The National Archives of Norway's service declaration
You can contact the National Archives of Norway and ask for information from the archives. We have prepared a service declaration that describes what you can expect from us.
Questions to the National Archives of Norway
Inquiries to the National Archives of Norway, with questions relating to archives we preserve, should preferably be made via forms available on our website under Our services.
If you do not have the opportunity to use our digital services, you can use ordinary letter post.
You can also contact us on the online forum, by phone or in person to get general information about archives, routines and opening hours.
When you contact us
If you contact us using open forms or e-mail, the information is sent unencrypted. Therefore, do not send sensitive or confidential information in this way. Instead, use forms with secure login via electronic ID under Our services.
Your name will be visible in public records, if the inquiry from you is required to be recorded and we are not authorized to screen it.
What can we offer?
It takes a lot of time to do archival research, and we have limited staff resources at our disposal. Therefore, we must emphasize what you need the information for, and adapt our efforts after this. We divide the inquiries into three groups depending on the purpose of the request:
- Rights
- Professional needs
- Public access
We prioritize the inquiries in the same order.
Rights
By rights we mean questions about personal relationships (e.g. biological parents), matters relating to pay and pensions (e.g. sailing time for seafarers) and rights to real estate. In such cases, we assist in finding the necessary information from the archives. The more information you can give us about the background to the case, the easier it will be for us to give quick and good answers.
Professional needs
By professional needs, we mean questions that are asked in a professional context, especially by professional researchers, master's and doctoral students and journalists. If you belong to this group, you must carry out the research yourself, but we can accept simple copy orders with a precise archive reference and make quick, simple searches in the archives if they are subject to confidentiality.
On the basis of an application, we may consider digitizing archive material and grant access via Digital Archives. You can apply for digitization on request here (login required). We can also provide guidance on archives via websites, telephone and reading room.
Public access
By public access we mean all other questions. We do not prioritize such requests for capacity reasons. You can do your own research in freely available material, either via Digital Archives or the reading room.
We can look up easily identifiable information in archive material that has restricted access (clauses). We can consider delivering copy orders of requested information from freely available archive material if you have a precise archive reference, we take into account the geographical distance to the reading room in question. In the case of questions about easily identifiable information, we will also be able to consider making it available in Digital Archives, if we learn that it concerns archive material that many people can benefit from. We guide and inform about catalogs etc. and where you can find more information or other possible entrances to the sources via websites, reading rooms and telephone.
Case processing time
We will reply as soon as we can, normally within 21 working days. For some inquiries, the processing time may be longer.
If it is not possible to respond to the inquiry within a reasonable time, we will send out a preliminary response with information on when the case is expected to be fully processed.
Standard answer about family and property
The National Archives sends out standardized answers to requests relating to genealogical research, and to questions from professional actors within the property market. Most users will be able to serve themselves at the Digital Archive. Feel free to start with our guidance pages on the respective family and property.
Confidential information
Applications for access to confidential information must be sent in writing via a form under Our services (requires login), alternatively as a letter in the post. Answers are sent via Digipost or letter.