Metadata : Chancellery of the Caucasian Viceroyalty
Collection
- Country:
- Georgia
- Holding institution:
- The Central Historical Archive of Georgia
- Holding institution (official language):
- საისტორიო ცენტრალური არქივი
- Postal address:
- 1, Vazha-Pshavela, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Email:
- info@archives.gov.ge
- Country:
- Georgia
- Holding institution:
- The Central Historical Archive of Georgia
- Holding institution (official language):
- საისტორიო ცენტრალური არქივი
- Postal address:
- 1, Vazha-Pshavela, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Email:
- info@archives.gov.ge
- Reference number:
- f. 4
- Title:
- Chancellery of the Caucasian Viceroyalty
- Title (official language):
- კავკასიის მეფინაცვლის კანცელარია
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chancellery of the Caucasian Viceroyalty
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 12,385 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Caucasian Viceroyalty – the chief Russian administrative authority in the area between 1844 and 1882, located in Tbilisi. Its materials not only reflect the policies and activities of the Russian government in the region, but also hold information on a broad range of economic, social and religious issues which were brought before the Russian officials in the region. Chronologically, the collection covers only one period of the Viceroyalty's activity.
The collection includes certain Jewish-related materials that give insight into the interactions between the Russian authorities and the Jews, and shed light on different aspects of the Jewish life in the region.
For instance, various judicial materials shed light on personal, financial and other issues involving the Jewish residents of the region. These include an appeal by the Jewish community of Derbent concerning illegally taken lots of land; legal proceeding related to debts of Jewish peasants and on money owed to and by other Jewish individuals, including merchants (the papers mention, among others, Jewish residents of Tbilisi and of smaller localities in Georgia, Jews living in the Castle of Grozny and in other places throughout the region). Several files include appeals against decisions of the local Russian authorities, such as a confiscation of a house belonging to a Jewish widow in Kutaisi, and the actions of the Head of Police in Derbent, who seized money from a Jewish local. At least in one case, the materials mention appeal on family issues – an 1849 appeal by a Jewish individual, asking to force the husband of his sister to present her a "get" (a Jewish religious divorce document).
The collection also includes documents on investigation of crimes committed by Jews or against them, such as files from 1851 and 1855 with materials on a murder of a Christian boy, allegedly committed by Jews from Surami.
More than a few files relate to duties and taxes imposed on Jewish residents, including military conscription; files from the 1848 and 1850 include correspondence and regulations concerning the drafting of Jewish recruits. A file from the late 1850's mentions a correspondence on the registration of a dismissed Jewish soldier in Kutaisi, while other file, from 1853, includes regulations on the taxation of the Jews of the same city. Lists of Jewish artisans living in Tbilisi are also included in the collection (the 1890s and later), as well as data on synagogues and prayer houses, rabbis and other communal functionaries.
Several files relate to the legal status of the Jews in the region and in the Russian Empire as a whole: pleas by Jews to be registered in various Jewish communities in the region, appeals, regulations and other correspondence concerning the right of Jews to reside out of the Pale of Settlement. For instance, a file from 1846 includes correspondence on Jewish artisans wishing to settle in Pyatigorsk, while files from 1848 and 1857 include papers on residence rights of Jews in Derbent, Yeysk, Gory, Tbilisi and other localities. Other files mention foreign Jews visiting the Caucasus region, or seeking naturalisation in the Russian Empire, as well as Jews deported from, or forbidden to enter to, the Empire; a file from 1857 includes correspondence on surveillance after a Jew from Palestine, travelling through the Caucasian region.
Cases of Jewish apostasy are also reflected in the collection; several files include documents on financial assistance to Jewish apostates; and mention Jewish wishing to be baptised; a file from 1853 includes regulations on the conversion of non-Christians to Armenian Christianity. Some files mention groups of Russian members of Christian sects of Judaisers (such as an 1847 document on a dispute over hay, involving members of a Molokan sect from the area of Ganja).
- Archival history:
- The archive of the Caucasian Viceroyalty was evacuated from Tbilisi during World War I. Many files were lost during the archive's transportation and temporary storage in Krasnodar. In the 1920s the materials of the Russian administration in Tbilisi were transferred to the newly established Main Historical Archive of Georgia. In 1939 this archive became part of the Central State Historical Archive of Georgia, the predecessor of the current Central Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Russian rule in the Caucasian region was represented by a Viceroy during three different periods. The first Caucasian Viceroyalty that functioned in practice as a governorate existed in late 18th century, the second was established in 1844 and liquidated in 1882, and the third existed in the first decades of the 20th century. The materials of the current collection relate to the second period, when the Viceroyalty served as the main Russian administrative authority in the Caucasus. Its city of residence was Tbilisi.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes eight inventories, arranged on a thematic-chronological basis.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Central Historical Archive of Georgia.
