that can be browsed online, and a researchers’ room interface at the Finnish Heritage Agency's researchers’ room. The researchers’ room interface displays more materials than the public interface: some documents have usage or display restrictions, so they cannot be opened in the public interface.
Special materials, such as photographs, drawings and maps, are primarily managed in the MuseumPlus system. Original photographs related to documents are managed by the Finnish Heritage Agency's Picture Collections and cannot be found in the Archive Service. The metadata for the Finnish Heritage Agency Archive's drawings and maps has been catalogued in the service at the archival unit level, i.e. by drawing box. Digitised special materials are mainly found in MuseumPlus.
Several migrations were carried out into the service in 2024: the Finnish Heritage Agency Archive's previous archive catalogues and the Cultural Environment Research Reports database can now be found in the Archive Service. Additionally, digitised materials and metadata from the Case Management Register of the Cultural Environment Division (‘Case Register’) have been transferred to the service. The updating of the old systems has ended, but they will remain available for browsing for the time being.
Statements and Decisions
The Finnish Heritage Agency transitioned to electronic records management and archiving in February 2013, when a case management system was introduced for registering and electronically archiving documents. The publication service related to the records management system, Statements and Decisions (Museoviraston asiat in Finnish), was launched in 2017.
The service contains statements and other documents related to the Finnish Heritage Agency's field from late 2017 onwards, but only some documents are published on the website. Publication may be restricted due to personal data contained in the documents. At the Archives and Information Services' researchers’ room, materials can be browsed more extensively through the VirastoVahva case management system customer view.
Archive index of the Finnish Antiquarian Society
The indices of the archives of the Finnish Antiquarian Society can be found from the society’s website.
Indices accessible from client terminals in the research hall
Finnish Heritage Agency’s Archive Service
The service has two interfaces for customers: a public interface that can be browsed online, and a researchers’ room interface at the Finnish Heritage Agency's researchers’ room. The researchers’ room interface displays more materials than the public interface: some documents have usage or display restrictions, so they cannot be opened in the public interface.
VirastoVahva Customer View (Statements and Decisions)
The Finnish Heritage Agency's case management system VirastoVahva was introduced in April 2023 and serves as the official registry application and electronic document archive for the agency's administrative affairs. The customer view provides access to matters and documents related to the protection, documentation, research and management of the cultural environment that have been processed at the agency since 18 February 2013. The customer view displays public cases and documents.
Through the view, users can also browse materials from SALAMA, the predecessor of VirastoVahva. The system contains metadata and related documents from the previous electronic administrative diary from 1995–2013, among other materials. Materials predating February 2013 have been converted to the Case management system from the old Case register, so there is some overlap with those materials. Materials from the old Case register was unified to the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Archive Service in 2024, so some materials in the customer view overlap with materials in the Archive Service.
MuseumPlus
MuseumPlus is the collections management system used by the Finnish Heritage Agency, which can be browsed from the researchers’ room's customer terminals. The system is primarily used to manage information related to object and photographic collections. For the Finnish Heritage Agency's archives, the system only contains metadata and digitised copies of special materials such as maps and drawings. The archive's special materials have been catalogued in the Cultural Environment Drawing Collection in MuseumPlus. The previous Index of drawings of the built environment has been migrated into the same entity. The system contains drawings related to the built environment and archaeological site maps, such as digitised excavation maps associated with research reports.
The archive's special materials have also been catalogued by drawing box in the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Archive Service: they can be found in the Finnish Heritage Agency's series I KARTAT JA PIIRUSTUKSET.
Case Management Register of the Cultural Environment Division (‘Case Register’)
The digitised materials and metadata from the archives that were in the Case Register have been transferred to the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Archive Service in 2024, and the updating of the system has ended, but it remains available for browsing.
The system was primarily used by the former Building History Department for monitoring, statistics and distribution of statements from 1997 to 2013. Information was entered into the system from 1997, more comprehensively from 1998 onwards.
The system was parallel to the Finnish Heritage Agency's official administrative diary. The use of the information system for its original purpose ended on 18 February 2013, when the Finnish Heritage Agency introduced an actual records management system and electronic archive. After February 2013, metadata and digital materials from various years were retrospectively added to the system in connection with the Finnish Heritage Agency Archive's digitisation projects. Public matters and documents can be browsed at the Archives and Information Services' researchers’ room and via the Museoverkko for registered users.
Old Indices
Research reports on the cultural environment
The system's updating has ended, and its data has been transferred to the Finnish Heritage Agency's Archive Service in 2024. The system will remain available for browsing for the time being. The cataloging of new research reports into the database ended completely in 2017, after which electronic records management and archiving were adopted for them as well. Through the Statements and Decisions (in Finnish), you can browse e.g. more recent archaeological research reports.
The system cataloged various research reports, manuscripts, and other studies related to archaeology, the built environment, and ethnology. Most of the digitised materials are publicly available. Some of the digitised materials are available through Museoverkko for registered users and at customer terminals in the Finnish Heritage Agency's researchers’ room.
The system contains materials related to the built environment mainly from the 1960s onwards, with older materials catalogued unsystematically. Archaeological research reports date back to the 1880s, with some even older data included. For historical archaeology, research reports were cataloged into the system more systematically from 2011 onwards.
The ethnological material cataloged in the system consists mainly of various manuscripts from the late 19th century onwards. The ethnological manuscripts contain, for example, various narratives, fieldwork materials, collections by student nations, ethnological theses, responses to surveys conducted between 1900–1945, materials concerning Finno-Ugric peoples, and fieldwork materials related to working-class culture.
Index of drawings of the built environment
The updating of the drawing index ended in 2010, and it has been transferred to the MuseumPlus system. The metadata and digitised materials for drawings and maps can be found in MuseumPlus, in the Cultural Environment Drawing Collection. The archive's special materials have also been catalogued by drawing box in the Finnish Heritage Agency's Archive Service: they can be found in the Finnish Heritage Agency's series I KARTAT JA PIIRUSTUKSET.
The catalog contains metadata for drawings and individual collection-type materials produced by the State Archaeological Commission and the Finnish Heritage Agency. Most of the materials are related to the built environment, but the catalog also includes drawings related to ancient monuments. The largest individual entities are drawings related to the research and repair of medieval castles.
Some of the drawings mentioned in the catalog are no longer in the Finnish Heritage Agency's archives; for example, the drawings of the Russian Engineering Corps have been transferred to the National Archives. Drawings and maps classified as collections have been transferred to the Finnish Heritage Agency's Picture Collections.
The Journal of Ancient Artefacts has been the main catalogue for the archaeological collections until 24 February 2024. After this, the main catalog was transferred to Apuri. The Journal of Ancient Artefacts contains basic information on finds from 1829 (KM1) up to number KM44664, including both research finds and objects submitted by private individuals. From 2011 onwards, historical period finds have also been recorded in the archaeological collections. Earlier finds belong to the historical collections of the National Museum.
The discovery catalogues are mostly available in digitised form. Full-text searches can be performed on the typewritten catalogs thanks to optical character recognition (OCR). Most of the digitised discovery catalogues are publicly available online. For data protection reasons, some of the material is only available to registered professional users via Museoverkko. Materials with display restrictions can be accessed at the Finnish Heritage Agency's researchers’ room customer terminals.
The master catalog can also be found in the Finnish Heritage Agency's Archive Service by archival unit (volumes, boxes): the catalogue is in the Finnish Heritage Agency's series Bab Arkeologisten kokoelmien pääluettelo.