Metadata: Bauska City Treasury (Courland Governorate)
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, 1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 811
- Title:
- Bauska City Treasury (Courland Governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Bauskas pilsētas ķemereja (Kurzemes guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Bauska City Treasury
- Date(s):
- 1798/1914
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 1,095 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of Bauska City Treasury materials, including records on residents' registration, economic activity in the city, costs and revenues of the municipal fund, infrastructure construction and leasing of urban resources, municipal land and municipal administration. Some of these materials relate to the Jewish population in the city, which in 1881 accounted for about 60% (3,631 people) of all residents. A file from 1849 deals with the election of a representative of the Jewish community as a member of the municipal board (inventory 1, file 20). These records shed light on the difficulties of Jewish integration into the local self-government system in the Courland Governorate and into the German-speaking burgher class.
The collection includes documents from various years about the registration of Jews as residents of the city and therefore includes personal data of some of the Jewish residents. Since Courland and its Jews were not included in the Pale of Jewish Settlement, established in 1804, registration of Jews as residents in Bauska was very limited. A file from 1868 deals with the Jewish community's petition regarding a Jewish cemetery in the city (inventory 1, file 361).
Many of the Jewish-related materials in the collection refer to the economic activities of Jews. Among these, it is worth noting files dealing with activities of Jewish leaseholders, tax farmers and traders. For example, a file from 1848 contains papers about a Jew leasing a kosher abattoir in the city (inventory 1, file 18). A file from 1850 discusses the leasing of the local dock and a boat by Iankel Iankelowitch (inventory 1, file 25). A file from 1861 refers to Ber Ioelson opening shops (inventory 1, file 171), and a file from 1863 is related to the vodka tax farmer I M Moshevitch (inventory 1, file 252).
Some of the materials refer to charges against Jews for committing offences. For example, a file from 1868 deals with the accusations against Lipmanovich who was accused of holding illegal billiards contests in Bauska (inventory 1, file 346). The collection also contains records on granting permits for Jews to build homes and on setting boundaries between lands of Jewish residents.
- Archival history:
- In the 1920s, pre-revolutionary materials in Latvia were consolidated into the newly organised Latvian State Archive that existed throughout the interwar period. After the Soviet takeover of Latvia, the archive was renamed and established as the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, predecessor of the current State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In February 1821, by decree of the Emperor Alexander I, the Department of the State Treasury was formed under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire. With its establishment, a mechanism for the activities of the treasuries from the central (Department of the State Treasury) to the local (provincial, district and city treasuries) was formed. The department was a part of the Russian Ministry of Finance and the treasuries' role expanded as a result of urbanisation, industrialisation, the development of new forms of commerce and banking. The treasuries were tasked with the management and storage of local incomes, expenditure management, issuance of certificates for merchants and companies, bookkeeping and a few banking operations.
- Access points: locations:
- Bauska
- Access points: persons/families:
- Iankelowitch, Iankel
- Ioelson, Ber
- Lipmanovich
- Moshevitch, I M
- Subject terms:
- Cemeteries
- Crime
- Jewish community
- Residency issues of Jews
- Trade and commerce
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory that is arranged in chronological order.
- 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
