© copyright
1996-2004 by BLITZ ; all rights reserved
The Archives of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of History
of the Russian Academy of Sciences developed from the Archeographical
Committee of the Ministry of Public Education.
The Committee was created in 1834 as a temporary institution
intended for the collecting, sorting, describing and publishing of
ancient documents found during archeographical expeditions which were
led throughout Russia by Academician P. M. Stroev between 1828 and
1834.
A permanant Archeographic Committee was established in 1837
for the purpose of periodically publishing sources from ancient times
to 1700. On January 1, 1922 the Committee became part of the
USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1926 it was united with the Permanent
Historic Committee of the Academy of Sciences. In 1968 the Committee
became the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of History and is now
the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of History of the Russian
Academy of Sciences.
These archives consist of two sections, the Russian section and the
Western European section
The
Russian section contains materials reflecting all aspects of the
socio-economic, political, military and cultural history of the Russian
state between the 13th and 20th centuries.
The
Western European section of the Archives contain extremely rare
and valuable manuscripts dating back to the 6th century. These holdings
include official documents and letters from well known people from England,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries, most of which were
acquired from the famous scholar and collector N. P. Likhachev.
In
the Russian section of the archives there are one hundred and twenty
three collections consisting of twelve thousand three hundred and forty
entries including over seven hundred manuscript books. The collection
is extremely diverse and contains many original manuscripts. The following
types of materials are held by the Archives:
-
Documents
from the archives of various provincial and gubernia governments
and other local institutions in the northwest region, upper and
lower Volga regions, Urals and Siberia
Archives
of various monasteries and religious institutions
- Charters
and Ukazes (Decrees) of many Russian rulers including Ivan the Terrible,
Perter the Great and Catherine
- Correspondence
and materials from many of the associates of the Tsars
- Deeds
of purchase dating from the 15th century
- Polish
"universals" dating from the 16th century
- Documents
of military institutions which portray the turbulent times during
Peter the Great's reforms
- Fonds
of the Society of Russian History and Antiquities (1826-1830) and
the Russian Historical Society (1866-1917)
Fonds of the
Russian Genealogy Society (1890-1923)
Family
and personal fonds from the 16th to 19th centuries representing all
social strata of Russian society
The Russian Baltic Information Center - Blitz, located in St. Petersburg,
has published a the following finding aid to the archives of the St.
Petersburg Branch of Institute of HIstory:
Pobedimova, G.A. et al, Fondy i kollektsii Arkhiva, Kratkii spravochnik,
Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk institut rossiiskoi istorii Sankt-Peterburg
filal, Sankt-Peterburg: Blits 1995, In Rusian with introduction
in English, ISBN 5-86789-014-7, Paper cover, 48 pages, US$12.95 plus
US$3.00 shipping and handling.
Blitz also sells many books (in Russian) by the Institute of History
based on research in this archive as well as other archives. Some books
have a large indexes to names. A free catalog is available on request
-- please send an SASE to a U.S. address or two IPRC for a Canadian
or Overseas request.
Requests for books and inquiries about archive holdings and archival
research can be directed to:
Russian Baltic Information Center - Biltz
907 Mission Ave
San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel: 415-453-3579
Fax: 415-453-0343
eMail: enute@igc.apc.org
We accept Visa and MasterCard (by postal service, (but not by eMail
as yet)
The Russian Baltic Information Center - BLITZ in St. Petersburg conducts
genealogy searches using the RGIA as well as others archives of St.
Petersburg, Moscow and former republics of the USSR. BLITZ provides
reports of its findings with references to the archival documents, Xerox
copies of archival documents including coats of arms, and translations
into English.
Genealogy Search Order Form
W. Edward Nute, Coordinator
Russian-Baltic Information Center - BLITZ
907 Mission Ave, San Rafael, California, 94901
Telephone: 415-453-3579
FAX: 415-453-0343
eMail address: enute@igc.org
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