On the issue of the formation and development of archival work in Yakutia (1920-1936)

Tergyuleva Irina Petrovna ORCID: 0009-0006-3608-1115 Head of the Department of Archival Affairs; Ministry of Culture and Spiritual Development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) 677008, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Kulakovsky str., 4/3 an5fk3@yandex.ru

Archival sources are one of the main elements for the development of historical science. In the 1990s, a new term "new archival and information space" appeared, which implies access to archival documents for a wider range of users, the formation of conditions for access to them, the use of archival materials taking into account the development of the NSA (scientific reference apparatus) and search tools, inclusion in the circle of international information systems, as well as a variety of forms and methods of using archival information. The so-called "archival revolution" has raised the status of archival sources to an independent socially and politically significant block in the general field of an information resource. And the public itself is increasingly interested in archival documents as a source of objective information about the past. So, at the moment, the carriers of retrospective information are the Archival funds of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the question of the history of the formation and development of the regional parts of the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation is gaining increasing interest and is becoming one of the most relevant topics for research in the field of archival service.

Archival sources play a huge role for historical science and their importance cannot be overestimated, because they are the basis of any research. In the modern realities of the world, where due to globalization, there is a wide exchange of information and the process of digitalization of information resources is actively underway, the tasks of preserving and expanding archival materials are becoming increasingly important.

Thus, the archives of the republic store not only the history of the country or the region itself, but also the districts and villages. The archival fund of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) currently amounts to more than 2 million units with management documentation, with a permanent shelf life, and personnel, with a temporary shelf life ^[1]. Thus, the archives of Yakutia preserve and enrich the historical and cultural heritage of the region, have significant functions for the formation of a reliable information field and provide access to documents of the Archival Fund of the republic.

Political and socio-economic changes increase the public importance of the Russian archival service, since its role and place are determined primarily by its inextricable link with the public administration system, since archives are the guarantor of the storage of information resources. Therefore, the process of formation and development of archival records management, within the framework of not only the Russian scale, but also the regional level, is becoming in demand for historical science, and also plays an important role in understanding the accumulated experience and formulating conclusions.

At the moment, among the professional circle of archival figures, interest in the formation of archival business, its development process, and aspects of archival record keeping from the point of view of its organization, legal and scientific and methodological apparatus has been firmly strengthened. This interest is caused, first of all, by the process of reforming the archival industry, which entailed the need for self-identification and strengthening the corporatism of archival professional activity. In this regard, the history of the formation of archival business in Yakutia as an independent body in this industry can serve as an example for studying regional archival construction.

Before starting to study the formation of the archival service in Yakutia, it is worth considering the stages of the most archival business in the history of Russia. Archival record keeping in Russia is usually divided into six periods, these are: archives of the ancient Russian state and the period of feudal fragmentation, archives of pre-Petrine Russia or the period of the Russian centralized state (archives of orders), archives in the age of Enlightenment (archives of colleges), historical archives (archives of ministries and departments of the Russian Empire), archives of the Soviet period and archives of modernity (from 1991 to present) ^[2]. As for the archives on the territory of Siberia, their emergence is primarily associated with the period of its development and its entry into the Russian state, where the first institutions appear in new territories – convocation or command huts with authority. It is believed that archives in the traditional view begin to emerge from the work of these institutions ^[3].

Turning to the origin of archival records management in Yakutia, it should be noted that this aspect of history requires detailed and purposeful study, since this issue is a "white spot of regional history" ^[4], but this period of time is more or less equipped in the work of I.I. Yurganova "Archives of Yakutia: unknown pages of history (XVIII v. - 1917)" ^[4]. As for the study of the formation and development of archival business in Yakutia, as the governing body of the archival industry in the territory of the republic, the period of which dates from 1920 to 1936, becomes relevant, since there is practically no special research on this topic.

Archival business in Yakutia dates back to 1641, with the arrival of P.P. Golovin and M.B. Glebov (the first Yakut voivodes) at the Lensky ostrog. Together with them, their assistants arrived on the territory of Yakutia: clerks, clerks, clerks, etc., who became the first clerks of the archive of the Yakut clerical hut. The "census book" of the archive of the Yakut clerical hut, compiled in 1703 and having a volume of 574 pages, has become a truly important archival document and valuable evidence of the archival business of Yakutia. Currently, this document is located in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow

