Metadata : Vitebsk governorate board (Vitebsk)
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 655
- Title:
- Vitebsk governorate board (Vitebsk)
- Title (official language):
- Vitebskas guberņas valde (Vitebska)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vitebsk governorate board
- Date(s):
- 1837/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 184 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection comprises records from the Tsarist period of the Vitebsk governorate board. These materials refer mainly to various administrative and economic matters within the northwestern territories of the Vitebsk governorate (Dvinsk, Lucin, Rezhitsa and a few districts of Drissa region), which in 1920 became part of independent Latvia. The Vitebsk governorate board was responsible for supervising law enforcement and for arbitration between different individuals, as well as between individuals and state institutions. For instance, one of the files in the collection deals with the complaint of a Jewish alcohol tax-farmers in Lucin (Ludza) from 1839 against a local landowner regarding the sale of liquor in the area belonging to the monopoly of the tax-farm (inventory 1, file 107). Through this file, it is possible to study Jewish economic activity in the field of state alcohol tax-farming and on the tensions created by this activity between Jews and estate owners. Records of insolvent Jewish merchants and on debts to Jews are also part of the collection. The collection includes materials which refer to criminal activities against Jews, such as robbery (inventory 1, files 104 and 105), and a complaint from 1838 on the arrest of a Dinaburg (Dvinsk; Daugavpils) Jew on charges of the illicit sale of liquor (inventory 1, file 106). Other Jewish-related documents are complaints of Jews on cases of violence and insults inflicted on them by Christian merchants and estate owners (inventory 1, files 84 and 91). One of the files of the collection refers to the report of Lucin (Ludza) town governor (gorodnichiy) from 1840 on a Jewish youth’s evasion of military conscription (inventory 1, file 37). The collection also includes materials that refer to a case of conversion to Christianity in the years 1838-1840. These are papers related to the complaint of a Jewish innkeeper, who with his family lived in a tavern of a local landowner in the Dinaburg region. The innkeeper complained that the landowner had kidnapped his daughter and forced her to convert to Christianity (inventory 1, file 113). Contrary to the innkeeper's claims, the local authorities stated that the daughter had asked the landowner to take her to a monastery in order to convert to Catholicism. In addition, the Vitebsk governorate board and the authorities in Dinaburg tried to convince the innkeeper's daughter not to convert to Catholicism, but rather to Russian Orthodoxy.
- Archival history:
- After World War I and the establishment of an independent Latvia, the archival materials from the Tsarist period were consolidated into the newly organised Latvian State Archive which existed throughout the interwar period. In particular, the archive consolidated many of the records from Latgalia, the Latvian region of the Vitebsk governorate. After the Soviet takeover of Latvia, the archive was renamed and established as the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, predecessor of the current State Historical Archives. A significant part of the records of the Vitebsk governorate board is kept in the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Minsk (f. 1416).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1802 the Byelorussian governorate of the Russian Empire, with its administrative center in Vitebsk, was dismantled and divided. The Vitebsk governorate was created and a new governorate board in Vitebsk was established. The governorate boards were legally designated as the main administrative bodies of the governorates. However, in practice, they were completely subordinate to the governors and had rather limited authority. According to the census of 1897, there were 175,586 Jews in all the regions of the Vitebsk governorate, comprising 11.8% of its total population.
- Finding aids:
- A brief description of the part of the Jewish-related materials is available at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2018
- Reference number:
- 655
- Title:
- Vitebsk governorate board (Vitebsk)
- Title (official language):
- Vitebskas guberņas valde (Vitebska)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vitebsk governorate board
- Date(s):
- 1837/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 184 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection comprises records from the Tsarist period of the Vitebsk governorate board. These materials refer mainly to various administrative and economic matters within the northwestern territories of the Vitebsk governorate (Dvinsk, Lucin, Rezhitsa and a few districts of Drissa region), which in 1920 became part of independent Latvia. The Vitebsk governorate board was responsible for supervising law enforcement and for arbitration between different individuals, as well as between individuals and state institutions. For instance, one of the files in the collection deals with the complaint of a Jewish alcohol tax-farmers in Lucin (Ludza) from 1839 against a local landowner regarding the sale of liquor in the area belonging to the monopoly of the tax-farm (inventory 1, file 107). Through this file, it is possible to study Jewish economic activity in the field of state alcohol tax-farming and on the tensions created by this activity between Jews and estate owners. Records of insolvent Jewish merchants and on debts to Jews are also part of the collection. The collection includes materials which refer to criminal activities against Jews, such as robbery (inventory 1, files 104 and 105), and a complaint from 1838 on the arrest of a Dinaburg (Dvinsk; Daugavpils) Jew on charges of the illicit sale of liquor (inventory 1, file 106). Other Jewish-related documents are complaints of Jews on cases of violence and insults inflicted on them by Christian merchants and estate owners (inventory 1, files 84 and 91). One of the files of the collection refers to the report of Lucin (Ludza) town governor (gorodnichiy) from 1840 on a Jewish youth’s evasion of military conscription (inventory 1, file 37). The collection also includes materials that refer to a case of conversion to Christianity in the years 1838-1840. These are papers related to the complaint of a Jewish innkeeper, who with his family lived in a tavern of a local landowner in the Dinaburg region. The innkeeper complained that the landowner had kidnapped his daughter and forced her to convert to Christianity (inventory 1, file 113). Contrary to the innkeeper's claims, the local authorities stated that the daughter had asked the landowner to take her to a monastery in order to convert to Catholicism. In addition, the Vitebsk governorate board and the authorities in Dinaburg tried to convince the innkeeper's daughter not to convert to Catholicism, but rather to Russian Orthodoxy.
- Archival history:
- After World War I and the establishment of an independent Latvia, the archival materials from the Tsarist period were consolidated into the newly organised Latvian State Archive which existed throughout the interwar period. In particular, the archive consolidated many of the records from Latgalia, the Latvian region of the Vitebsk governorate. After the Soviet takeover of Latvia, the archive was renamed and established as the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, predecessor of the current State Historical Archives. A significant part of the records of the Vitebsk governorate board is kept in the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Minsk (f. 1416).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1802 the Byelorussian governorate of the Russian Empire, with its administrative center in Vitebsk, was dismantled and divided. The Vitebsk governorate was created and a new governorate board in Vitebsk was established. The governorate boards were legally designated as the main administrative bodies of the governorates. However, in practice, they were completely subordinate to the governors and had rather limited authority. According to the census of 1897, there were 175,586 Jews in all the regions of the Vitebsk governorate, comprising 11.8% of its total population.
- Finding aids:
- A brief description of the part of the Jewish-related materials is available at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2018
