Collection of Documents from the Volhynia Museum

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Центральний державний історичний архів України, м. Київ

Scope and content:: Among materials housed in the fond are Polish kings’ writs and privileges [przywileje] granting various rights to the Jewish population of cities and towns of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that subsequently became part of the Russian Empire; excerpts from municipalities’ official document registers on various court cases (e.g., a case of Jews accused of forging documents; property disputes between Jews; etc.); registers of taxes received from the Jewish population; a petition of Jewish merchants of Volhynia to the government commission of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth regarding burdensome trade conditions, and these merchants’ petition that tax collection on the border with the Lithuanian provinces be regulated; Belorussian Jews’ petition to Prince V. A. Dolgorukov, a member of the State Council and former governor-general of Vil’no and Grodno, to alleviate their situation; a list of persons conscripted from among townsmen and Jewish craftsmen of the city of Kamenets-Podol’skii for 1872-74; and a registry of Kalushin kahal (Minsk province) members who died between 1843-46.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Volhynia Central Museum was established in 1865, originally functioning as a unit of the public library in Zhitomir, and subsequently placed under the trusteeship of the Society of Researchers of Volhynia. The museum’s charter was officially ratified 8 April 1913, and from 1 January 1914 on, it was an independent institution. In May 1925 the Volhynia Central Museum achieved the status of a research museum, and in the late 1930s it was reorganized as the Zhitomir Regional Museum of Local History, which exists to this day. At first its exposition materials consisted primarily of natural-historical, archeological, and ethnographic collections. Subsequently a considerable collection of manuscripts was gathered on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev provinces, including documents on the history of Jews living in these territories. In 1932 the collection was transferred to the All-People’s Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and has been housed at the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine, Kiev since 1979.

Subject terms:: Genealogy; Legal matters; Military; Privileges; Trade and commerce; Vital records; Vital records--Death records

System of arrangement:: The fond includes a single inventory systematised according to the structural-chronological principle.