An important part of the history of archival record keeping in Yakutia is connected with the activities of Professor and archivist of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences of the Russian Empire, G.F. Miller, who led the Academic Detachment of the Great Northern Expedition. He made his contribution to the development of archival business within the framework of the Second Kamchatka expedition, during which he explored about twenty cities and prisons in Siberia, including Yakutsk, which were administrative centers. So G.F. Miller noted the excellent state of storage of materials and contents of documents of the archive of the Yakut command hut: "I found the archive there in full condition… Nowhere have I seen such a sufficient and useful archive filled with news as in the Yakut Voivodeship Office" ^[5]. Also, G.F. Miller compiled an "Inventory of the Yakutsk Archive" for archival documents dating from the XVII-XVIII centuries. So, based on the words of G.F. Miller, it is worth noting that the archive of the Yakut voivodeship hut stood out for its high preservation compared to other archives of Siberian cities and prisons. At the moment, more than 7000 copies are in state custody in the central archives of Russia such as the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the Russian State Historical Archive, etc. ^[6].

Since the establishment of the Yakut region as part of the Irkutsk province and the establishment of regional government, according to the Book of States of the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, an archive with two employees has been provided in the chapter "Management of the Yakut Region" ^[7], according to which one of the structural parts becomes the largest and most significant in the territory of the Yakut Territory and performs the functions of a regional archive. So, based on an archival source, in 1833, an inventory of the files of the archive of the regional government was made, in which it was noted about "4132 sheets of documents", including "ancient scrolls" ^[8].

As I.I. Yurganova notes: "According to the governor's circulars of October 18, 1911 and March 30, 1912, an attempt was made to concentrate archival materials of institutions throughout the region, and documents from districts began to arrive in the archive of the Yakut regional government; cases were delivered as they were ordered and two copies of inventories were compiled. Only due to the overflow of the archive and the lack of funds by the circular dated February 6, 1914, the delivery of archival documents to Yakutsk was stopped" ^[4]. So, this statement indicates that already at the beginning of the twentieth century an attempt was made to centralize archival materials from various organizations of the republic in the archive of the Yakut regional government. But, despite the fact that the very organization of receipt, ordering and description of documents was clearly thought out according to the governor's circulars, due to problems associated with archive overflow and lack of funds, the delivery of archival documents to Yakutsk was temporarily stopped. Also, the Yakut Scientific Archival Commission, organized in 1912, made a certain contribution to the organization of archival affairs, for example, "Acts of the Archives of the Yakut region. 1650-1800", created by E.D. Strelov, who was a member of this commission and the archivist of the regional administration, is the first publication of archival documents in the history of Yakutia and has become the subject of great bibliographic interest to this day.

The decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of June 1, 1918 became the basis for the reorganization of the archival business in the state, as well as its centralization. The decree "On Provincial Archival Funds" of 1919 gave general guidelines for conducting archival business in the field, according to which the duties of the executive committees of the provinces included measures to ensure the safety of documents, and the heads of the archival funds of the provinces were tasked with creating a Central State Archive ^[6].

Despite the deep history of the emergence and development of archival business in Yakutia, for the most part it was not a separate and independently existing archive, and did not have the functions of a governing body in the archival industry on the territory of the republic. In 1920, based on the archival source, it follows that at a meeting of the Yakut district committee dated 06/14/1920, headed by Chairman M.K. Ammosov, a decision was made, according to which E.D. Strelov was confirmed as head of the archives of the Yakut province ^[9]. Two days later, M.K. Ammosov, who is the chairman of the district revkom, sends a telegram to the Irkutsk Gubarchiv, in which he asks to send decrees on archives: "Send an urgent decree (approx. we are talking about the previously mentioned document – "Decree on the reorganization and centralization of archival affairs in the RSFSR" dated June 1, 1918) on the archives of the eighteenth year and all subsequent orders, rules, decrees related to archival affairs" ^[10]. And on December 22, 1920, by the decision of the Yakut provincial Revkom, the Yakut Provincial Archive was created on the basis of documents from the regional archive. Also, by the resolution of the Yakut gubrevkom on the situation of the gubarchiv, the appointment of Comrade E.D. Strelov as head was confirmed ^[11].

