Archive and Photo Collection of the State Institute for Racial Biology
The State Institute for Racial Biology was an independent research institute based in Uppsala from 1922 to 1959. When the institute closed, its archive was transferred to Uppsala University.
The institute’s researchers set out to study how traits and diseases are inherited. Its first director, Herman Lundborg, sought to divide the Swedish population into racial categories for that purpose. The scientific validity of both race research and the concept of race was already questioned by the second director, Gunnar Dahlberg, who took office in 1935.
Preserving the archive and making it available to scholars and the public is essential for understanding this history.
Contents of the archive
The archive comprises correspondence, annual reports, diaries, accounts and press cuttings, together with a large collection of photographs.
The photo collection
The photo collection consists mainly of portraits of people living in Sweden between 1916 and 1937. Altogether it contains about 12 000 photographs, arranged by the institute in 105 albums and some fifty folders of loose prints.
The description of the images follows the institute’s original Register för albumskåpet and the handwritten titles on albums and folders.
Some of the photographs were taken by institute staff, others by contracted photographers; a number were also sent in to the institute. Several images pre-date the institute’s founding, and many were taken by Herman Lundborg, its first director.
Finding material in the archive
Locate documents
The finding aid shows which records the archive holds—for example minutes, correspondence, diaries and accounts.
Individuals
The archive does not preserve research data, name lists or registers of people examined by the institute.
Names of individuals who corresponded with the institute can be traced by searching the diaries.
Digitised records
The diaries and annual reports have been digitised; links are provided under series B and E in the finding aid. The digitised files can be searched in free text.
Locate photographs
Photographs are described in a separate list, retaining the institute’s original arrangement and titles.
Because most portraits are anonymous, you must browse the relevant album or folder—often organised by geographical area—and identify the person visually.
How to order material
- Material may be consulted only on site in the Special Collections Reading Room at Carolina Rediviva.
- You need a library card or campus card to visit the Reading Room. Library cards can be ordered in advance – see Borrow and request.
Documents
- Order via the online request form.
- We can prepare about five volumes at a time.
- Submit your request at least two days before your visit.
Digitised photo albums
- To view the albums you must book a computer workstation in the Special Collections Reading Room.
- Please book well in advance. The albums are available on one computer at a time and for one user at a time.
Request items from the archive
To request items, please fill in our order form. Enter the title and call number, e.g. Letters received by the Institute, call number E2:1.
Book a computer to view photographs
The photo albums are only available digitally on site in the Special Collections Reading Room at Carolina Rediviva.
About the archive of the State Institute for Racial Biology
The State Institute for Racial Biology (Statens institut för rasbiologi) was established by a decision of the Swedish parliament in 1921 and opened in Uppsala in 1922. One of the driving forces behind its creation was Herman Lundborg (1868–1943), who became its first director.
In 1936 Lundborg was succeeded by Gunnar Dahlberg (1893–1956), a critic of racial biology as a science. Over time the institute shifted its focus from race studies to research in medical genetics and social medicine.
When the institute closed in 1959, its activities were absorbed into the Department of Medical Genetics at Uppsala University. The institute’s records were transferred to the University archives and are now administered by the University Library.
Why the archive is open
As a former state agency, the institute’s documents are public records under Sweden’s principle of public access (offentlighetsprincipen). Access is governed by the Freedom of the Press Act (1949:105), except where the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400) restricts disclosure.
No current legislation limits access to the archive itself, although the General Data Protection Regulation and the Secrecy Act may restrict the dissemination or publication of certain personal data.
Since the institute ceased to exist as an independent agency, management of the records has been regulated by the Archives Act (1990:782), which requires Uppsala University to preserve and organise the material for public access and research. The University and its Library comply fully with all applicable laws and regulations.
The archive serves both as evidence and as a reminder—highlighting the importance of transparency and critical scrutiny of scientific and political decisions.
Related archives and collections
Herman Lundborg’s private correspondence is also held by the University Library. The letters are indexed in the digital register BRUNO and can be consulted on site in the Special Collections Reading Room at Carolina Rediviva.
Literature
Parliamentary papers (links to digitised documents)
- Motion i Första kammaren 1920 (nr 7)
- Motion i Andra kammaren 1920 (nr 26) – Identical to the motion in the First Chamber and therefore not reproduced in full.
