Metadata: The Provincial Board (Gubernskoe Pravlenie) of Livland
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- 16 Slokas Street, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 67 613 118
- Web address:
- http://www.arhivi.lv/index.php?&16
- Reference number:
- LVVA f. 4
- Title:
- The Provincial Board (Gubernskoe Pravlenie) of Livland
- Title (official language):
- Vidzemes guberņas valde
- Creator/accumulator:
- Provincial Board of Livland
- Date(s):
- 1680/1918
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 24,854 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 level in Courland. The collection of the governor's chancellery includes records on government activities in the governorate, as well as data on economic, social and religious issues which were brought before Russian officials in Jelgava. Several parts of the collection include Jewish-related materials.
Some of these materials reflect the government’s policies towards the Jewish population. For instance, a file from 1800 includes an order by Count P. L. Pahlen (at the time chief governor for the Baltic provinces) to the Governor of Courland to establish surveillance of Russian Old Believers and Jewish Hasidic groups in the governorate; files from 1818-20 refer to the election and function of Jewish deputies (including a prohibition on collecting money and valuables on behalf of the deputies). Several files refer to issues of taxation and the government's supervision of the election of Jewish communal and religious functionaries. In some cases Jewish contractors to the Russian authorities are mentioned.
Several files refer to permits, including residence and work permits and the issuance of letters of good standing. The materials mention the issuance of passports, appeals referring to the legal status of the Jewish population in Courland, the establishment of Jewish prayer houses (including a petition from the 1870s against the decision of the local authorities in Kuldiga to close private Jewish prayer houses) and the establishment of various businesses (such as a steam mill in Jelgava and a pottery factory in Tukums). A file from 1879-87 mentions the establishment of a Jewish women's charity society in Liepaja.
Jewish-related data can also be found in files related to the Napoleonic invasion of Russia and to World War I. For instance, a file from the 1810s includes correspondence on the compensation of a Jewish lumber merchant whose goods were confiscated during the war. A Jewish lumber merchant is also mentioned in files from the 1910s as a suspect of sailing unauthorized under a bridge on the river of Daugava. Other files from the period of World War I mention the persecution of Jewish residents who were arrested in areas to which Jewish access was restricted.
Several files mention claims and appeals brought before the governorate's authorities. In some cases the appeals refer to business and private disputes, such as an 1818 case of a Jewish resident of Jelgava who complained about an army officer owing him money. In other cases, files include appeals against Jewish communities, such as the 1839 and 1840 appeals against the heads of the communities in Jelgava and Kuldiga.
Materials from the period of the 1905 Russian Revolution mention Jewish residents involved in various political activities.
Other Jewish-related materials in the collection reflect various criminal activities: a file from 1818-20 records an investigation into smuggled and forbidden goods found in Jewish shops in Jelgava; papers from 1854-55 include a report on a violent quarrel between Jewish wine smugglers and Russian border guards in the town of Butinge. A file from 1911 includes a report on a Jewish woman from Liepaja allegedly engaged in trafficking women.
- Archival history:
- After World War I and the establishment of an independent Latvia the archival materials of the Tsarist administration were consolidated in the newly established Latvian state archive that existed throughout the interwar period and after the Soviet takeover of Latvia. In 1962 the materials originating from the pre-Soviet period were deposited in the Central State Historical Archive of the Latvian SSR, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The governorate of Courland was created after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, when the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was annexed to the Russian Empire. Mitau (now Jelgava), the former capital of the Duchy, served as the administrative centre of the governorate. After World War I the area became part of independent Latvia.
- Access points: locations:
- Courland
- Finding aids:
- For additional data see the website of the Latvian Archives. A description of the Jewish-related materials is available at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.arhivi.gov.lv
- 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
