Metadata: Provincial Board of Kaunas (Gubernskoe pravlenie)
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Kaunas Regional State Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Kauno Regioninis Valstybės Archyvas
- Postal address:
- 44248, Maironio g. 28B, Kaunas 44249
- Phone number:
- +370 (837) 323 111
- Web address:
- https://www.archyvai.lt/lt/kaa_naujienos.html
- Email:
- kaunas@archyvai.lt
- Reference number:
- I-49
- Title:
- Provincial Board of Kaunas (Gubernskoe pravlenie)
- Title (official language):
- Kauno gubernijos valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Provincial Board of Kaunas (Gubernskoe pravlenie)
- Date(s):
- 1842/1917
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 31,871 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection comprises materials of the Provincial Board (Gubernskoe Pravlenie) of Kaunas, including records on the opening of various institutions and enterprises, collection of taxes, monetary claims of individuals, appointment to the civil service, search for suspects, papers on prisoners, records on holding elections to different posts, and elections to the Russian State Duma.
The Provincial Board addressed numerous Jewish-related issues and therefore the collection contains records that refer to the economic, social, communal and religious life of the Jewish population in Kovno Province, including the elections of the crown rabbis, their assistants, and synagogues board members in different cities and towns (inventory 1a, files 171-179). For instance, a file from 1851 contains materials about the election of the crown rabbi in the Viliampol’ (now part of Kaunas) Jewish community (inventory 1, file 2730). This file includes a register of the electors. Other examples are numerous papers related to the elections of rabbis’ assistants in 1914 (inventory 1, files 32425-32443). A file from 1850 contains records concerning collection of money from the Jewish kahals for the Catholic clergy (inventory 1, file 2656). Numerous records relate to the korobka (a tax on kosher meat). They include materials on tax-farming of the korobka and on expenditure of the funds received as a result of taxation. Several files concern the secession or incorporation of different Jewish communities. A file from 1850 deals with the Jewish population in Labunovo being separated from the Zheimeny Jewish community (inventory 1, file 2647).
The collection contains materials on the foundation of various Jewish public institutions. A file from 1848-1849 includes an application by Jews in Vilampol for permission to build a synagogue (inventory 1, file 2131). A file from 1849 contains materials on the establishment of a Jewish cemetery in Kovno (inventory 1, file 2379). A file from 1850 includes a document permitting the building of a Jewish school in Rossieny (inventory 1, file 2572). Another file from the same year mentions the setting up of Jewish hospitals in Kovno (inventory 1, file 2615). The collection also contains a petition from 1908 by Abel Kaplan for permission to build a slaughterhouse in Iurburg (Jurbarkas) (inventory 1a, file 520).
With regards to economic life, the collection contains records from 1850 permitting the establishment of a fur factory in Novo-Zhagory by the Jewish merchant Shashlolsky (inventory 1, 2663) and a workshop by Kantor (inventory 1, file 2662). Documents from the early 20th century refer to the conscription of Jews to the Russian army. For instance, a file from 1900 contains records on the sale of possessions held by Kapel Burshtein in order to pay the 300 rubles fine he received for his son evading military service (inventory 1a, file 489). A file from 1901 contains papers on the expulsion of the spiritual rabbis Shlomo-Motel Kotler and Israel Rysuf from Kurshan (inventory 1a, file 495). The collection also contains materials on the expulsions of Jews from villages and estates in 1914 (inventory 1, files 32352-32408). Numerous records contain personal data of Jews living in the province, including lists of residents who paid taxes, alphabetical lists of residents, lists of owners of real estate, applications for passports and other personal documents, lists of electors to the local boards of the meschanstvo estate, and lists of voters for the elections to the Russian State Duma in 1907. Some documents include data on the search for Jews by the police for criminal activities, and on fining Jews for various violations such as smuggling (for example inventory 1, files 480-481, 484) and illegal border crossing (inventory 1a, file 192). Part of these materials also refer to Jews in public service.
- Archival history:
- Information about the history of the collection is not available.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Province of Kovno (Kaunas) was formed in 1842 from the northwestern part of Vilnius Province. Until 1912 the province was part of the Vilnius, Kovno and Grodno Governorate General. During WWI the province was occupied by German troops and part of the population was evacuated to the Russian interior. In 1918 its territory became part of the newly established independent Lithuanian Republic, and the city of Kaunas became its capital in 1919. The Provincial Board served as the main administrative body of the governorate, supervising activities of the local administrative, communal, law enforcement and judicial authorities. It was also responsible for the supervision of industrial, medical and cultural organisations. In practice, however, the Provincial Board was completely subordinate to the Kovno governor and had rather limited authority. The board was composed of a general bureau and a chancellery divided into different departments.
- Access points: locations:
- Jurbarkas
- Labunovo
- Rossieny
- Viliampol’
- Access points: persons/families:
- Burshtein, Kapel
- Kaplan, Abel
- Kotler, Shlomo-Motel
- Rysuf, Israel
- Shashlolsky
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of five inventories that are arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available 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, 2020