- Finding aids:
- A list of files is available at the Central Historical Archive of Georgia. A list of Jewish-related files is available at the CAHJP in Jerusalem.
- Author of the description:
- Alex Valdman (Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People), 2016
- Reference number:
- f. 4
- Title:
- Chancellery of the Caucasian Viceroyalty
- Title (official language):
- კავკასიის მეფინაცვლის კანცელარია
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chancellery of the Caucasian Viceroyalty
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 12,385 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Caucasian Viceroyalty – the chief Russian administrative authority in the area between 1844 and 1882, located in Tbilisi. Its materials not only reflect the policies and activities of the Russian government in the region, but also hold information on a broad range of economic, social and religious issues which were brought before the Russian officials in the region. Chronologically, the collection covers only one period of the Viceroyalty's activity.
The collection includes certain Jewish-related materials that give insight into the interactions between the Russian authorities and the Jews, and shed light on different aspects of the Jewish life in the region.
For instance, various judicial materials shed light on personal, financial and other issues involving the Jewish residents of the region. These include an appeal by the Jewish community of Derbent concerning illegally taken lots of land; legal proceeding related to debts of Jewish peasants and on money owed to and by other Jewish individuals, including merchants (the papers mention, among others, Jewish residents of Tbilisi and of smaller localities in Georgia, Jews living in the Castle of Grozny and in other places throughout the region). Several files include appeals against decisions of the local Russian authorities, such as a confiscation of a house belonging to a Jewish widow in Kutaisi, and the actions of the Head of Police in Derbent, who seized money from a Jewish local. At least in one case, the materials mention appeal on family issues – an 1849 appeal by a Jewish individual, asking to force the husband of his sister to present her a "get" (a Jewish religious divorce document).
The collection also includes documents on investigation of crimes committed by Jews or against them, such as files from 1851 and 1855 with materials on a murder of a Christian boy, allegedly committed by Jews from Surami.
More than a few files relate to duties and taxes imposed on Jewish residents, including military conscription; files from the 1848 and 1850 include correspondence and regulations concerning the drafting of Jewish recruits. A file from the late 1850's mentions a correspondence on the registration of a dismissed Jewish soldier in Kutaisi, while other file, from 1853, includes regulations on the taxation of the Jews of the same city. Lists of Jewish artisans living in Tbilisi are also included in the collection (the 1890s and later), as well as data on synagogues and prayer houses, rabbis and other communal functionaries.
Several files relate to the legal status of the Jews in the region and in the Russian Empire as a whole: pleas by Jews to be registered in various Jewish communities in the region, appeals, regulations and other correspondence concerning the right of Jews to reside out of the Pale of Settlement. For instance, a file from 1846 includes correspondence on Jewish artisans wishing to settle in Pyatigorsk, while files from 1848 and 1857 include papers on residence rights of Jews in Derbent, Yeysk, Gory, Tbilisi and other localities. Other files mention foreign Jews visiting the Caucasus region, or seeking naturalisation in the Russian Empire, as well as Jews deported from, or forbidden to enter to, the Empire; a file from 1857 includes correspondence on surveillance after a Jew from Palestine, travelling through the Caucasian region.
Cases of Jewish apostasy are also reflected in the collection; several files include documents on financial assistance to Jewish apostates; and mention Jewish wishing to be baptised; a file from 1853 includes regulations on the conversion of non-Christians to Armenian Christianity. Some files mention groups of Russian members of Christian sects of Judaisers (such as an 1847 document on a dispute over hay, involving members of a Molokan sect from the area of Ganja).
- Archival history:
- The archive of the Caucasian Viceroyalty was evacuated from Tbilisi during World War I. Many files were lost during the archive's transportation and temporary storage in Krasnodar. In the 1920s the materials of the Russian administration in Tbilisi were transferred to the newly established Main Historical Archive of Georgia. In 1939 this archive became part of the Central State Historical Archive of Georgia, the predecessor of the current Central Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Russian rule in the Caucasian region was represented by a Viceroy during three different periods. The first Caucasian Viceroyalty that functioned in practice as a governorate existed in late 18th century, the second was established in 1844 and liquidated in 1882, and the third existed in the first decades of the 20th century. The materials of the current collection relate to the second period, when the Viceroyalty served as the main Russian administrative authority in the Caucasus. Its city of residence was Tbilisi.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes eight inventories, arranged on a thematic-chronological basis.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Central Historical Archive of Georgia.
- Finding aids:
- A list of files is available at the Central Historical Archive of Georgia. A list of Jewish-related files is available at the CAHJP in Jerusalem.
- Author of the description:
- Alex Valdman (Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People), 2016
