The purpose of this MA thesis is to examine the computerisation of sources that are of interest to genealogists. The primary focus of the thesis is an empirical study, by using a questionnaire addressed to 118 genealogical societies in Sweden, in order to find out what kind of computerisation is being performed by these genealogical societies and what their opinion is of the computerisation of sources of interest to genealogists. The result of this questionnaire has shown, together with printed and electronic material, that there is a good deal of interest from genealogical societies in the computerisation of sources. About half of the genealogical societies who answered the questionnaire are computerising sources themselves and the societies have a positive view in general of the computerisation that is being done and of the increased usage of modern information technology in genealogy. There are on the other hand certain issues that are being discussed such as the important question of the quality of the computerised material. In this thesis the computerisation of public sources of interest to genealogists as a means to strengthen democracy by making public material, culture and the cultural heritage available to more people, and how genealogical societies can be seen as partakers in this process, is also discussed. Furthermore the attitudes of genealogical societies towards the computerisation of sources is seen in relation to the attitudes of people in general to new technology and to the concrete advantages and disadvantages of certain aspects of modern information technology.