Gustav III’s private archive – the so-called Gustavian Collection – consists partly of Gustav’s own writings, partly of letters and other documents sent or given to the king. Especially the first mentioned part, i.e., letters, speeches, memoirs, etc., written by the king himself, has been used extensively by researchers, with severe wear and tear on the documents as a result.

For some time, Gustav’s Hand project members have conserved, photographed, and digitally published all of Gustav’s handwritten writings. This has resulted in approximately 1,200 entries in the digital platform Alvin, where the documents are digitally available to all interested parties. Gustav’s writings consist of approximately 700 letters and almost a hundred speeches by Gustav, as well as his memoirs, diaries, notebooks, dramatic works, and much more.

With the help of HTR (Handwritten text recognition), project members will, over time, add transcriptions to these Alvin records.

Work is also underway to conserve, photograph, and digitally publish the remaining part of the collection, i.e., the documents written by people other than the king.