Volhynia Governor’s Chancellery; Zhitomir, Volhynia Province

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Державний архів Житомирської області

Title (official language):: Канцелярия Волынского губернатора, г. Житомир Волынской губ.; Канцелярія Волинського губернатора, м. Житомир Волинської губ.

Scope and content:: Among materials housed in the fonds are reports of county police chiefs [ispravniki] and correspondence with the Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia governor-general on the expulsion of Jews from the city of Zhitomir and on sending them to places they were registered to reside (1864-65); files pertaining to the rental of land by Jewish townspeople [meshchane] (1891-95); materials on inquests of Jews accused of participating in the revolutionary and strike movements and, in particular, of membership in the Bund, and of storing and distributing illegal political literature, including in Yiddish (1907-08); reports on Jews of the city of Ovruch (V. A. Iusim and L. D. Rosenberg) who had “sought to besmirch the activities of the Union of the Russian People” (1907); etc. There are also investigative materials of the Volhynia Provincial Gendarmerie on the case of fifteen Jewish residents of the L’vov province incarcerated at the Kremenets prison and exiled “to remote provinces of Russia”; these individuals had been detained during the First World War in the front zone on suspicion of espionage (1915-16).

Administrative/biographical history:: This was established, along with other institutions stipulated by the Regulation on Provinces [Uchrezhdenie o guberniiakh] of 1775 in accordance with the Senate edict “On the new division of the state into provinces” (22 September 1796), as an administrative structure of the Volhynia governor. The latter was the supreme representative of executive power in the province, carrying out leadership and oversight of the activities of all local authorities, institutions, and public organisations; deciding issues regarding the appointment, transfer, and dismissal of state officials; confirming the instatement of persons elected to bodies of city and zemstvo self-government; etc. It was dissolved upon the victory of the February Revolution in March 1917.

Access points: locations:: Kiev; Kremenets; L’vov province; Ovruch; Podolia; Russia; Ukraine; Volhynia; Volhynia province; Zhitomir

Subject terms:: Bund movement; Censorship; Correspondence; Expulsion; Jewish languages; Jewish languages--Yiddish; Jewish political activity; Land; Law enforcement; Law enforcement--Police; Prisoners; Residency issues of Jews

System of arrangement:: The fonds includes three inventories systematised chronologically (op. 1 and 2) and by subject (op. 3).