Metadata: Marshals of the nobility and the Noble Boards of Guardians in Vilnius and Kaunas provinces
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:
- 708
- Title:
- Marshals of the nobility and the Noble Boards of Guardians in Vilnius and Kaunas provinces
- Title (official language):
- Vilniaus ir Kauno gubernijų apskričių bajorų vadovai ir bajorų globos įstaigos
- Creator/accumulator:
- Marshals of the nobility and the Noble Boards of Guardians in Vilnius and Kaunas provinces
- Date(s):
- 1795/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Extent:
- 4,211 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection includes materials of the marshals of the nobility from Vilnius, Kaunas, Trakai, Upytė and Svianciany and of the Noble Boards of Guardians in Vilnius, Trakai, Rossieny, Ponevezh, Shavli and Seiny districts including correspondence, lists of the nobility and documents proving the status of various noble families. The collection also contains reports on the financial and economic situation of the estates, data on peasant unrest and on conscription to the army. A few of the materials in the collection refer to the life of the Jewish population in these regions. A file from 1829 relates to Abram Haimovich's ownership of the "Linkovo" estate (inventory 1, file 69). Two files from the years 1831-1835 relate to a fine given to Itsik Grizbel for smuggling cloth (inventory 2, file 2,860; inventory 1, file 70). As many Jews were engaged in commercial activity across Russian, Austrian and German borders, smuggling became a stereotypically “Jewish” criminal activity and a common phenomenon from the end of the 18th century. The collection also includes various instructions and documents from 1849-1853 sent to the Vilnius province nobility marshal relating to conversions from Judaism to Catholicism (inventory 1, file 13). The collection includes a file from 1863 regarding a complaint by Jewish merchant, Rafael Wolf, against a cavalry regiment for heavy damage caused by the army to his meadow (inventory 2, file 1,045). Documents from 1874-1875 deal with a census of the male Jewish population up to the age of 25 in Telshi (Telšiai) district (inventory 1, file 164). Apparently, the census was carried out following the 1874 statute on mandatory military duty (Zakon o vsesoslovnoi voinskoi povinnosti) that radically modified the old conscription system by establishing a six-year term of service, extending military duty to all estates, and introducing a special system of exemptions. Papers from the years 1892-1898 discuss the prohibition to live in the home of Idel Abelski in Ponevez (Panevėžys) due to anti-sanitary conditions (inventory 2, file 1,638).
- Archival history:
- Information about the archival history of the collection is unavailable.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1795, according to the charter of Russian Empress Catherine II on the rights, freedoms and privileges of the nobility issued in 1785 in Vilna (Vilnius) and Kovno (Kaunas) provinces, the Noble Boards of Guardians (dvorianskaia opeka) and the positions of nobility marshals were established. The marshals were a representative of the self-government body. They played a leading role in the corporative organisation of the nobility as an estate, and were elected every three years at district and province levels. The provincial nobility marshals were affirmed by and reported directly to the Tsar. The marshals chaired several local boards, among them the Assembly of Nobility, council to Justices of the Peace, local education boards, boards that administered conscription of men into the army, etc. The marshals served also as heads of the Noble Boards of Guardians. These institutions were responsible for overseeing the estates of minors, the insolvent and estates belonging to nobles convicted of misdemeanours such as cases of serf abuse. These institutions and positions of the nobility marshals were abolished following the Bolshevik Revolution.
- Access points: locations:
- Panevėžys
- Telšiai
- Vilnius province
- Access points: persons/families:
- Grizbel, Itsik
- Haimovich, Abram
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories 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