Page on the site "Archives of Russia": http://www.rusarchives.ru/federal/rgia/index.shtml

The Russian State Historical Archive is the largest historical archive (there are about 6.5 million storage units in the archive's funds), the main archival repository of documents of the central state institutions of the Russian Empire of the late 18th - early 20th centuries.

The archive was formed in 1925 on the basis of the Leningrad divisions of several sections of the Central Archive of the RSFSR. In 1929 - 1934. it was called the Leningrad branch of the Central Historical Archives. In 1934 LOTSIA was divided into 4 archives, incl. Archives of the National Economy and Archives of Domestic Policy, Culture and Life. From these two archives, the Central State Historical Archive in Leningrad was formed in 1941 (since 1961 - the Central State Historical Archive of the USSR, in 1992 - the Russian State Historical Archive).

Until 2006, the archive was located in the building of the Senate and Synod. 2006 - 2007 all documents from the archive were moved to a new building at 36 Zanevsky Prospekt.

The funds of the Russian State Historical Archive in relation to genealogical research are most in demand in the study of noble genealogies and biographies of civil service officials. In this case, RGIA is usually the main archive for research; materials from regional archives are used as additional ones.

I will characterize the main funds of the Russian State Historical Archive, which are most in demand in genealogical research:

  • The Department of the Heraldry of the Governing Senate (f. 1343) is a fund that contains the main body of documents for the study of noble genealogies. In addition, the composition includes cases of personal and hereditary honorary citizens. I will list the key documents of the Heraldry Department:
    • Heraldic department with cases of provincial, city and noble coats of arms.
    • Cases of assignment to the nobility (separately for 1813 - 1894 and 1894 - 1917) are the main source on the history of noble families. In these cases, for the reckoning of any family members, evidence of belonging to the nobility (documents on land ownership, form lists, etc.) and confirmation of kinship (birth certificates) are provided.
    • Noble genealogical books and lists of numbered from different provinces, which represent a list of clans assigned to the nobility of any province.
    • Cases of the audit commissions of the noble deputy assemblies, created in the 1840s. to check all cases of the nobility in the provinces.
    • Cases about hereditary and personal honorary citizens.
  • Formulary lists of ranks of the civil department (f. 1349). This fund is a collection of formal (i.e., service records) of officials that were sent to the Department of Heraldry (until 1846) and to the Inspection Department of the 1st Branch of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery (in 1846 - 1917). This collection also includes form lists from destroyed personal files.

In 1925, on the basis of documents from central institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia, public and private organizations, clan and personal archives located in Petrograd (in 1918, these documents were included in the Unified State Archive Fund of the RSFSR), the Leningrad Historical Archive was created. The new archive was based on the materials of the Leningrad branches of several sections of the Central Archive of the RSFSR, created in 1920. The bulk of the funds of the future RGIA was concentrated in the Petrograd branch of the II (legal) section, the national economy section, etc. In 1924, part of the collected documents was moved to Moscow as part of the so-called Petrograd Historical-Revolutionary Archive.

In 1929, the Leningrad Central Historical Archive was merged with the Moscow Central Historical Archive into a new single Central Historical Archive, which included two branches - the Moscow Branch of the Central Historical Archive (MOTSIA) and the Leningrad Branch of the Central Historical Archive (LOTSIA). LOTSIA was divided into 4 sections: national economy, politics and law, culture and life, army and navy.

In 1934, 4 archives were created on the basis of LOTsIA, including the Archives of the National Economy and the Archives of Domestic Politics, Culture and Life, which since 1936 have become central archives.

In 1941, on the basis of these two archives, the Central State Historical Archives of the USSR in Leningrad (TsGIAL USSR) was created. Since 1961, it became known as the Central State Historical Archive of the USSR (TsGIA USSR). Part of the funds of the higher and central institutions of the Russian Empire was transferred to the archive, as well as a number of funds of personal origin, which were previously stored in TsGIAM and TsGADA.

In June 1992, the archive was renamed the Russian State Historical Archive. In 1993, the archive was included in the State Code of Especially Valuable Objects of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation.

    The composition of the funds.

The archive contains documentary complexes on the political history, history of the economy and culture of Russia, formed in the course of the activities of the higher and central institutions of the Russian Empire.

These are the following funds: the State Council, the State Duma, the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Ministers, the Senate, the Synod, ministries, committees and commissions; public and private banks; commercial and industrial, agricultural, joint-stock and insurance companies and companies; railway boards; scientific and cultural and educational societies and charitable organizations, editorial offices of departmental magazines, personal and family funds of state and public figures.

Total documents: 1,359 funds, 6,432,169 files;

8 funds, 139 734 units. xp. scientific and technical documentation.

Documents for the period: the first quarter of the 18th - 1918. There are also documents for the 13th - 17th centuries in the collections and funds of personal origin.

