Metadata : Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus
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. 12
- Title:
- Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus
- Title (official language):
- კავკასიის სამოქალაქო ნაწილის მთავარართებლის კანცელარია
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus
- Date(s):
- 1883/1905
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 20,754(?) files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration includes a variety of materials on administrative, cultural and social issues. Some of its documents give insight into the interactions between the local authorities and the Jews, and shed light on different aspects of the Jewish life in the region.
More than a few files include correspondence, regulations and other papers related to the Jewish residence rights in the Region; these include papers on expulsion of Jewish individuals lacking proper residence permits and requests to get such permits; appeals against local expulsions and limitations, such an expulsion of Jews from Kutaisi in 1896; correspondence on the registration of Rabbis, artisans and other Jewish professionals in Buynaksk, Stavropol, Tbilisi and other localities; orders forbidding Jews to bury their dead at the Molokan cemetery in Yerevan (1897). Data on trading rights and permissions can also be found in the collection: papers from 1890 mention fines for unlicensed tobacco trade imposed on Jews from Kutaisi, while a record from 1896 includes regulations limiting the trading rights of Jewish-Georgian pedlars, and a file from 1898 includes correspondence on a request of Jewish merchants to engage in the oil industry in the region.
Administrative papers include regulations on the legal status of the Mountain Jews (1884, 1885, 1888 and other years) and Karaites (1893), on residence and trading rights of Jewish retired soldiers (1891), on the participation of Jews in the local self-government and on the adoption of Jewish children (1893). Different records – statistical and other – on the Jewish population in the region, on Jewish prayer houses and synagogues etc – are also included in the collection.
Some files mention permissions to elect and employ rabbis (including Baku, 1889; the Mountain Jews of Tbilisi, 1895; Novorossiysk, 1901) and build synagogues and prayer houses (such as Batumi, 1890; Novorossiysk, 1897-1898; Quba, 1898; Tbilisi, 1901); a file from 1890 mentions a permission granted to a Jewish merchant to bring a Torah scroll to a synagogue in Buynaksk. Files from 1889 include a correspondence on the status of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Board (Dukhovnoe pravlenie) in Tbilisi, and mention a medal granted to one of its functionaries. Several files mention Jewish charitable activities, such as an organisation of a charity concert in Tbilisi in behalf of the Jews of Bessarabia suffering of a famine (1900), or the establishment of a Jewish tailors' aid society in the same city in 1901. Appeals for government assistance are also mentioned in the files, such as an appeal by Jews from Tbilisi for financial support due to a fire (1901), and money lent by the government to Jews from Kutaisi needing to rebuild their rickety houses (1905).
Criminal activities involving Jews are also mentioned in the records of the Chancellery. Files from 1887 mention peasants from the area of Tskhinvali suspected in a murder of Jewish-Georgian merchants, and an appeal by a Jewish resident of Baku, complaining on blackmailing by the local police; a file from 1890 mentions an expulsion from Stavropol of a Jew accused in moneylending, and a file from 1895 mentions a quarrel in Kutaisi involving the local Jewish and non-Jewish population, including military recruits. Some files mention illegal political activities involving Jews.
More than a few files mention the recruitment to the Russian military: requests by Jewish soldiers and their families for releases from the service, as well as regulations, reports and administrative correspondence on the conscription of Jews (the latter, in some cases, include complaints about Jews evading the military service). A paper 1888 accuses the Rabbi of Tbilisi of a mistreating of a Jewish recruit while a file from 1898 mentions an appeal by a Jewish individual wishing to inform the authorities of Jewish recruitment evaders.
Cases of Jewish apostasy are also reflected in the records of the Chancellery; these mention permits, granted to Jews wishing to be baptised (1889, 1899 and other years; in some cases the files include lists of names and other data); regulations forbidding Jewish converts to change their family names (1886); requests by baptised Jews to receive financial support and to reside outside of the Pale of Settlement. A correspondence from 1897 mentions an investigation of a report on a Jewish child who was allegedly converted to the Christian Orthodox faith.
- Archival history:
- 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 position of a Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus was created in 1882, after the liquidation of the Caucasian Viceroyalty, and existed until the period of the first Russian revolution, when the Caucasian Viceroyalty was established again.
