The project A legal historical treasure worth preserving
The Thora Ohlsson foundations have granted funds to make the special collection The Library of the Swedish Law Commissions visible. The Library of the Swedish Law Commissions is an important source for national and international research not only in jurisprudence but also in subjects such as history, political science and commercial law. The project is planned to last for three years, starting in the autumn of 2025.
Under scientific leadership, the Faculty of Law Library is cataloguing the collection's 6,000 to 7,000 books, and also plans to digitize the titles that are unique and most important to make digitally available from a legal historical point of view. One project goal is to provide clues in the bibliographic post in the catalogue as to the time periods during which the various books were incorporated into the collection and whether the books contain additional information that may be of interest for research.
The project group's first items on the agenda have been to decide on guidelines and procedures for cataloguing, and to organize a first seminar about the collection and the project. The seminar focused on documenting the history of the collection and how it was donated to the Faculty of Law, collecting views and requests from researchers interested in the books and the collection as such, and communicating the purpose of the project.
The number of books in the collection that are catalogued is growing continuously. At the end of 2026, there are plans to begin the digitization work. The scientific work within the project will continue throughout the project period.
The project is led by Professor of Legal History Martin Sunnqvist, who is also the project and scientific manager, together with the manager of the Faculty of Law Library Catarina Carlsson.