- Proposition 1921 (nr 114)
- Diskussion i Andra kammaren 1921 (nr 42, § 7) – The bill was adopted in the First Chamber without debate.
- Riksdagens skrivelse 1921 (8A, nr 49)
Publications issued by the institute
Publications produced by Statens institut för rasbiologi are not held in one single location and may be found in several libraries. Search Libris or The Library Search Tool using, for example, the researcher’s name.
- Dahlberg, Gunnar, Arv och ras, Kooperativa förbundet, Stockholm, 1940.
- Dahlberg, Gunnar, Normalt och sjukt arv: en översikt av människans ärftlighetslära, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1946.
- Dahlberg, Gunnar, Race, reason and rubbish: an examination of the biological credentials of the Nazi Creed, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1942.
- Dahlberg, Gunnar & Wahlund, Sten, The race biology of the Swedish Lapps P. 2 Anthropometrical survey, Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala, 1941.
- Linders, Frans Josua & Lundborg, Herman (red.), The racial characters of the Swedish nation: Anthropologia suecica..., Uppsala, 1926.
- Lundborg, Herman & Runnström, John, The Swedish nation in word and picture, Stockholm, 1921.
- Lundborg, Herman, Svenska folktyper: bildgalleri, ordnat efter rasbiologiska principer och försett med en orienterande översikt, Tullberg, Stockholm, 1919.
- Lundborg, Herman, Svensk raskunskap, Folkuppl. med text, kartor, diagram och planscher, Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala, 1927.
- Wahlund, Sten & Lundborg, Herman (red.), The race biology of the Swedish Lapps P.1 General survey. Prehistory. Demography. Future of the Lapps, Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala, 1932.
Publications about the Institute
Below is a selection of works concerning the State Institute for Racial Biology.
- Björkman, Maria, Den anfrätta stammen: Nils von Hofsten, eugeniken och steriliseringarna 1909-1963, Lund 2011.
- Broberg, Gunnar, Statlig rasforskning : en historik över Rasbiologiska institutet, Lund 1995.
- Broberg, Gunnar & Tydén, Mattias, Oönskade i folkhemmet : rashygien och sterilisering i Sverige, Stockholm 1991.
- Broberg, Gunnar, ”Statens institut för rasbiologi - tillkomståren”, i: Broberg, Gunnar,Eriksson, Gunnar, Johannisson, Karin & Frängsmyr, Tore (red.), Kunskapens trädgårdar : om institutioner och institutionaliseringar i vetenskapen och livet,Stockholm 1988, s. 178-219.
- Broberg, Gunnar, Statlig rasforskning : en historik över Rasbiologiska institutet, Lund 1995.
- Dahlgren, Eva F., Fallna kvinnor : när samhällets bottensats skulle lära sig veta hut, Stockholm 2013.
- Dahlgren, Eva F., Farfar var rasbiolog : en berättelse om människovärde igår och idag, Stockholm 2002.
- Ericsson, Martin, Vetenskapen som försvann? : svensk rasforskning efter 1935, Lund 2023.
- Furuhagen, Björn, Den svenska rasbiologins idéhistoriska rötter : en inventering av forskningen, Stockholm 2007.
- Hagerman, Maja, Käraste Herman : rasbiologen Herman Lundborgs gåta, Stockholm 2015.
- Hagerman, Maja, Det rena landet : om konsten att uppfinna sina förfäder, Stockholm 2006.
- Kjellman, Ulrika, Managing Photography of Racial Science in Uppsala University Library, i: European University Legacies, s. 273-295, Edinburgh University Press, 2025
- Kjellman, Ulrika, "A Whiter Shade of Pale", i: Scandinavian Journal of History, 2013, 38:2, s. 180-201.
- Lindquist, Bosse, Förädlade svenskar : drömmen om att skapa en bättre människa, Stockholm 1991.
- Lundmark, Lennart, Allt som kan mätas är inte vetenskap : en populärhistorisk skrift om Rasbiologiska institutet, Stockholm 2007.
- Lundmark, Lennart, ”Lappen är ombytlig, ostadig och obekväm” : svenska statens samepolitik i rasismens tidevarv, Bjurholm 2002.