Chancellery of the Civilian Governor of Kaunas

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Lithuania

Holding institution:: Kaunas County Archives

Holding institution (official language):: Kauno apskrities archyvas

Postal address:: Maironio 28B, LT-44249, Kaunas

Phone number:: +370 37 323111

Web address:: http://www.archyvai.lt/lt/kaa_naujienos.html

Email:: kaun.aa@archyvai.lt

Reference number:: f. I-50

Title:: Chancellery of the Civilian Governor of Kaunas

Title (official language):: Канцелярия Ковенского гражданского губернатора

Creator/accumulator:: Chancellery of the Civilian Governor of Kaunas

Date(s):: 1831/1917

Language:: Russian

Extent:: 25,877 files

Type of material:: Textual material; Photographic images

Physical condition:: good

Scope and content:: The Civil Governor was the highest administrative position at the governorate (gubernia) level in Kaunas. The collection of the Governor's chancellery includes records on a variety of government activities in the governorate, as well as data on numerous economic, social and religious issues which were brought before the Russian officials in the governorate.

The collection includes a broad array of Jewish-related materials. The majority of these are included in the first of the three inventories of collection; this inventory is represented in the current survey.

The official correspondence and memoranda contain data on various issues: the status of Jewish communities after the abolishment of the Kahal in 1844; expulsion of individuals and groups from Russia and from certain localities; the election of Jewish representatives to local governmental bodies and election of members of the rabbinical commission; the establishment of state-sponsored Jewish schools (papers from 1845-47 mention the creation of local "provisional school commissions" in several localities; the commissions were intended to prepare the establishment of Jewish elementary schools). Files from the same period also mention the proposal of reclassification of the Jews (eg "razbor") to "useful" and "useless" elements, proposed by the Minister Count P. Kiselev. A file from 1847-48 mentions the Governor's inquiry on the Jewish traditional societies (havarot). Several files include demographic statistics of the governorate's Jews.

Many files include regulations and instructions concerning the taxation of the Jews (the box and candle taxes, including mid-1840s correspondence with Jewish communities on the covering of tax debts) and residence and travelling permits (such as correspondence on the rights of Jews to reside in the border areas and to visit inland Russia). Other files mention the recruitment of Jews to the Russian army (including complaints on cases of illegal drafting; several files mention complaints against the frequent billeting of troops in Jewish houses). Criminal activities such as smuggling and counterfeiting are also reflected in the files, along with disasters such as fires and plagues and their victims (a file from 1843 mentions the spread of venereal disease in the town of Zagare).

Papers from the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th reflect social developments in the region, including the fear of pogroms in the early 1880s and the emergence of modern political activities. The files also reflect developments in the period of the 1905 Russian Revolution).

Jewish merchants, contractors and distillers are also mentioned in the files: documents from the 1840s mention Jewish merchants who established a print house and fonts factory in Kaunas (they were not allowed to print Jewish books) and a merchant who established a steam mill in the vicinity of the city. Other documents mention Jewish merchants involved in the grain trade and the sale of books. Several files mention the rights of Jews to engage in the trade of alcohol and on the leasing of alcohol production and trade. Jewish farmers and agricultural settlements in the 1840s and 1850s (including lists of Jewish farmers, data on Jewish families settling on the land and other materials) are also mentioned in the files.

Several documents mention cases of Jewish apostasy, including an 1847 instruction from the Governor concerning the legal status of Jewish apostates and their rights to government aid.

Archival history:: Prior to the 1917 revolution, the records of the Russian administration in Kaunas, including those of the governorate, were kept in governmental depositories. In the interwar period these materials were consolidated at the Central State Archive of Lithuania in Kaunas (some additional pre-revolutionary materials were brought into the archive's custody after World War II). Under Soviet rule this archive became a branch of the Vilnius-based Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1956-57 the archive at Kaunas was transformed into the Kaunas City State Archive, which was the predecessor of the modern County Archive.

Administrative/biographical history:: The collection contains the records of the Chancellery of the Civil Governor, the highest administrative position at the governorate (gubernia) level in Kaunas. The governorate of Kaunas was established in late 1842 and existed as a separate administrative unit until 1917. Until 1912 the governorate was part of the Vilnius governorate-general.

Access points: locations:: Kaunas

Subject terms:: Crime; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Kahal; Legal status of Jews; Military; Printing; Residency issues of Jews; Statistics; Trade and commerce; Trade and commerce--Alcohol trade

System of arrangement:: The collection includes three inventories.

Access, restrictions:: The collection is open for reference at Kaunas County Archives.

Finding aids:: Inventories are available at Kaunas County Archives; info can be also found at the online archival information system of the Lithuanian archives. Lists and descriptions of the Jewish-related materials are available at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem.

Links to finding aids:: https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx?_afPfm=3b0b03f9.1

Yerusha Network member:: Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People

Author of the description:: Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2015

fullscreen: Chancellery of the Civilian Governor of Kaunas

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