- Access points: locations:
- Baku
- Batumi
- Tbilisi
- Tskhinvali
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes sixteen inventories, arranged on a thematic-organisational 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. 12
- Title:
- Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus
- Title (official language):
- კავკასიის სამოქალაქო ნაწილის მთავარართებლის კანცელარია
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus
- Date(s):
- 1883/1905
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 20,754(?) files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Chancellery of the Head of Civilian Administration includes a variety of materials on administrative, cultural and social issues. Some of its documents give insight into the interactions between the local authorities and the Jews, and shed light on different aspects of the Jewish life in the region.
More than a few files include correspondence, regulations and other papers related to the Jewish residence rights in the Region; these include papers on expulsion of Jewish individuals lacking proper residence permits and requests to get such permits; appeals against local expulsions and limitations, such an expulsion of Jews from Kutaisi in 1896; correspondence on the registration of Rabbis, artisans and other Jewish professionals in Buynaksk, Stavropol, Tbilisi and other localities; orders forbidding Jews to bury their dead at the Molokan cemetery in Yerevan (1897). Data on trading rights and permissions can also be found in the collection: papers from 1890 mention fines for unlicensed tobacco trade imposed on Jews from Kutaisi, while a record from 1896 includes regulations limiting the trading rights of Jewish-Georgian pedlars, and a file from 1898 includes correspondence on a request of Jewish merchants to engage in the oil industry in the region.
Administrative papers include regulations on the legal status of the Mountain Jews (1884, 1885, 1888 and other years) and Karaites (1893), on residence and trading rights of Jewish retired soldiers (1891), on the participation of Jews in the local self-government and on the adoption of Jewish children (1893). Different records – statistical and other – on the Jewish population in the region, on Jewish prayer houses and synagogues etc – are also included in the collection.
Some files mention permissions to elect and employ rabbis (including Baku, 1889; the Mountain Jews of Tbilisi, 1895; Novorossiysk, 1901) and build synagogues and prayer houses (such as Batumi, 1890; Novorossiysk, 1897-1898; Quba, 1898; Tbilisi, 1901); a file from 1890 mentions a permission granted to a Jewish merchant to bring a Torah scroll to a synagogue in Buynaksk. Files from 1889 include a correspondence on the status of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Board (Dukhovnoe pravlenie) in Tbilisi, and mention a medal granted to one of its functionaries. Several files mention Jewish charitable activities, such as an organisation of a charity concert in Tbilisi in behalf of the Jews of Bessarabia suffering of a famine (1900), or the establishment of a Jewish tailors' aid society in the same city in 1901. Appeals for government assistance are also mentioned in the files, such as an appeal by Jews from Tbilisi for financial support due to a fire (1901), and money lent by the government to Jews from Kutaisi needing to rebuild their rickety houses (1905).
Criminal activities involving Jews are also mentioned in the records of the Chancellery. Files from 1887 mention peasants from the area of Tskhinvali suspected in a murder of Jewish-Georgian merchants, and an appeal by a Jewish resident of Baku, complaining on blackmailing by the local police; a file from 1890 mentions an expulsion from Stavropol of a Jew accused in moneylending, and a file from 1895 mentions a quarrel in Kutaisi involving the local Jewish and non-Jewish population, including military recruits. Some files mention illegal political activities involving Jews.
More than a few files mention the recruitment to the Russian military: requests by Jewish soldiers and their families for releases from the service, as well as regulations, reports and administrative correspondence on the conscription of Jews (the latter, in some cases, include complaints about Jews evading the military service). A paper 1888 accuses the Rabbi of Tbilisi of a mistreating of a Jewish recruit while a file from 1898 mentions an appeal by a Jewish individual wishing to inform the authorities of Jewish recruitment evaders.
Cases of Jewish apostasy are also reflected in the records of the Chancellery; these mention permits, granted to Jews wishing to be baptised (1889, 1899 and other years; in some cases the files include lists of names and other data); regulations forbidding Jewish converts to change their family names (1886); requests by baptised Jews to receive financial support and to reside outside of the Pale of Settlement. A correspondence from 1897 mentions an investigation of a report on a Jewish child who was allegedly converted to the Christian Orthodox faith.
- Archival history:
- 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 position of a Head of Civilian Administration in the Caucasus was created in 1882, after the liquidation of the Caucasian Viceroyalty, and existed until the period of the first Russian revolution, when the Caucasian Viceroyalty was established again.
- Access points: locations:
- Baku
- Batumi
- Tbilisi
- Tskhinvali
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes sixteen inventories, arranged on a thematic-organisational 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
