Metadata: Vilnius Governorate’s Department of Excise
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 521
- Title:
- Vilnius Governorate’s Department of Excise
- Title (official language):
- Vilniaus gubernijos akcizo valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vilnius Governorate’s Department of Excise
- Date(s):
- 1862/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 343 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection of the Vilnius Governorate’s Department of Excise consists of: circulars, instructions and reports of the government agencies; inventories of the enterprises in the Vilnius Governorate; papers on inspection of factories; bookkeeping of enterprises; and personal documents of the department’s staff. The collection contains materials related to the activities of Jewish entrepreneurs in several business spheres subject to excise tax. These include breweries and wineries, tobacco factories, match factories and more. Numerous inventories of factories owned by Jews are the most important part of the collection. Examples are: inventories of a distillery and a tobacco factory owned by members of the Kovarsky family in Smorgon’ (inventory 1, files 16, 20), the vinegar factory of Fruma Levin in Smorgon’ (inventory 1, file 47), and the match factory of Nohim Romm in Vishnev (inventory 1, file 53). The inventories relate mainly to the period of 1880-1914. An important part of the collection comprises papers on inspections conducted by the department’s officials at various factories owned by Jewish businessmen. Among such documents can be noted the inspection protocols of the tobacco factory in Oshmiany from 1883-1905 (inventory 1, file 5), and a file from 1883-1914 on the opening and inspection of a brewery in Lida (inventory 2, file 150). These and other materials include data on the technical and financial state of the enterprises and on the creditworthiness of their Jewish owners (for example inventory 2, file 10). Therefore, the Jewish-related materials in the collection facilitate evaluation of the contribution of Jewish entrepreneurs to the process of industrialisation, and in particular help to identify the degree of engagement of Jewish entrepreneurs in the distilling industry.
- Archival history:
- After the First World War many materials of the Vilnius governorate’s institutions were consolidated in the State Archive in Vilnius (Archiwum Panstwowe w Wilnie) founded by the Polish authorities. In the late 1940s these records were handed over to the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Vilnius Governorate’s Department of Excise was founded in 1862 due to the reform of 1861 which abolished tax-farming on distilled spirits and introduced an excise duty on alcohol. The department was charged with supervision of implementation of the rules for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages; prosecution of those who violated the rules; inspection of factories and other enterprises whose products were subject to excise duty; collection of fines from those who violated the excise rules. Tobacco, sugar and some other products were also taxed. The department was subordinate to the General Department of Excise Duty in the Ministry of Finance. It was abolished in 1918.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Kovarsky
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available for free online access on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- 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
