Metadata: The Commissions for the General Census of 1897, Governorates of Vilnius and Kaunas
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Gerosios Vilties g. 10, 03134 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- (8 5) 213 74 82
- Web address:
- http://www.archyvai.lt/lt/lvia_naujienos.html
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- f. 768
- Title:
- The Commissions for the General Census of 1897, Governorates of Vilnius and Kaunas
- Title (official language):
- 1897 m. visuotinio gyventojų surašymo Vilniaus ir Kauno gubernijų komisijos
- Creator/accumulator:
- Commissions for the General Census of 1897, Governorates of Vilnius and Kaunas
- Date(s):
- 1895/1899
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 109 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection comprises census lists of families from various towns, villages, estates, mills and taverns of the former governorates of Vilnius and Kaunas.
Lists of Jewish families from the following localities are available: Kvetkai, Redutka, Rokiskis, Salakas, Skapiskis, Tauragnai and Vidzy (now in Belarus) of the Zarasai district; Akmene, Mazeikiai and Naujoji Zagare of the district of Siauliai; Anyksciai, Debeikiai, Skudutiskis, Ukmerge and Utena of the district of Ukmerge; Jurbarkas, Kelme, Rietavas and Taurage of the district of Raseiniai; Gargzdai and Seda of the district of Telsiai; Aukstadvaris, Pasvalys, Pumpenai, Salociai and Vaskai of the district of Panevezys.
Lists of the Jewish families in the governorate of Vilnius were created only in the former district of Vilnius. Lists of the Jewish inhabitants from Mikhalishki and Ostrovets, localities now in Belarus, are also available.
The title pages of the census lists include information on home owners or renters (first and last names and addresses). The lists themselves contain the following data: names, surnames and fathers’ names of the family members, the relationship of family members to the head of the family, sex, marital status, occupation, religion, native language, literacy, birth, place of residence and registration place. The lists also contain the same data for servants and persons who were guests of the family when the census took place.
Additionally, the collection includes several files from the years 1895-99 that contain statistical information and correspondence with local commissions on organisational matters.
The collection includes only a small part of the census lists created in the governorates of Kaunas and Vilnius. According to census regulations, the lists were to be destroyed after the conclusion of the census.
- Archival history:
- Prior to the 1917 revolution the records of the Russian administration in Vilnius were kept in a government depository. In the early 1920s they were transferred to the newly established Vilnius State Archive, which became a part of the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR in 1940. In 1957, together with other pre-revolutionary documentation, these materials were included in the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, predecessor of the modern Lithuanian State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The commissions in Vilnius and Kaunas were founded in 1895 as part of the preparations for the first general census of the Russian empire and functioned until the completion of the census in July 1897. Their main task was the supervision of the local census commissions throughout the governorates.
- Subject terms:
- Census records
- Correspondence
- Personal records
- Statistics
- Vital records
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory, which is arranged according to chronological/thematic order.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection and its indexes are open for reference at LVIA.
- Finding aids:
- Name and geographical indexes (in Russian) with introduction (in Lithuanian and Russian) exist for all files of the collection and are available at LVIA. Some data is available at the Lithuanian archives' website.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Galina Baranova, Lithuanian State Historical Archives, and Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2014
