Metadata: Kovno-Suwalki 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 g. 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 1017
- Title:
- Kovno-Suwalki Governorate’s Department of Excise
- Title (official language):
- Kauno-Suvalkų gubernijų akcizo valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kovno-Suwalki Governorate’s Department of Excise
- Date(s):
- 1861/1919
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 11,906 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Kovno-Suwalki Governorate’s Department of Excise consists of: Senate orders, the department’s correspondence, papers on inspection of factories and enterprises; bookkeeping records, registers of certificates issued by the department, cards on taxation issued to the owners of enterprises, and personal files of employees of the department. The collection contains numerous materials related to the activities of Jewish entrepreneurs in the fields of the production and sale of alcohol, tobacco factories, match factories, petty trading, production of casings and more. An important part of these are descriptions of the condition of the factories and enterprises owned and managed by Jewish entrepreneurs. These include, for example, a description from 1876 of a brewery owned by Zelman Beniaminovich (inventory 1, file 17) and descriptions from 1883-1896 concerning a tobacco factory owned by merchant Isserlis (inventory 2, file 21). A file dated 1881-1915 describes the match factory belonging to merchant Volpert (inventory 2, file 34). A file from 1909-1914 describes the situation in the factory for production of casings owned by I. Glazer (inventory 2, file 491). An interesting part of the collection contains papers on inspections conducted by the department’s officials in various factories. Among such documents are protocols of inspection in the tobacco factory owned by Aronovskaia in 1903 (inventory 2, file 240) and protocols of inspection in the tobacco factory of Izrail Gurvich in Ponevezh (inventory 2, file 1319).
The collection also contains applications submitted by Jews to open factories and shops. A file from 1903-1908 includes applications by Blumental for permission to open shops for the sale of alcohol and tobacco (inventory 2, file 261). A file from 1909 includes an application for permission to open a distillery by the Jewish businesswoman Ber (inventory 2, file 484). In the early 20th century requests of this type were also submitted by the “Engelman” company (inventory 2, files 472-474) and by the I.E. Lipsky Brewery in Vilnius (inventory 2, files 400, 460). This brewery was founded in 1875 by Ilya Lipsky and became a stock company in 1902. The company was one of the largest breweries in the North-Western region of the Russian Empire.
The collection also includes financial documentation and bookkeeping records of different enterprises as well as accusations against Jewish entrepreneurs for violating laws related to economic activity such as untaxed trade and trade without an alcohol and tobacco license. Registration cards on taxation issued for owners of enterprises indicate the names of the owners, their field of occupation and sometimes include photos of the owners.
- Archival history:
- After Word War I the collection was archived at the Central State Historical Archives in Moscow (the current State Archive of the Russian Federation – GARF). In 1957 the collection was handed over to the Central State Historical Archives of the Lithuanian SSR (current Lithuanian State Historical Archives).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Kovno-Suwalki Governorate’s Department of Excise was founded in 1862 following the reform of 1861 on the abolition of tax-farming on distilled spirits and the introduction of an excise duty on alcohol. The department was charged with supervision of implementation of the rules for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages; the prosecution of those who violated the rules; inspection of factories and other enterprises whose products were subject to excise duty; and the 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. In 1915, as a result of the outbreak of WWI, the Kovno-Suwalki Governorate’s Department of Excise was evacuated to Yaroslavl in interior Russia, where it ceased operations in 1918.
- Access points: locations:
- Ponevezh
- Subject terms:
- Manufacturing
- Taxation
- Trade and commerce
- Trade and commerce--Alcohol trade
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of six inventories arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Brief information on the collection as well as detailed inventories are available on the website on the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- 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; 2021