Metadata : Daugavpils Meschanstvo Headman (Vitebsk governorate)
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:
- 4936
- Title:
- Daugavpils Meschanstvo Headman (Vitebsk governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Daugavpils miesta vecākais (Vitebskas guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Daugavpils Meschanstvo Headman
- Date(s):
- 1845/1935
- Date note:
- Predominantly 1876/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 64 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection includes records of the Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils) Meschanstvo Headman. It contains minutes and resolutions of the meschanstvo society general meetings, materials on the elections for public posts in the Dinaburg meschanstvo society, vital records of the Dinaburg urban residents, data on taxes paid by the meschane in the city; draft lists and more. Many of these materials include Jewish-related records. For example, lists of Dinaburg meschane and their families contain the names and vital data on the Jewish population of the city thus providing valuable genealogical information regarding the Jews of Dinaburg, the history of the Jewish family and demography. Family lists of Dinaburg merchants of 1876 also include many Jewish names and provide information on the proportion of Jewish entrepreneurs among the city residents. For example the file of 1883 on the election of the Meschanstvo Headmen in the city includes lists of Jews who have the right to vote and who participated in the elections (inventory 1, file 12). In addition there are several files concerning special Jewish taxation towards the end of the 19th century including registers related to the collection of the candle tax (inventory 1, file 1), and materials on the election of the supervisors for the distribution of money collected from the candle tax. The collection also contains passports of the Jewish residents for the period of 1879-1895 (inventory 1, file 62).
- Archival history:
- Many of the records originating in the Latgalian area of Vitebsk governorate were originally consolidated in Vitebsk and Vilnius, and later in Mogilev and Minsk. During the interwar and Soviet periods, many local records from Latgalia, including Varaklani in Rezekne district, were brought to Riga. Books of civil records of the Varaklani Jewish community from the period 1868-1899 are stored in the fonds 5024 (collection of Latvian Jewish Rabbinate Metric books) of the Latvian State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1877, in accordance with the decision of 1875 to extend the urban reform of 1870 to the cities of the Western provinces in Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils), the meschanstvo society was established and led by an elected headman and his assistants. Meschanstvo was an urban estate in the Russian Empire which did not include nobility and merchants. The Meschanstvo Headmen and his assistants were elected for a three year term by the general meetings of the meschane and were approved by the governor. The duties of the Dinabug Meschanstvo Headman were: to keep records of all the meshchane in the city; to collect and distribute the estate members’ payments; to issue documents to the meschane; admission and exclusion of members to the Dinaburg meschane society; and to take care of other estate’s affairs. The institute of the meschanstvo society, including the post of the Meschanstvo Headman, was canceled after the October 1917 revolution.
- Access points: locations:
- Daugavpils
- Dinaburg
- Dvinsk
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories.
- 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, 2019
- Reference number:
- 4936
- Title:
- Daugavpils Meschanstvo Headman (Vitebsk governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Daugavpils miesta vecākais (Vitebskas guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Daugavpils Meschanstvo Headman
- Date(s):
- 1845/1935
- Date note:
- Predominantly 1876/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 64 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection includes records of the Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils) Meschanstvo Headman. It contains minutes and resolutions of the meschanstvo society general meetings, materials on the elections for public posts in the Dinaburg meschanstvo society, vital records of the Dinaburg urban residents, data on taxes paid by the meschane in the city; draft lists and more. Many of these materials include Jewish-related records. For example, lists of Dinaburg meschane and their families contain the names and vital data on the Jewish population of the city thus providing valuable genealogical information regarding the Jews of Dinaburg, the history of the Jewish family and demography. Family lists of Dinaburg merchants of 1876 also include many Jewish names and provide information on the proportion of Jewish entrepreneurs among the city residents. For example the file of 1883 on the election of the Meschanstvo Headmen in the city includes lists of Jews who have the right to vote and who participated in the elections (inventory 1, file 12). In addition there are several files concerning special Jewish taxation towards the end of the 19th century including registers related to the collection of the candle tax (inventory 1, file 1), and materials on the election of the supervisors for the distribution of money collected from the candle tax. The collection also contains passports of the Jewish residents for the period of 1879-1895 (inventory 1, file 62).
- Archival history:
- Many of the records originating in the Latgalian area of Vitebsk governorate were originally consolidated in Vitebsk and Vilnius, and later in Mogilev and Minsk. During the interwar and Soviet periods, many local records from Latgalia, including Varaklani in Rezekne district, were brought to Riga. Books of civil records of the Varaklani Jewish community from the period 1868-1899 are stored in the fonds 5024 (collection of Latvian Jewish Rabbinate Metric books) of the Latvian State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1877, in accordance with the decision of 1875 to extend the urban reform of 1870 to the cities of the Western provinces in Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils), the meschanstvo society was established and led by an elected headman and his assistants. Meschanstvo was an urban estate in the Russian Empire which did not include nobility and merchants. The Meschanstvo Headmen and his assistants were elected for a three year term by the general meetings of the meschane and were approved by the governor. The duties of the Dinabug Meschanstvo Headman were: to keep records of all the meshchane in the city; to collect and distribute the estate members’ payments; to issue documents to the meschane; admission and exclusion of members to the Dinaburg meschane society; and to take care of other estate’s affairs. The institute of the meschanstvo society, including the post of the Meschanstvo Headman, was canceled after the October 1917 revolution.
- Access points: locations:
- Daugavpils
- Dinaburg
- Dvinsk
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories.
- 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, 2019
