Metadata: The Polytechnic Institute of Riga
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. 7175
- Title:
- The Polytechnic Institute of Riga
- Title (official language):
- Rīgas Politehniskais institūts
- Creator/accumulator:
- Polytechnic Institute of Riga
- Date(s):
- 1862/1920
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 9,977 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection comprises the materials of the Polytechnic Institute of Riga for the period between 1862 and 1920. It includes educational and administrative records and an extensive collection of students' personal files. The Jewish-related part of the collection is mostly composed of materials relating to Jewish students: personal documents, data on various activities including student circles and associations and educational records.
The administrative materials include the institution’s correspondence with educational and other authorities – the educational district of Riga, the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and the provisional government of 1917 – on questions of educational policy, regulations, student activities and other topics. Political activities of the institute’s students – Jewish and non-Jewish – are mentioned in several files. Files from the period of the 1905 Russian Revolution mention illegal student meetings, demonstrations and riots. Files from the period of World War I include correspondence with Russian military authorities and papers related to a hospital run by the institute.
Educational plans, minutes of the educational council, correspondence on students' practical training, minutes of examinations and other similar materials can be found in the collection. Several files hold data on the institute's lecturers, including lists of names and personal files.
Several files include materials from student organisations that functioned in the institute (statutes, correspondence, lists of members), including Jewish organisations such as the Jewish students' self-help fund and Jewish student circles and associations (Znanie, Anatolica and others).
A substantial part of the collection consists of materials on the institute's students: lists of students and graduates, personal files with various documents (high school graduation certificates, birth certificates, passports, documents relating to military service and photographs), papers related to university studies, correspondence with the university administration on various issues and lists of grades, certificates and diplomas.
- Archival history:
- After World War I and the establishment of an independent Latvia, archival materials from the Tsarist period 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 Polytechnic Institute of Riga was established in 1862 as the Polytechnikum of Riga. At the time it was the first multi-profile institution of higher education in Imperial Russia. In the 1890's the Polytechnikum became a polytechnic institute. In the same period the language of instruction was changed from German to Russian. The institute was evacuated eastward during World War I and was not re-established as an independent institution until 1958. Its modern counterpart is the Technical University of Riga.
- Access points: locations:
- Riga
- 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.lv/index.php?&3
- 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
