Metadata: Magistrat of Valga
Collection
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Historical Archives of Estonia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Eesti Ajalooarhiiv
- Postal address:
- Tartu, J. Liivi 4, 50409
- Phone number:
- (+372) 738 7500
- Web address:
- https://www.ra.ee/et/kes-me-oleme-2/
- Email:
- rahvusarhiiv@ra.ee
- Reference number:
- f. 1003
- Title:
- Magistrat of Valga
- Title (official language):
- Valga Magistraat
- Creator/accumulator:
- Magistrat of Valga
- Date(s):
- 1620/1891
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 3,295 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The Magistrat (municipal authority) of Valga, the chief local government body, was responsible for the whole range of municipal issues: finances, trade, welfare, justice and security (the latter from the mid-18th century). Accordingly, the papers of the Magistrat archive reflect various aspects of the city's life from the 17th century until the 1890s. During this period, the city was under the rule of the Livonian Order, Poland, Sweden and finally Russia (from 1710).
Roughly 20 files from the years 1854-89 include Jewish-related materials: data on Jewish taxpayers in 1854 (as part of a general taxpayers list of Valga) and materials on the census of 1856-58 and expulsions of Jews from Valga in 1859-61.
Jewish-related data can be also found in the judicial documents of the Magistrat. Some of the papers – mostly proceedings on cases of assault, theft, illegal trade and other offences – include names, addresses and other basic data on permanent and temporary Jewish residents of Valga.
- Archival history:
- After the liquidation of the Magistrat, its papers were kept by the local municipality and were later handed over to the city archive of Valga. In 1946 they were transferred to Central State Archive of Estonia, predecessor of the current Estonian Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Magistrat of Valga existed from the 16th century and continued to function until its abolition in 1889-91 as part of the reorganisation of local government in the Baltic region of the Russian empire.
- Access points: locations:
- Valga
- Subject terms:
- Census
- Crime
- Legal records
- Residency issues of Jews
- Statistics
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of three inventories, arranged in chronological-thematic order.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Estonian Historical Archives, Tartu.
- Finding aids:
-
Finding aids in Russian and Estonian are available at the Estonian Historical Archives.
For further reference see: Центральный государственный исторический архив Эстонской ССР. Путеводитель, Москва, Тарту 1969, 79-80; Ajalooarhiiv, Arhiivijuht III, Vabad ühendused. Ettevõtted. Kollektsioonid. Tartu, 2010, 420-421.
Basic data on the collection is available at the web portal of the National Archives of Estonia: http://ais.ra.ee, Detailotsing – Leidandmed – EAA.1003.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://ais.ra.ee
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Tatjana Schor, Historical Archives of Estonia, and Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2015
