RUSSIAN STATE HISTORIC ARCHIVES
(Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Istoricheskii Arkhiv - RGIA)
St. Petersburg, Russia
RGIA FAX address: +7 (812) 312-0666
RGIA eMail address: rgia@glas.apc.org

The Russian State Historic Archives (RGIA) in St. Petersburg Russia is one of the largest in the world. It contains almost seven million items generally covering the period from the end of the 18th century up to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Some documents date back to the 13th century.

The RGIA holdings include fonds (collections) from the State Council, Duma, Senate, Holy Synod and all the Ministries of Imperial Russia including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Finance, Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Education as well as collections from private stock companies, banks and scientific and educational societies. The RGIA also contains over 300 private fonds of prominent statesmen, scientists and Russian noble families.

The RGIA is located in the beautiful 18th century buildings of the Imperial Senate and Holy Synod, situated on the south embankment of the Neva river across from the "Bronze Horseman" statue of Peter the Great, probably the most photographed monument in St. Petersburg. The RGIA was established on July 1, 1918 by a directive of the Soviet of Peoples Commissars to reorganize and centralize the archives of the ministries and bureacuracies of the former Tsarist government. In addition the records and archives from private banks, stock companies, and societies were placed in the RGIA.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the funding to maintain the archives and pay the archivists is sporadic. A 1993 special investigation, financed by UNESCO, reported that the risk of loss from fire or other disasters in this archive is potentially catastrophic. Floors are sagging from overloading, fire resistant walls and floors are absent, effective evacuation plans in the event of a fire are absent, etc. Despite this strong warning no signifigant improvements have been made. There are now discussions in St. Petersburg about relocating the RGIA to a new location. If this occurs the archive holdings could be closed for many years while the move is made.

At the present time there is a window of opportunity to access the archive records which are a rich source of genealogy information. The Russian Baltic Information Center - Blitz is located in St. Petersburg performs genealogy research in the RGIA for people researching their roots in the Russian Empire.

BLITZ uses skilled professionals who perform the genealogy research in Moscow and St. Petersburg archives. Being located in St. Petersburg, BLITZ can readily access the Russia State Historic Archive which has some 7 million items covering the prerevolutionary period.

• Genealogy Research in Russia (size 11K)
  
  

• German Research in the Russian State Historic Archives (RGIA) (size 5K)
  
  

• Polish Research in the Russian State Historic Archives (RGIA) (size 5K)
  
  

• Jewish Genealogy Research in Russia (size 7K)
  
  

• Russian State Historic Archives - Personal Surname Fonds (size 6K)
  
  

• Genealogy Search Order Form (size 4K)
  

Blitz has also been working with the RGIA to publish finding aids and reference books which will facilitate genealogy and academic research.

Finding aids to the RGIA which is offered for sale by Blitz include:

• Fondy Rossiiskogo gosudarvstvennogo istoricheskogo arkhiva: Raskin, D.I., St. Petersburg: Mednii Vsadnik, 1994.
  A short reference book listing the fonds, including the private fonds of the Russian State Historic Archive and their titles. (In Russian), Soft cover, 117 pages, $14.95
  
  

• Annotated Register - Russian State Historic Archive, 1994
  This printed contains a listing of all the fonds in the Russian State Historic Archive which were open as of January 1, 1993. the Register is the basic unit between the Guide and Opis in the reference system of the Archives. Each fond is listed by number, title and date covered and the opises within the fond. Each opis is listed with annotations by the archivists and number of items contained in them. Over 300 private fonds are listed and within the annotations many more names are mentioned. (In Russian), Soft cover, 401 pages, $95.00
  
  Avramenko, E.K., Russkie ofitsial'mye i vedomstvennye izdaniya, XIX - nachala XX veka. Katalog (SERIES: Nauchno-spravochnaya biblioteka)
  This mulit-volume catalog series lists the publications in the reference library of the Russian State Historic Archives, which is one of the most important repositories of official publications of central institutions of prerevolutionary Russia. These official and departmental publications are printed in diverse form, content and function and include legislative acts, instructions, orders, circulars, reports, reference aids, research monographs, etc. The Katalog is organized by institution or organization with a short description of each publication, dates covered and the number of pages. (In Russian)

  • Volume I - Duma, Soviet of Ministers, Senate and Holy Synod, Hard cover, 272 pages, US$29.95
    

  • Volume II - Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of the Army and Navy, Hard cover, 190 pages, US$29.95

Books may be ordered from:
Russian Baltic Information Center
907 Mission Avenue
San Rafael, California 94901
Tel: 415-453-3579
FAX: 415-453-0343
email: enute@igc.apc.org

California residents please add 7.25% sales tax
All orders within the US please add US$3.00 for the first book and US$0.50 for each additional book.
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