Metadata: Treasury Chamber of Kaunas Governorate
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-106
- Title:
- Treasury Chamber of Kaunas Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Kauno gubernijos iždo rūmai
- Creator/accumulator:
- Treasury Chamber of Kovno (Kaunas) Governorate
- Date(s):
- 1816/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 10,037 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains materials of the Treasury Chamber of Kovno (Kaunas) Governorate, including records on taxation, collection of fines, papers on property of residents and their complaints submitted to the chamber, documents on conscription, papers on the activities of the chamber’s officials, and statistical and metrical data on residents.
Documents of Jewish interest include those concerned with the collection of taxes paid on real estate owned by Jewish residents and numerous complaints filed by Jews against the chamber’s decisions for incorrect taxation or regarding the collection of fines. For example, in 1899 Reiza Grintukh applied for the cancelation of the 10 rubles fine imposed on her (inventory 2, file 202). A file from 1901-1904 concerns a complaint by merchant Abram Finkelshtein regarding the incorrect taxation of the company he owned (inventory 2, file 369). A similar complaint was submitted by honorary citizen Isser-Ber Wolf regarding taxation of the brewery he owned (inventory 2, file 667). Data on taxation of Jewish-owned enterprises in Kovno, Ponevezys district, Vilkomir, Shavli districts and more can be found in the tax lists of the Treasury Chamber for 1901.
Some of the documents deal with collection of fines imposed for passport violations or conscription. A file dated 1915 deals with the collection of a fine of 300 rubles from the family of Movsha-Aron Fram for draft evasion (inventory 2, file 1484). Another file from 1874-1875 directly addresses the issue of Jewish conscription. The statute of 1874 on universal military duty established a six-year term of service, extended the conscription to all estates, and introduced a special system of exemptions. The file includes documents referring to the military service of Jews and to the Kovno Governor’s announcement on abuses by Jews (evreiskie deputaty) (inventory 1, file 37).
Other documents in the collection relate to property left by Jews after their death. Records in the collection include information on the genealogy of Jews. The collection contains, for example, an alphabetical list of people who belonged to a meshchane estate in Novoaleksandrovsk district from 1866-1864 (inventory 1, file 171), and a list of homeowners in the villages and towns of the same district in 1870 (inventory 3, file 1). The collection also includes lists of taxpayers on real estate in different cities in the Kovno Governorate in 1912-1916. In addition, materials on granting awards to those who served as officials also include Jewish names. A file from 1892 mentions Natan Natanson, Gerson Verbilovsky, Isaak Kaplan, Naftan Levin, Bentsel Volk, Itsik Sobol and others as officials who received the awards (inventory 1, file 603). It is reasonable to assume that one would also find Jewish-related records in the ledger of guarantees for state leases, tax-farms and contracts in 1857 (inventory 1, file 134).
- Archival history:
- Information about the history of the collection is not available.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Treasury Chamber of the Kaunas Governorate was established in 1843 following the formation of the Kaunas Governorate in 1842. It was in charge of tax and arrears collection, local state treasuries in districts of the governorate, monitored activities of banks and other financial institutions, activities of industrial and commercial enterprises, and carried out audit censuses. In particular, the chamber accounted for state spending in the governorate and reported on them to the Ministry of Finance in St. Petersburg. In order to determine the tax revenues, the Treasury Chamber organised population censuses. The chamber was also in charge of some sources of state incomes such as alcohol tax-farming and the leasing of state property. Accordingly, it organised public tenders for establishing contracts with merchants and concluded contracts with suppliers. In 1918 the Soviet government abolished the Treasury Chamber of the Kaunas Governorate.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Finkelshtein, Abram
- Fram, Movsha-Aron
- Grintukh, Reiza
- Kaplan, Isaak
- Levin, Naftan
- Natanson, Natan
- Sobol, Itsik
- Verbilovsky, Gerson
- Volk, Bentsel
- Wolf, Isser-Ber
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of four inventories.
- 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