The name of E.D. Strelov is associated with almost the entire period of archival record keeping in Yakutia during the period under study, since he was among the first persons who worked for the benefit of the formation of the archival industry of the republic as an independent body. So, by the nature of his activity, Efim Dmitrievich Strelov was an archivist, local historian, museum worker, and one of the first to be involved in the formation of the Yakut archival records management. E.D. Strelov was originally from the Verkholensky district of the Irkutsk province, was born into a middle-class family on March 31, 1887. In 1907, she graduated from the Yakut Real School, and then continued her education He studied at the Moscow Archaeological Institute, where in 1912 he defended his thesis with honors on the topic: "Historical and archaeological essay of the Yakut region". In 1912 he began his archival service, and where until 1928 he held a number of important positions, such as archivist in the Yakutsk regional board, conservator in the Yakutsk Regional Museum, chairman of the administrative committee of the Yakut department of the Russian Geographical Society, as well as head of the archaeological section of the sub-department of the study of the Yakut province at the provincial department of public education. He was also a member of the scientific department of the People's Commissariat of Education and Health of the Yakut ASSR and the Yakut Regional Geographical Society. In 1927, he was awarded the Small Silver Medal of the Russian Geographical Society and elected a corresponding member of the Central Bureau of Local Lore. However, in 1928 he was dismissed from his position as head of the Yakut Central Archive as a "socially alien element". In 1933, he moved with his family to Novosibirsk, where in the last years of his life he worked as a senior researcher and director of the Novosibirsk Museum of Local Lore. He died on February 19, 1949 from pulmonary tuberculosis and was buried in Novosibirsk.

One can learn about the difficulties that accompanied the archive's work in the early years from the report of the head of the gubarchiv on the activities since its creation dated January 25, 1922 ^[12]. It should be noted that for a long time there was an acute issue of the premises in which the archive could be located, lack of personnel and finances. Since 1921, the archive was located in the Grado-Yakut Bogoroditskaya Church, later, in 1923, due to the events of the Civil War, the archive was moved to the building of the Spassky Monastery, where it was located until 1974.

The primary task of the Yakut State Archives of that period was the accounting and rescue of archival documents, the primary disassembly and systematization of the material. The archival documents contain data on which it is possible to see what measures were taken by the staff of the Yakut State Archives to streamline and maintain the preservation of archival materials in the counties of the republic.

Thus, from archival documents, you can learn about the instructions dated March 15, 1921, addressed to E.A. Berezhnov, an employee of the Yakut Provincial Archival Fund, who was sent to Verkhoyansk and Kolyma to take measures to protect archives. Thus, this document contains a detailed action plan consisting of 17 points for collecting archival documents from these areas for transportation to Yakutsk ^[13]. In this instruction, the head of the gubarchive for the collection of archival documents first of all asks E.A. Berezhnov to approach the chairman of the settlement, wherever he comes, and explain the purpose of the business trip, after which he selects the appropriate receipt. Directly for the selection of documents, he asks to make inquiries about the fate of archival institutions that were liquidated after October 1917, to find out the buildings where old archival materials are stored, and also to require a room that will be safe from the point of view of theft and fire condition in order to put sealed selected cases there. Some points in this instruction belong to the work with church archives, according to which all cases before 18633 had to be selected from these archives, and the rest given to the local authorities under receipt. There are also separate paragraphs in the instructions that show how an employee should behave if questions arise that cannot be resolved by him alone, asks the authorities to behave peacefully, reminds them that the destruction of any archival files is not permissible, and the perpetrators will face judicial responsibility, the need to keep a report on their activities once a year a month and the economical use of the money he receives. And if there are situations that are not regulated by this instruction, then you should act based on common sense and the basic principles of archival legislation.

Also, a report dated August 25, 1921, compiled by N. Burnashev, who was sent to the Yakut district to streamline and take measures to protect the archives of institutions, has been preserved. Thus, this report describes the obstacles and delays he encountered during his trip, describes the process of examining archives and their contents, and discusses issues related to archival materials from various institutions. In addition, the report also contains information on the procedure for collecting archival materials and storing them ^[14].

The turning point for the archival business in the republic became on December 18, 1922, when, on the basis of the resolution of the revkom of the YASSR "On the archival Fund and its management", the Management of the provincial archival fund was established, which became the governing body of the archival industry in Yakutia ^[15]. This archival document testifies to us about the organization and management of archival business in the Yakut ASSR, establishes the procedure for storing, managing and using archival materials on the territory of the Yakut Autonomous Autonomous Republic. So, based on this document, all archival materials, as well as current records of individual institutions located on the territory within the administrative boundaries of the Yakut ASSR, form the Archival Fund of the YASSR, which is part of the Unified State Archival Fund. The Department of Archival Affairs of the JASSR is directly subordinate to the Revolutionary Committee of the JASSR, in addition, it is responsible for the management of the archival part and the current records management of government institutions of the JASSR. In addition, the Department of Archival Affairs of the JASSR is obliged to fulfill the tasks of the commissariats of the JASSR on the use of the archival fund for the needs of local government. As for the archival buildings and premises, they are under the jurisdiction of the Presidium of the YAASSR Revkom. The document also contains legal and organizational information about the structure of archival management in the IAASSR. This resolution was signed by I.N. Barakhov, acting chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the YASSR, and is considered the starting point for archival business in Yakutia as an independent governing body in the archival industry.