RUSSIAN STATE

Military-historical archive (rgvia) Moscow

    History of creation.

In 1925, as a result of the unification of the documentary complexes of the Military Scientific Archive of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, the Moscow Branch of the General Archive of the General Staff ("Lefortovo Archive"), the Moscow Military District Archive, as well as a set of documents from the period of the First World War of 1914-1918 ... the Military Historical Archive of the RSFSR was formed.

Since 1933, the archive bore the name of the Central Military Historical Archive of the USSR, since 1941 - the Central State Military Historical Archive of the USSR (TSGVIA USSR).

In 1992, the TsGVIA was renamed into the Russian State Military Historical Archives (RGVIA).

    The composition of the funds.

The archive documents reflect the military history and the history of the Russian armed forces from the end of the 17th century. until March 1918, and also contain information about the country's economy, its domestic and foreign policy, the history of the peoples of Russia, the socio-political and national liberation movement, the development of culture, science and technology.

The archive contains:

Funds of the central and local directorates and institutions of the Russian army, directorates and headquarters of fronts, armies, formations and units of all branches of the ground forces and the air force;

Educational, medical, judicial institutions of the military department, institutions of the military clergy, state and public organizations created to assist the army;

Funds of personal origin, collections of the former Military Scientific Archive and other military institutions on the history of Russia, wars, armed forces, military art;

Collections of maps, plans, drawings and other graphic documents.

In total: 13 642 funds, 3 269 842 cases;

16 funds, 127 786 units. xp. Scientific and technical documentation

Documents for the period: early. XVIII century - 1918 The collections also contain individual documents for the 16th - 17th centuries.

The Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg contains more than 6.5 million documents on the history of the Russian Empire. Its scientific and reference library contains over 420 thousand volumes, including rare handwritten and old printed editions.

The Leningrad Central Historical Archive was formed in 1925 on the basis of the Leningrad divisions of the sections of the Central Archive of the RSFSR, created in 1922. In 1941, after a series of transformations, the Central State Historical Archive in Leningrad (TsGIAL) was organized, since 1961 it was renamed the Central State Historical Archive of the USSR (TsGIA USSR; since 1992 - RGIA).

In 1993 the archive was included in the State Code of Especially Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation.

The archive's funds include 6,576,620 items for the period from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century; the library has more than 400 thousand volumes of rare editions, including rare handwritten and early printed books.

Here are collected relics and personal papers of Peter I, Catherine II and all Russian emperors, documents of the highest institutions of the empire, plans of cities, churches, drawings of many architectural monuments not only of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also of other cities of Russia, affairs of the Russian elite of the XVIII-XX centuries, collection of church books of the 13th century. The RGIA stores funds of almost all ministries and main departments operating on the territory of the Russian Empire in the 19th - early 20th centuries, funds of scientific, cultural, educational, artistic and charitable institutions, personal materials of the most famous noble families of Russia, scientists, historians (for example, N M. Karamzin), genealogists and numismatists, as well as materials on the history of architecture and urban planning in Russia (drawings, sketches, drawings by Bazhenov, Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Montferrand, Rastrelli, Rinaldi, Rossi, Stasov, Stakenschneider, etc.). By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 1993, RGIA was included in the State Code of especially valuable objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia.

RGIA documents contain information not only on the history of the state and society, but also on the fate of individuals, families and clans. Among them are cases of elevation to the Russian nobility and hereditary honorary citizenship, numerous cases of service, etc. Sources on genealogy are supplemented by a unique collection of sources on heraldry. It includes 126 grants of high artistic value for the princely, county, baronial and noble dignity of the Russian Empire, existing in a single copy of the General coat of arms of the noble families of the All-Russian Empire, as well as cases on the assignment and confirmation of the coats of arms of the Senate heraldry department.

Previously, RGIA was located in the complex of buildings of the Senate, Synod and the mansion of the Counts of Laval. In 2005-2006, by decision of the government of the Russian Federation, a new special complex of buildings was built for the archive (Zanevsky prospect, 36) - new archive buildings with a total area of ​​about 60 thousand square meters. The archival complex includes reading rooms, premises with free access (exhibition and conference rooms), storage facilities with strictly limited access in the form of a brick bunker with a special air conditioning mode. There is also a historical and archival block with laboratories for restoration and microfilming. This complex meets the most modern requirements for ensuring the safety of archival documents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko took part in the opening ceremony of the new archive complex of the Russian State Historical Archive, the customer of which is the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.

In his speech, V. Putin noted that the Russian State Historical Archive is the largest archive in Europe, related to the history of 85 countries of the world; in scale and value, it is comparable to.

The new buildings of the Russian State Archives are adapted not only for storage, but also for the study of documents. According to V. Putin, the next stage will be the transfer of existing historical information to new, electronic and digital media.