2012-2013

A unique co-operation between YWCA-YMCA and the National State Archives will assist scholars and scientists to get access to pioneering work in the area of volunteer youth activities and women history.

YWCA-YMCA of Sweden was granted financial support in order to make about 30 shelf-metres archive material for the YWCA (KFUK in Swedish) National Council 1889-1966 and the YWCA-YMCA (KFUK-KFUM in Swedish) National Council 1966-1999.available for research. A professional and qualified archivist was hired part-time during the year 2011 in order to list and register the material in close co-operation with volunteers from the YWCA-YMCA.

Now the full archives of YWCA National Council (KFUKs riksförbund) are sorted and listed for the time period from 1882 (that is before the National Council was formally founded) until YWCA was amalgamated with YMCA (KFUM) 1966. Also the minutes for the KFUK-KFUMs riksförbund (YWCA-YMCA National Council) have been delivered, sorted, listed and registered for the time-period 1966-2008.

The YMCA and YWCA-YMCA in Sweden have been pioneers in the field of vocational training for professional staff working in the association or other youth or Christian associations. Different archives for the vocational training of YWCA/YMCA staff - staff usually called YWCA/YMCA-secretaries - such as directors, managers, and consultants -- have been organised together and listed. Different kind of committees, sub-organisations regarding staff issues that have worked during different time periods under different names but with similar tasks have also been re-organised so that a person not too familiar with the YWCA/YMCA-structures could understand and find relevant documents.

All these records are now available for search in NAD, Nationella Arkivdatabasen, the Swedish National Archives Database, and the archive material is included in the large YWCA-YMCA archive kept in the National Archives, Arninge, Täby. On the webpage for YMCA Sweden there is a chapter, link forskningsarkiv, about archives and research regarding YWCA and YMCA with information about the organisation. Proposals are given about the possibilities for research and studies.

A side effect of the project is that the professional archivist who was hired also has given the volunteer archive-committee inspiration and increased their archive competence.

The archivist
When writing the application the idea was that the archivist who would be available for a limited task during three months would be professional but a person who just finished the studies and exam and was looking for a job. When asking qualified archivists with long experience and many contacts the result was that one of those offered him self for the job. Urban Johansson had just left his position as archivist for the city of Lidingö in order to work with associations and institutions in the larger Stockholm-area saving their archives. Urban has not only a long experience as archivist but also as counsellor and teacher within the area and has thus become some kind of guru for archive work in volunteer associations. He was willing to take the job on part time spread over the full year of 2011. That facilitated the work I and other volunteers had to do and gave us more time to sort out and make a better supply to the archives. His experience also made it possible for him to increase the work to include more subjects than planned in the archive work. He was able to give critics and advise regarding the handling of documents and archives. He has also been available for counselling after the contract was completed.


There were also changes within the KFUK-KFUM (YWCA-YMCA) during the period. The headquarters moved from the Old City in Stockholm to a smaller office in the YMCA Central local association in Stockholm. In the application it is mentioned that about 15 shelfmeters of old documents were found in the basement. In connection with the move more was found and the limited archives committee had a tough work to sort out, trough away or keep to deliver to the archives. As the project had archive work in focus, did increase the co-operation with the National State Archives and through Urban Johansson increased the competence among the volunteers the project has also influenced that work in a positive way.

Another change within the Swedish YWCA-YMCA-movement is that it was decided to change the Swedish trademark and thus common used name of the association from KFUK-KFUM Sverige to KFUM Sverige. The understanding of M in the name would be människor (people) instead of män (male persons) and the "translation" of KFUM into English would be YWCA-YMCA. Many of us older members are afraid that the change of name would make people forget the connection with KFUK/YWCA. That has given an extra importance to the project. Due to the project the history of YWCA in Sweden is well documented as well as information about the amalgamation with YMCA. The archives are registered and available for studies and research.

Further work

When the project application was made we were fully aware that the large YWCA/YMCA archives in the National State Archives as well as kept within the movement itself and its different parts would demand much more work and larger costs than what could be included in the project application. The part we took as a priority and got funding for is an important step and contribution to the history and research about Swedish volunteer association life and civil society.

Left to register is parts of the archives for YMCA National Council before 1966 and thematic arranged documents for YWCA-YMCA National Council 1966-2005, some since long kept in the National Archives in Arninge and some in a new deliverance from the Old City to Arninge. I have been working with that and hope to finalise it during this year. Hopefully staff at the National Archives would be able to register what would be fully listed and prepared into the official register NAD.

For the YWCA-.YMCA Scout Alliance an extensive volunteer work is going on which will be finalised within a not too far future.

For the Sports Alliance and Triangle Alliance within the movement about 5 shelfmeters are kept but not listed and registered at the National Archives in Arninge. From the 1970-ies and further much is kept and maybe lost within their office. No interest for archives is seen at present time in the leadership.

Our hope now is of course that research for more simple essays as well as deeper studies will be done when the archives have made available and also the registers are possible to search on Internet. Information about such work will be published on the YMCA web and thus hopefully inspire more to work with subjects within the YWCA- and YMCA-movements history and present life.

YMCA web page www.kfum.se