As for the issue of archival records management in Yakutia, according to the archival material, there were instructions for maintaining the Yakut Central General archive of the JASSR, consisting of 3 sections: the first section is about storing papers and files, the second contains information about the process of removing files to be destroyed, the third section is devoted to cutting clean paper from archival files to be stored ^[16].

Also, the archival materials preserved the "Regulations on the management of the archives of the IAASSR" ^[16] from March 1925. The Regulation consists of 4 chapters: I. General part; II. Tasks of the Archive Management of the IAASSR; III. The rights of the Management of the archives of the IAASSR; IV. The structure of the Archive management of the JASSR. According to this document, the body for the regulation and use of the Unified State Archival Fund located on the territory of the republic is the Department of Archival Affairs of the IAASSR ^[16].

In the 1920s, the archive administration discovered more than 20,000 cases of pre-revolutionary organizations due to purposeful work, these materials were transferred to the archive. The archival materials contain data on the number of archival funds of the Central Archive of the IAASSR by 1927 (Table 1.) ^[17].

Table 1. The number of archival funds of the Central Archive of the IAASSR.

From the presented table, it can be noted that by 1927 the number of archival funds in the Central Archive of the JASSR reached 297, including 176 funds related to the pre-revolutionary period, and 121 funds - to the post-revolutionary period. 106 funds were described among them, in which 65 funds belonged to the pre–revolutionary period, 41 to the post-revolutionary period. There were 35 funds registered in the Central Archive of the JASSR, in which 5 of them belonged to the pre-revolutionary period, and accordingly 30 were post-revolutionary. In addition, a constant practice of training employees of institutions, organizations and enterprises of Yakutsk in matters of archival affairs and record keeping was established, scientific study of archival documents began, mainly due to the activities of the Yakut expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and a hall was opened for readers.

By the mid-1930s, an algorithm was developed in the archival records management of Yakutia to codify most areas of archival documents (funding, systematization, description and accounting of documents), with which the staff of the archives of the JASSR worked. Also in 1935, regional archives were established for the first time in the republic in Aldan, Vilyuysk, Olekminsk and Churapcha. The need and importance of opening regional archives was noted in the "Memorandum of the head of the Central Administrative Committee of the IAASSR A.A. Nazarov to the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the IAASSR on the opening of archival departments in the republic" ^[18] dated February 3, 1935.

In 1939, the archival bodies of the JASSR were transferred under the control of the NKVD as part of the All-Union archival system and reorganized into the Archival Department of the NKVD.

So, the path of formation of archival records management in Yakutia goes back to the XVII century and has its own long and interesting history. But, despite the fact that archival business in Yakutia has existed for about four centuries, it has become an independently existing body of the archival industry with a leading function since the release of the resolution of the revolutionary committee of the IAASSR "On the archival Fund and its management" dated December 18, 1922.

The prerequisites for this event begin in 1920, when the Yakutsk Provincial Archive was formed. Therefore, it is believed that the formation and development of archival business in Yakutia falls on the period from 1920 to 1936. During this period, the staff of the archives of Yakutia carried out numerous works, which were primarily characterized by the systematization and primary processing of archival materials. The result of these works is that by the mid-1930s, the foundations for the subspecific classification of archival materials were laid, and an algorithm for funding, describing and accounting for archival documents was developed. In addition, by 1935, regional archives were established in the republic, which meant the creation of a network of archives in Yakutia.

It is important to note the contribution of E.D. Strelov in the development of the archival business of Yakutia, who for 16 years (1912-1928) devoted his life to the archival service. He stood at the origins of the formation of archival business as an independent body, shaped the work of the archive, its system, solved the problems facing it, collected the first archival funds.

Thus, the process of forming an archival service in Yakutia is an example for the study of archival construction and the activities of archival institutions. The very history of its formation and development is inextricably linked with the history of not only our state, but also the region itself. It should also be noted that archival construction in Yakutia took place in accordance with the general principles and stages of development of archival business, however, it has its own characteristics dictated by the history of the republic.

Thus, the staff of the archival service in Yakutia in the period 1920-1936 made an invaluable contribution to solving the problems of preserving and increasing the archival fund of the republic, thereby providing the future generation of researchers with a solid foundation and a strong source base on the history of not only the country, but also the region.